So with Mike here and work finally, officially done for 2 weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to be a true tourist in this city. Beijing is tough – if you’re used to a city like NYC where you can get yourself around pretty independently and are fairly self-sufficient, it’s tough to get used to a reliance on cabs to take you everywhere. That and the communication troubles which inevitably come up no matter how prepared you are can make touring around here a challenge. That said, we saw everything we wanted to see and had plenty of time to sleep and relax as well – I have decided to not do my usual Vacation Nazi routine on this trip (Get up! Lets go! Too much to see too little time! Go go go!!) which has made this a much more chill trip than I’d even expected.
We saw Tiananmen Square on Mike’s first day followed by The Forbidden City and then dinner w/ the team.
Tiananmen Sq and the red all w/ the portrait of Chairman Mao are cool to see simply because they’re likely some of the only images in our minds of what China looks like on the “inside”.
The sheer size of the Forbidden City is overwhelming as well. But frankly, unless you are up on the history of the Emperors who lived there and/or into ancient Chinese history and artifacts, it can get a little dull after walking around some and taking in the initial sites there.
The back of the City is filled w/ an Imperial Garden though which is super cool and made the middle-section of somewhat dullness quite worth it.
