Okay we are ready now for more sightseeing. Enough of this sitting on trains for days at a time. The plan was to get up early and get to see Mau before the crowds hit. Well that was optomistic. On the way down to Tianeman square I got a hair cut. They did a great job, but not the cheapest. I was considering going bald to blend in with the locals but realized my hue would need changing too. Breakfast from a street vendor was around £0.40 – egg role and a chive frittery thing.

The square was already packed with locals but the ques for the chairman were not too long and we decided to join in. Mau’s moseleum is probably 100 times the size of Lenin’s, agh shame. They sell flowers outside that you can lay inside and we are convinced that they just recycle them back to the shop until the start to whither. Mau, like Lenin, did not have much to say but is looking good (V is convinced they are fakes).

Then on to ‘The Forbidden City’. The LP guide suggests taking in Mau and TFC in a morning. 6 hours in the sweltering heat later we emerged (thanks to V’s navigation skills – what a maze !) It is incredible in size – The Russians need to take a lesson on what a ‘palace’ is supposed to be. There are apparenlty around 9000 rooms in the complex governed by bright colours (reds, blues, green, yellows) and intiricate detail. Again it was packed with tourists but that was expected. On one of our many sit down stops I fell asleep on the bench (I was far from the only one).

The treasure rooms were good but we were honestly spent by the time we got there and we just missed the clock and watch exhibit – guess that meant it was time to leave haha.

It was well worth the visit – you can just feel scences from ‘The Last Emporer’ and a variety of Kung-Fu movies 🙂

[Picture: TFC halls as far as the eye can see and me looking roasted]

– Posted from my iPhone