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This is the second post in the series about sights in China which I did not have the time to write about when I was still in there. The first post was  Along the Great Wall – a description of that trip and a photo gallery.

Today the theme is the Forbidden City – with it’s countless palaces and gardens. This huge area contains a huge number of beautiful buildings and squares, a lot still not open to the public. Some of the smaller palaces have little museums opened inside (like the jade or bronze museums). The main series of palaces and courtyards – following the north-south axis – is the focus and highway for tourists, but the buildings on the east and west sides are also impressive. At the north entrance there is a beautiful garden complex – complete with rock formations, ponds and small wooden buildings.

You can find 50 more photos in this post.

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Well, tomorrow I am leaving Beijing to go to Shanghai. I am already panicked that I missed a lot of the sights – some really beautiful like the Summer Palace, some just for the experience of it like Mao’s pickled body. However, there are so many things to see and do in China that probably months wouldn’t be enough. I do have a feeling that at one point I have to return. And as Beijing and Shanghai are the main gates to China, probably I can continue my city exploration.

Today’s photo album also brings more impressions I accumulated in the last few days.

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Today brings you a largish set of photos from an excursion to the Temple of Heaven. This is a very nice temple in southeastern Beijing, with different pagodas, pavilions and gardens scattered on a pretty big area. While it is not as big and famous as the Forbidden City to its north, it is a very nice destination nonetheless. Besides the throngs of tourists, certain areas are largely quiet and frequented by people from Beijing coming to relax. It is very nice to see people playing cards, singing, knitting or even dancing. I put a short video-clip on Picasa, but the quality is not that great.

Also in most areas there is a soft background music which fits perfectly well.

Now I will continue with some random thoughts regarding Beijing, and my experiences here, but also the promised photos.

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Still fighting an awesome jetlag, I try to post a bit more on what I did yesterday. Also this time – there are some photos.

Taking up where I left in the previous post – at the hostel. I am in a room with 3 Canadians, pretty cool people. The best part is though how nice the hostel is. Pretty big rooms (even with only 4 beds), toilet for each room, huge beds (and I mean huge, 2 people can sleep in one of them) and the nicest part: free Wifi in each room, and pretty speedy too. All this for only 50RMB per night (which translates to around 5.5 Euro). Having said that, I did not spend much time admiring the hostel and instead I went exploring.

I did not have enough time, nor energy, to visit the Forbidden City, but I went to Tienanmen square, around the Forbidden City and to it’s public areas and also to Jingshan Park (to the north). Very beautiful areas. Each of them is as I had imagined it, and yet a bit more. Tienanmen square is huge, but I did not realize how huge until I was there for example. I hope the photos will describe better.

The most important thing I want to say though in this post – as I intend to still catch the breakfast! – is how easy is to get around. I was very worried that the language will prove a barrier, but a good map and having most signs translated in English made things a breeze. Even the names of the streets, not only main touristy sites, are bilingual. Also descriptions, shop names, etc are in English. It might not be the best English, but it gets the information I need.

I will post a little more of the main events of the day, but first I need breakfast. And cofee, probably lots of it. I mostly wanted to share the photos.