Our first day with the Wendy Wu Tour Group, there are 17 of us in total, and our guide Erin for the whole tour comes from Xian.

A fairly reasonable start to the day, breakfast was Western, nice to have some toast, eggs and bacon, instead of the more traditional Chinese breakfast like we had at Chengdu. Has anyone tried Coogee, to me it just tastes like overcooked wet rice, no flavour, although the Chinese add spices and things like chicken, beef etc.

The bus took us to the core of the city - we started at one end of the Tian'an Men Square, it was our first real introduction to Beijing, we walked the huge concrete square, with the Monument to the People's Heros almost in the middle, facing the Great Hall of People, which is blocked off to visitors - an auditorium with large banquet halls to cater for alot of people.   

We then headed towards the opposite end to where we started, to the Ming Dynasty Gate, above the entry hangs Mao's portrait.   There was city walls, I believe demolished in the 50's - 60's to make way for roads, and the modern city.   

It was here we had our group tour photo, with the photo came a book that has all the main attractions in Beijing, and information, quite a nice touch to have the photo in a book rather than just a photo.

We continued on to the Forbidden City or once known as the Palace Museum where 24 Emperors ruled for nearly 500 years. The Palace was completed in 1420,  the Imperial Court continued until 1912.   

To walk through the oversized gates, over each threshold, into each court, I couldn't stop thinking about the receiving of visitors and official visitors, walking over marble bridges, noticing the yang - preferred number nine associated with the emperor, nine brass buttons on the doors, 9999 rooms, then to see the odd figured guardians on the roof, all associated with water to protect the buildings from fire.  The ceramic tiles all glistened in the sun on the roof and many a wall was covered by them. We moved on to see the water carriageways carved in marble mostly of dragons to protect the main buildings, to the very back facilities for viewing of the Emperors living quarters and for the many concubines so they could leave through the Gate of Divine Prowess being unnoticed.

We left through the Imperial Flower Garden, were odd looking shaped rocks were part of the gardens mystic feel, and the many Dragon Claw Trees that symbolised protection to those within the wall.

It was time for lunch, and what a treat it was, everyone was taken on a Rickshaw through the old streets of Beijing, to where we had lunch with a local family in their courtyard home, called Hutongs.  The residents live where the homes of offficials and the rich once lived.  

The family, lives very close to other families, they use communial bathrooms, and most pay rent to the Government.   They are so small, one room for living in, a small kitchen and a one bedroom.   It makes you appreciate what we have back at home.  

Our afternoon then was a visit to the Temple of Heaven, completed during the Ming dynasty, it was here that the emperor would make sacrfices and pray. The temple is well kept as you will see in the photos, the blue represents the sky and the red is an imperial colour.

We leave this heavenly place, as it was very peaceful, with gardens surrounding it, we find people just in the park dancing, playing cards, flying kites, playing checkers, it was quite amazing to see all the different ages of people enjoying the open gardens and others company.    

Chinese can be known to believe in arranged weddings and this is one place you might find Mum going to the park to meet others to discuss her daughter, to set up a date.  

It feels almost like you step back in time, no TV, no phones going off, people talking to each other, laughing, and relaxing.

Photos to come for Temple of Heaven as my battery went flat, Cherie took the photos, so will have to get them from her.

After a bit of a break back at the hotel, we venture out for the night, dinner of all mixed dishes, and then the Kung Fu Show.

Andrew you would have loved this show, it was spectacular, it demonstrated all the different martial arts, aerobatics and was really colourful. Some of the stunts reminded me of a chinese style of break dancing.