Our final full day in Beijing was an early start to see Tiananmen square, Forbidden city, Jingshaw park and the Hutong area. The square holds about 1/2 million people and on the 1st October each year they celebrate the national day of the People's Rebublic of China, in prepartion for this they were building a huge basket of flowers in the centre. There is a main road between Tiananmen square and the Forbidden city which surprised me as I had not noticed this in photographs. We then went to the Forbidden city which is also built on the city central line, a key part of Feng Shui for spirtual balance...and not forgetting LONGEVITY.

The Forbidden palace was used by the previous dynastys before becoming a museum when the last dynasty fell. It covers a huge area and half of the space was living quarters for the Emperor, royal family and the Emperor's concubines. The buildings were beautifully decorated but they did began to look a bit samey after the 4th set, I think we might struggle to identify which building we are looking at when we look back at the photos! While walking around the palace a random chinese lady grabbed my arm, our guide translated that she wanted a photo with a foreign friend, I happily obliged.

Next was the Jingshaw park which is at the top of a hill and is also built on the city central line. After climbing to the top we had a 360 degree view over Beijing and you could clearly see the symmentry of the Forbidden palace and Tiananmen square on the city central line. While photographing the lovely scenery I became aware a Chinese man (with no teeth) was staring at me. I told Ant as the man was beginning to freak we out as he kept walking closer to me, at that point I realised he was touching my arm and saying "Panda" (I was wearing my Chengdu panda t-shirt). Once again it was Snowie to the rescue and he began speaking to the man, who it turned out wanted a photo with Ant and I. The man shook both of our hands and said he loved us and my t-shirt, with his limited English. We agreed to the photo and he quickly took us to the area with the best background for a photo. Overall he was a very nice man if not a little strange!

In the afternoon we were taken by Rickshaw to the Hutong area, which is a traditional Chinese courtyard housing estate. Followed by lunch in a family home, which is basically a restaurant for tours to go to in someones living room. Snowie then informed us of an appropriate tip for the family and rickshaw driver, something our tour company never made us aware of. So when the rickshaw dropped us off at the last stop he turned expectantly for a tip, feeling slightly pressured Ant quickly got the money together. The downside of Chinese money, a 50 note is the same colour as a 1 note and we unfortunately over tipped, rather than 20 (£2) we gave 69 (£7)! Slightly frustrating as we didn't know there would be tipping at all.

Before we returned to the hotel there was one additional place to visit that was not on our itinerary. Prince Gong's mansion in the Hutong area, one of the many nephews of the emperor. This was a large house with similar decoration to the Forbidden palace with a lovely courtyard garden. This was made up of 4 seperate gardens: vegetable, bamboo, flowers and rocks. Apart from the garden neither of us found the mansion that interesting, particularly as we had seen the Forbidden palace that morning. We soon returned to our hotel for an early evening where we could began to pack and enjoy another wonder around the nearby "walking district".