Ni Hao

Today has been the warmest so far while in China and we spent the day at the Imperial Palace or it's more common name the Forbidden City.It was in use for 5 centuries and saw 24 different emperors ruling from the Ming and Qing dynasties,the youngest being 3 years old who ruled for 61 years!!!

It sits smack bang in the middle of Beijing next to Tian'namen Square and is huge with over 800 buildings.We opted for an audio guide which was really cool as you walked around the City it would trigger sensors and start talking to you about the relevant part of the city as well as acting as your map for getting around by flashing to tell you where abouts you were.

Some of the buildings are obviously from the 14th century and it was used right up until 1911,it was also rumoured that Emperors would order 108 courses for dinner while people were starving on the streets.One thing that made me a bit squeamish was that a lot of guys with no money became eunuchs to support their family and could become quite wealthy at the expense of having your testicles chopped off!!!

The catch was that because they were considered to be disfigured they could not be buried with their ancestors,so to get around this small matter they would carry their testicles in a bag under their belt and when they died this meant they could be buried with their ancestors,weird eh!!!

The complex is huge and we spent 4 hours wandering around diving in and out of buildings and looking at treasures of the dynasties.Even after this amount of time we missed a few sections out but the cold was getting the better of our noses again!!!

Tonight we are going to try the Hotpot (not like Betty's at the rovers) you have a bowl of broth simmering away and cook your food at the table,very similar to the Malaysian steamboat that I tried way back in October.

There are photos of the Great Wall and Forbidden City on the blog for your viewing pleasure!!

Lots of Love

M & M

xx