Day 2: Touring Beijing

Today we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Summer Palace and pigged out on Peking Duck.  I call it a successful day.  

Fact: there are 25 million people in Beijing alone. 1.4 billion in China. 5 million cars.  There are restrictions on which cars can drive which day of the week, depending on their number plate.  Except on Saturdays and Sundays.  On the weekend, all cars are allowed, and they all take the liberty.  It was like 'porridge' on the road today, as described by our tour guide Maggie (yes, like the noodles kind hehe).

Fact: Tienanmen Square is the largest square in the world.




Fact: Religion is forbidden in China.  Officials, military personnel, government employees are not allowed to have a religion. Smart.
Fact: The portrait of Chairman Mao in the Tiananmen Square weighs 5 tons 


Fact: The Forbidden City is called forbidden, because the locals were not allowed in, and the Concubines and servants living there were not allowed out. Small price to pay, considering the place is made up of 9999 rooms around massive plazas (we didn't get to see them all 😒). 





Fact: only 20 years ago, Chinese were not allowed to visit Beijing
Fact: the Summer Palace has the longest corridor in the world - all 728m of it.  Geez, the Chinese must really be leading in the Guinness World of Records.

  



Fact: there are over 100 Universities in Beijing alone
Fact: it is illegal to find out the sex of the baby during pregnancy in China.  Let's skip the whole saga on how many children they are allowed to have nowadays, and how expensive it is to go over your quota.  Needless to say, your third will be illegal and will not receive an ID card so no schooling, no health care etc. unless you're filthy rich.  Only Bill Gates could afford the fourth.
Fact: if you buy an apartment in China, it's yours for 70 years, then it belongs to the government.  Everything belongs to the government.

After all that education, we were taken to a shopping mall restaurant for Peking duck (and 8 other shared dishes).  The traditional roasting method is 400 years old and involves roasting the duck for two hours over peach wood.  Delish!

(I seem to be consistent in how I finish every post so far - let's see if China converts me from loving Thai food the most).  

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