Beijing-Shanghai Day 2: Forbidden City & Wangfujing

We headed to the Horizon Lounge for breakfast and were given a menu where we could select made-to-order items.

Breakfast menu

After selecting our preferred items from the menu, we proceeded to select the rest of our food from the buffet line.

Bread, muffins and drinks

Good variety of breakfast food

The Boy loves his avocado sandwich 🥪 

After breakfast at 11.30am, we took a premium 6-seater car via DiDi (CN¥53) to the meeting point at Bank of China Donganmen branch for our day tour.

Waiting in the lobby for our car to pick us up

As we were early, we explored the nearby Wangfujing Street.

Beijing APM mall 

Wangfujing Street

Pop Mart and Fila

The Boy complained that his shoes were too tight for him, even though he had only worn them once in Hokkaido! 😓 We were very lucky that Fila was having a sale so both the Boy and Mum-in-law managed to buy sneakers at a good deal! 😁

Our meeting time for the day tour I had booked via Klook was at 12.20pm. The walking tour costs $48.65 per person, including the Littlest.

After meeting our tour guide, it was a pretty long walk to the East Gate of the Forbidden City 紫禁城.

The East Gate is only for exit not entry

We had to walk around the outer wall of the palace grounds all the way to the main entrance at Meridian Gate.

Walking towards Donghuamen

Meridian Gate

Queue for entry and security checks
(Mum-in-law was wearing her new Fila shoes!)

It is very unlikely that you'd be able to finish exploring Forbidden City in one day. It is humongous and that's not even an exaggeration! 😅 After walking for more than 10k steps, I felt we had only just scratched the surface in the 4 hours that we were there (a colleague visited more than once and also did not manage to finish)! 

Gate of Supreme Harmony

Bridges in front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony

Super scenic

Family photo

Our guide explained to us that only the Emperor can have buildings with gold roofs. This is in contrast with the blue or green roofs at the Temple of Heaven.

Hall of Supreme Harmony

Close up of the Hall of Supreme Harmony

Our tour guide explaining the layout of the Forbidden City (left)
and the oldest sun clock that the ancient Chinese people used to tell time (right)

Bronze and iron vats filled with water were used to protect the palace from fire

One of the palace gift shops

Our tour package included tickets to Royal Treasure Gallery, where we could view the royal collection of historical artifacts. 

Entrance to The Treasure Gallery

Introduction to The Treasure Gallery

Decorative bonsais

Items used by royalty

Stone museum

Gold and silver items used by the Qing imperial family

Gold filigree 5-phoenix head ornament (left);
Phoenix Crown worn by Chinese empresses (right).

There were too many people in the gallery and we could barely take decent photos of the artifacts, not to mention a longer look! 

Next, we visited the palaces of the Emperor and Empress. Both living quarters were in the center of the Forbidden City and the largest.

Palace of Earthly Tranquility

Our tour ended at the Imperial Garden, which is found at the rear of the Forbidden City. Our tour guide explained that trees were only found in the living quarters of the imperial family and not the central areas as the Emperor was afraid of an attack from his enemies (trees provided a good cover).

Interesting garden with many trees that are more than hundreds of years old and an artificial wall that was built to give the Emperor the feeling of being in the mountains

We ended our tour at 4.30pm somewhere near The Palace Museum 故宫博物院, which we didn't manage to visit.

The Palace Museum

When we exited, it was difficult to call for a car as the roads were blocked. We had to walk to Beihai Park South Gate to hail a DiDi back to our hotel (cost CN¥88).

Our DiDi passed Tian An Men 天安门 along the way so that we can snap a quick photo without needing to visit!

The famous Tian An Men

Tian An Men Square 天安门广场

Back at the hotel, we headed to the Horizon Lounge for evening canapés.

Slightly different snacks!

The family wanted to eat Peking duck so the Mum-in-law, Eldest and I took a DiDi back to Wangfujing to buy dinner and do some shopping. 

Ye Duo Duo restaurant

Eldest eating her tanghulu (sugared food on a stick) while we waited for the chefs to prepare the Peking duck

Late night shopping just before the malls closed

Trying to find a supermarket

We were directed to Beijing Department Store

Found a supermarket at the basement

After buying groceries at the supermarket, we headed back to our hotel to enjoy the Peking duck! It was really good! If we ever return to Beijing in future, we'd dine at the restaurant for sure!

Enjoying our Peking duck

I finally collapsed on my bed after a long day of walking and clocking over 20,000 steps! 😅

Continue to >> Beijing-Shanghai Day 3: Mutianyu Great Wall & Qianmen
<< Back to Beijing-Shanghai Day 1: Temple of Heaven & China World Hotel Horizon Club

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