Caught the subway to Tiananmen Square with 5 million other Chinese only to find another 5 million had got there before us. Not only that about 2 million wanted to use the public loo plus us two. Irene did and has now had another experience of a lifetime.
The square is the biggest I have ever seen and the busiest but quite wonderful.
Need to say now that Beijing and China to date has been incredible and not as we expected. Fantastic to be here. Chinese outnumber Westerners by about a million to one.
Tiananmen Square in front of the Mao Memorial Building
There were huge queues of people filing past Mao, who is still lying in state! South of the square are two gates of old Beijing, we visited the main gate. After that it was The Forbidden City. Amazing, huge, colourful and very tiring. 8000 rooms, a km x 750 m, and more Chinese!
Gate of the Forbidden City
Palace of Supreme Harmony
Next port of call was Wangfujing Street. Trendy, expensive shops for the local trade. Interesting, showing us yet another side of China. Found back street market too. Back to hotel with sore feet!
Market street off Wangfujing Street
