China Day 1 - Forbidden City, Beijing

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

12 January 2016

Beijing, China

So from Tiananmen Square (story here), we walked to Forbidden City; which houses the Palace Museum. This place has always been on the top in my must-visit list. Sebab dulu-dulu before all the K-Drama craze, C-Drama was the big deal. Well, for me at least. Memang hantu drama & movie Cina. Nasiblah ndak terjebak C-Pop bagai.

Alhamdulillah Allah bagi peluang menjejak. Once only in my dream...and now, berdiri seketul Err di tengah-tengah city ni. Bersyukur sangat banyak benda yang aku mau, Allah makbulkan. Aku jak yang selalu kufur nikmat. Tetttt!

Sila lah baca sejarah Forbidden City ni. Memang menarik & wow sangat. Kami yang dalam tu pun memang gigih mengukur kawasan. Just imagine, dalam 'city' ni jak sudah ada 988 surviving buildings with 8,886 rooms! Tahniah paling ulung untuk inang-inang  & guards di zaman tu. You have my ultimate respect. Hands down.

"Once served as the imperial palace for 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 - 1911). It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ancient Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on earth was so called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter without special permission of the emperor. Hence its name 'The Purple Forbidden City', usually 'The Forbidden City'." (source here)

# View of the Tiananmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) from Tiananmen Square

# One for the album
Tetaplah tertempek muka Mao di situ kan

# The back view of the Heavenly Peace Gate

# Fascinated we are with the huge door; the nine-by-nine array of golden door nails
For your information, all gates in Forbidden City are decorated with this door except for East Glorious Gate

# Meridian Gate; the front entrance to the palace comes with two protruding wings

# Entrance ticket sold at one of the wings of the Meridian Gate
40 Yuan per pax (datang berdua, tiket tetap satu. Jimat kertas katanye)

# Try test GoPro

Tapi memang sejenis failed-benda-high-tech so after few shots, bersemadilah dia dalam bag. Letih oii adjust remote control bagai. 

Actually mau tunjuk kami berdiri atas jambatan; di bawah tu sepatutnya mengalir Inner Golden Water river tapi kami kan datang winter...so sungai adalah kering. Sungai ni merentas dataran besar Forbidden City & could be seen once masuk via the golden nails door tu.

# Ber-background-kan Gate of Supreme Harmony; the focus of the palace complex

# Percubaan Jea untuk dapat angle apa ntah; aku pun ndak mampu mentafsir
Yang pasti, berketul-ketul 'muscles' si Err diinterpretasi dalam gambar. Sobs

# Truly am grateful (hence the pose?)

# Ceremonial ramp, featuring symbolic bas-relief

# The colors & decorations are somehow similar to those palaces in my kampong. Eh?

# During Ming Dynasty, Emperors held morning court & accepted memorials from officials at this place

# As the first & main hall, this hall is also known as Hall of Golden Chimes.

# The symbolic cistern in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony

# 1 of the 18 vats inlaid with gold

# On the right side is the Hall of Military Eminence

# View of the Hall of Central Harmony from the square; yang belakang tu Hall of Union

This place is massive. Huge! Rasa sudah lama dalam ni yet seems like we had only covered quarter of it. Banyak benda sejarah dihadam, tapi haruslah masa tu jak aku ingat. Mau mengarang entry ni, ke google lah aku mencari info. Ngeh~

# The three-tiered white marbles terrace rises from the Supreme Harmony Square

Like seriously lah, memang ndak dapat imagine how life is like back in the days. Dalam Forbidden City ni jak sudah seluas alam (lenguh kaki mengukur jalan), imagine Beijing itself. 

# One of the relic in the Imperial Garden; the Incense Burner

I think I did take picture of the pavilions (4 of them but I only saw 2) in this garden but can't found any of it in my hard disc. Ntah di mana-mana jaklah kau saved all those pictures kan Bie.

# The gate to the Imperial Garden

Anyway, Imperial Garden ni is a private retreat area for the imperial family. 

# Gate of Heavenly Purity 

This is the gate to one of the three halls in Inner Court. The Emperors lived here. Note that back in the days, Emperor & Empress (Palace of Earthly Tranquility) lived in a separate building. They only 'met' in the Hall of Union (located between) during certain period which was determined by the palace. Boleh tahan complicated jugalah life diorang ni hatta kau seorang Maharaja. Tabahlah demi takhta. We didn't enter these three halls as we're just too tired (and hungry) to tour around. Perut sudah start mau ber-konsert.

# The northern gate of the palace; Gate of Divine Might
We exited via this gate. This is the back gate of the palace; used by the palace workers. Women being sent to the palace for selection of concubines entered the palace via this gate as well.

# Nun di atas itu pavilions at Jingshan Park

Naik atas tu, boleh nampak full view of Forbidden City (from Wanchun Pavilion; at the central hill). Kalau datang bulan May, bolehlah layan bunga-bungaan atas tu. 

Ikut initial plan memang mau menapak naik atas tu. Dulu kala pernah jadi imperial garden for the royal family. Tapi sebab perut sudah berdentam-dentum pesta muda mudi, terpaksalah let go plan. Walau haritu ada baca dalam blog si Syieda; boleh jak naik bas untuk sampai atas. Bila kau lapar, bas yang parking depan mata pun harus kau ndak nampak. Apa lagi usaha untuk cari bus stop. Hentikanlah niat untuk berpavi-pavi bagai sebelum penyakit lain datang. 

# Northwest tower & moat...and frozen river

# Kanan tu penghujung Forbidden City, and kiri tu aku ndak tau lah area apa

Dua wanita jelita gigih menapak to the nearest subway station. Cadang untuk cari makan area hotel sebab DJ bagitau halal restoran is just 2 door away from the hotel. Masa ni memang subway station tu misi teratas tau. 

So berjalan lah dua ketul ni menyusuri tepi frozen river. Sambil layan view & sempat lah aku layan feeling melankoli sebab view gini memang favorite. Gitu kepoyoan aku kan. Ndak sedar si Jea kebekuan sejuk sudah di sebelah kau kan Bie.

Anyway, cerita makan pertama di Beijing akan disambung next entry. Alhamdulillah berjaya juga habiskan entry Forbidden City ni. Wish list eventually ticked off. Ndak sangka akan menjejak. Thank You, Allah.

Insha Allah, aku plan untuk datang Beijing lagi (tapi ntahlah bila). And this place memang akan repeat. Banyak lagi area kami ndak habis explore haritu. Next time datang, memang akan isi perut siap-siap. Or bawa bekal. 

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim