Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

What a busy day!  We all slept until about 4:45 AM and then got up and packed for our 1:00 PM departure to Nanjing.  After Breakfast we loaded the bus and took the 45 minute drive through Beijing to Tienanmen Square.  It was a bright sunny but very cold and windy day in Beijing.  I had all my layers on and hat and gloves.  The Square was very crowded, even by Chinese standards.  Our guide told us this was because it has been closed for several weeks for repairs so there was lots of pent up demand.  She pointed out the long lines there that were waiting to see the preserved body of Chairman Mao, who has been been dead for over 35 years now.  Thankfully, we did not have to wait in that line.

There were lots of people in the square, but it is a very large area so we did not feel too crowded.  We went under the street to get to the Forbidden City and things got a little tighter.  The City is a very large area with many different courtyards and such and just kept going on and on.  Every time we would go through another large gate another large courtyard would appear.  This might have been more interesting if the crowds were thinner or the weather a little warmer but we were all getting a little cold, tired, and hungry by the time we made it to the garden at the end of the city.  We were very glad to see the bus.  We had one close call where we were in the entry way and gate from one part of the city to the next and there was a rather small door way open between the two.  The crowd started pushing and I (and several others in our group) were concerned about a stampede.  It did not turn out that bad but we definitely could not control how hard we were getting pushed and shoved.

After the long morning tour we headed back to the hotel to gather our luggage and then ate a quick sandwich lunch on the bus while heading to the airport and our flight to Nanjing.  Our guide Vivian, had us all checked in and ready to board in a very efficient manner and we actually had some time to relax before the flight.  There was a children's play area at the airport and we had a great time playing Foosball with the girls.  Mike, the British guy, turned it into an international match and there was a lot of laughing and jeering until we had quite an audience watching.  Our group tends to bring a lot of attention to itself just because of all the Foreigners and Chinese girls who speak English.

The flight to Nanjing was a good one and we quickly boarded a bus for the two hour bus ride to Yangzhou.  It was dark for most of the ride over so I did not get to see much of the country side but the entrance into Yangzhou was very interesting.  We stopped at a noodle bar for dinner.  One of the better dinners we have had but way too much food even for as hungry as we were. None of us in the back of the bus were sure why but there was no heat in the bus so we were all freezing cold by the time we reached the restaurant.

Back to the bus one more time to go to the Hotel.  After checking in a couple of us walked about a mile to a little grocery store and stocked up on some water and snacks.  Food is really cheap here so only spent $6 for several snacks an bottled water.

We met two one of the workers from the Yangzhou Orphanage at the airport who will help be our tour guide for the next few days.  Should be interesting.