grumeti peking

The Forbidden City, today a museum, official the palace museum, was the residence of the Ming and Qing-dynasty rules. 1406 the building construction commenced and was until 1911 the home of 24 emperors. The area is 720'000 sqm and one will find 9'000 rooms and halls. Since 1987 it belongs to the UNESCO world heritage sites.
We spent plenty of hours there, did see a lot but then we didn't see everything, it was impossible to cover the ground, so huge. We left 1 hour before closing and tried to find a Taxi. Oops, only a few available and for 4x higher price than on our way to the location. No thank you, we started walking, always watching the street for a free Taxi. 30 minutes later we would have paid the asked price as it will take us hours walking back to Hotel !
The solution was small and on 2 wheels, a scooter with a small cabin in the back just enough space for two. Advantage, I tried to find a positive argument, the guy drove between the cars and avoided the traffic jam but we needed strong nerves ! The driver was very brave or stupid, I don't know the answer. We were more then happy to finally arrive at the Hotel without a scratch.

Day 2, we had a private guide, Jessie, she studied English to become a teacher and during her studies she earned money by being a tourist guide. Finally she did set-up her own business. She did accommodate our wishes on what to see and where to spend more time and also telling us about todays life and her experience as well as the history. We did book her from Switzerland via email.
At 10am she did pick us up at the Hotel with our private car with driver. After our Taxi experience we were glad not to have to worry about this anymore. First day, we have the City on our agenda, something old, something new. Starting with the temple of heaven, Jessie gets the tickets and we enter another world. A beautiful park with old trees and lots of Chinese people, a singer with music and people dance to it. Some exercise machines, yoga-classes for the visitors, all in the park, just join in if you can. They must have bones made out of rubber.
Another interesting corner, the marriage-market, parents have a kind of CV of the sons or daughters and exchange information about their kids. Jessie ensures us, this are not arranged marriages just a helping hand, they still can say NO. One mother allows us to have the CV on photo and Jessie translates. He is an IT specialist, 28 years old and is looking for a girl also in the IT world working, 26 years old and not taller then 155cm. Good luck!

Our driver is waiting for us at the exit and we are driving to the Hutong quarter, those old houses with their traditional shops are so different to the new high-rise buildings, it is a step back in time.
Unfortunately quit a bit of the old houses were destroyed for the Olympics, too much. Now they are more aware that this is their culture.

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