Forbidden City, China

If you want to have a taste and know how the emperors live, you should try to visit the Forbidden City. It was once forbidden for commoners to enter this  massive palace that when it was open to the public, it was know as Forbidden City. This place is so huge that it is not known as a palace, nor a complex or even a village or a town. But a CITY!

 

Now this place is known as Palace Museum. So, you are not entering this place to look at exhibits but the building itself hold the stories unknown to many. This place is simply massive and amazing.

Who have this massive drain to separate their compound from the public?

This is no drain...nor it is a stream. This is bigger than most rivers. And the Palace Museum has it surrounded at four corners!

And you don't just simply place any oil barrels as guard post but you built a massive command centre for it at four corners.

And at the main gate, let's built a fort! Not just any fort like Fort Cornwallis but a tall, huge fort! More like a castle cum fort!

 

Well, this is just the outside. Imagine what you can expect from the inside. Imagine, what will the emperor do when he is bored? How will he built his garden? Well, you have a big cascading waterfall 3 to 4 stories high!

 

Then, you built ponds and decorate it with stone sculpture...

nice, unique plants...

and also put up a massive 9 dragons mural!

Just to give you an idea how huge and massive this Palace Museum is, I spend the whole day in this place and only cover like 40% of the area. To walk from one end to another end without stopping takes me about 30 minutes. In this Palace Museum, they have more than 9000 rooms! Who have such a grand palace? I don't think Brunei's Sultan has such a big palace too.

Next time, when you are Beijing, do pay a visit to this place. It's open from 8.30am to 5pm and cost RMB60 for the entrance ticket. If you have your student card, bring along as the ticket only cost RMB20. Entrance to the Clock exhibits and Palace Collection is another RMB10 each!

Coming next Forbidden City II- The throne of the Emperor!