OOOoooO Forbidden City!

forbidden city was something ive always wanted to see aswell! olympic park check! forbidden city check! haha but today was unbearable hot. we arrived at tianemen square and went throught the first gate of the city... there were several gates to pass through.. at least seven i think.. i was surprised to see through the first gate basketball courts and shops... but once we get the tickets to go through the second gate,, then thats the main forbidden city.. im sure im not the first filipino to go throught the city. hahah but it seemed like i was the only filipino there that day. it was very impressive! it reminded me of the movies filmed there like jackie chan movies etcs.  we decided to walk on the side paths since they were in shadow. and it wasnt so hot.   sat at the bench for a while with our shoes off and went into airconditioned museum which was also cool... i saw alot of people eating icecream and i wanted one too so i convince grzechu to buy one also. ahah since he doesnt like sweets. the icecream was perfect food for the weather... we went through several more gates until we ended up the emperors garden which was the last stop till the exit of forbidden city... we had quite a walk to the metro from where we started and we were harrased by bike transport guys.. i wasnt but grzechu was. hahah but we decided to head back to the hostel and get a little rest...

then off to the park we go! where the heavenly temple was located.. the heavenly temple was a round temple located in the middle of the park. . we had to pay to get into the park ofcourse and the temple area itself was closed.. but we could still see it above the walls.. typical park full of old people exercising and dancing.. we could also see several bats flying around.. people flying kites.. then we got hungry and decided to eat at our local place.. there are several local food places by our hostel and think we tried them all.. there was this noodle place.. then there was place where we had great spicy chicken and beef. and there was this place which was expensive and smokey. hahah but we went back a second time to the spicy place since it was our favorite.. we couldnt read the menu but grzechu had a cheat sheet and we matched the symbols and just guessed... the next day grzchu will complain about the noisy workers and how he couldnt sleep... we also had a roomate from canada who was travelling a year.. he left the next day to meet his girlfriend.  and so ends the first real day of beijing