The Forbidden City, one of the first place we think of when we think of Beijing. Well, you can find all the information about it online or in an innumerable amount of books. However, I will describe in here how my experience was when I visited it.
First, you have to go see it. It is an important historical site and you should at least know a little about it. Second, you will walk a lot so if you are not feeling too well that day, it is not a good idea to go. Third, you will not see as much as you wish. There is a enormous amount of people visiting the Forbidden City everyday. There are usually more than 80,000 people visiting the place even though the maximum capacity is only 60,000 people. You can imagine how difficult it would be to get that perfect picture in the middle of so many tourists.
When you go visit, do not forget to take your student ID, you will get a hefty discount. Expect to stay there for at least two hours. Remember that everything inside the museum is overpriced so you should have a full belly before entering. Take your time exploring the ins and outs of the place and if you like to know a bit more, get the audio guides, they are more reliable then the people outside trying to give you tours.
In the end, it is something you have to experience. The Palace Museum is beautiful and a good place to take lots of touristy photos. Enjoy your visit to the Forbidden City!
By Larissa Sales, Loyola University Chicago, TBC Communications and Social Media Intern and Fall 2015 Student
The past few weekends have been some of the most exciting of the entire semester, full of trips to the zoo, mountain hikes, ancient parks, and more! Our first trip out of many was a visit to the Beijing Zoo. I had mentioned earlier in the semester that I wanted to see some pandas, since I was in China after all, and our TBC friend Andy made it happen.
Spending a whole semester in Beijing, I knew I had to make the trip down south and check out Shanghai, and the city certainly lived up to the expectations. Everyone describes Shanghai as this super futuristic metropolis, and after spending a weekend there I understand why it has this reputation.