Gardens!

I woke up this morning and decided to visit Tiananmen Square. And about damn time too! Can y'all believe I haven't been to it yet? It's high time that was remedied, I said to myself. So I did, cause I am a man of action.


There we are! At long last!

Now, here's the thing about Tiananmen Square. It's huge, and it's certainly impressive. But when you get down to it, that's pretty much all you can say. Big featureless buildings and huge featureless courtyards. Don't get me wrong, I dutifully walked through it and was duly awed, but... when you get down to it, 'big' is the most you can say about it.

My plan was to walk through Tiananmen and onwards to take a look at the Forbidden City. But calamity! The Forbidden City closes at a ridiculously early hour, and I was too late. Woe. But lemme say this: if anybody ever finds themselves in the same situation, just turn left. You'll find yourself in a great little place called the Sun Yat Sen Garden: a little park right in the middle of the city that somehow lets you forget about traffic and skyscrapers.


I'll say this for Beijing: it's got some wonderful parks.

After all that, it was back to the hostel. I gotta say, I think I prefer the Chinese Box. It's just more fun there, and it's got a great atmosphere. People hang out and meet each other. Here, everyone's already doing their own thing. Ah well. I reckon I'll head back there tonight to see what everyone's doing.

G'night!