Forbidden City

We had a relaxed start and walked about 20 minutes from the hotel to Tiananmen Square which is so enormous it took another half hour to walk the length of it to the Forbidden City. As it was Monday the palace and museum were closed, but we had enough to see wandering around. Because it was Monday the square was less busy. Nevertheless there were thousands of Chinese tourists. Many wanted their picture taken with Mr C. I think he is famous in China.

The tiny people going into the Forbidden City show how big the Mao painting is.

Mr C suggested it was best I did not sit down in the Square in case a tank ran me over. There was a high level of security- X-ray bag checks, sniffer dogs, police, soldiers and security men in reservoir dog suits. They all stood by fire extinguishers presumably in case anybody wanted to self-immoliate.

Now we must pack up for our horrid early start for the 20 minute walk to the station. We reach Ulan Bator on Wednesday night.