Sight Seeing in Beijing 1

During my last business trip to Beijing, I extended 1 day on my own to sightsee. This was the 3rd time I went to Beijing. During the 1st trip, as the return flight was at 4pm, I had the morning to so short visit to the Forbidden City. 2nd trip, return flight was early morning, so didn’t have the chance to sightsee.

I have visited the followings in my 1st and 3rd trip:
- Forbidden City (故宫博物院)
- Great Wall (长城)
- Ming’s tomb: Chang Ling (长陵)
- Temple of Heaven (天坛)

Of all those that I have visited, I really enjoyed Forbidden City. There is an auto audio guide for rental, at only CNY 10 (around RM4.70). The audio guide explains very well on the history and structure of the palace, and it also has an electronic map indicating where you are. The only weakness of the audio guide is, it is activated by some sensors in various points of the palace. If you walk to a new place before it finishes explaining the previous one it will not repeat nor continue what it has not finished. So, just watch out for that, and let it finish before you walk into the next section should be ok.

I did not carry a camera during my 1st trip, so didn’t have any photos to share for Forbidden City. I spent 3 hours, walking every parts of the palace that are opened for visitors. It was a slow and relaxing walk, I really enjoyed it. I never liked going anywhere alone, but this is so enjoyable that it changed my attitude towards being a lone-ranger. It is definitely worth going. BTW, the entrance fee is only CNY 40!