PEK : Istana Terlarang...

Secara kasarnya bandaraya metropolis beijing ni berpusatkan forbidden palace/city (istana terlarang ikut bahasa aku). maksud aku... orientation bandar ni, dgn forbidden palace ni kat tgh2... dan ring 2, 3, 4 - 6 adalah expressway mengelilingi palace ni... the first 2 ring mmg central lah... and office selalunya between ring 3 - 5.

So setelah aku menjejak great wall, hari ahad tu, aku g pulang the 2nd best thing kat beijing... the forbidden palace ni.. huge magnificent palace... katanya forbidden sbb masa dulu hanya raja2 je boleh masuk... pekerja2 istana dan org2 berkaitan ngan istana je blh... rakyat2 tak blh (perhaps boleh kalau ada occassion kot... tak ingat)you can read the whole history about this palace kat wikipedia... so i shall not elaborate more abt this palace... for me it is a huge palace yg mengagungkan raja... dan kebanggaan utamanya n yg disebut ramai tentang banyak nya gundik nya... :-) tp yg lebih mengagumkan aku, betapa ramai nya pelancong, who were mostly local tourist or at least look so chinese... tak ramai sgt pelancong asing...tempat ni buka jam 8.30am and tutup around 4.30... aku cadangnya nak test camera je dtg sini... tp since dah sampai, kena gak lah tahu the history. so aku sewa the audio guide (setelah aku tgk citer slumdog millionaire, aku agak suspicious ngan guide2 persendirian yg blh diambil kat depan pintu masuk). for me the guide tu bagus, full of information. tp kenkadang agak laju, sampai kita tak sempat follow, bila ramai org, kita jalan slow skit... so tak dpt catch up. n kenkadang sbb censor detect awal, kita tak naik tangga lagi, dia dah citer pasal dlm hall... tp for a brief citer ok lah... :-)

walaupun ramai... there is still some space that u can find no one... ooh didn't i said i came here just to try out my camera... these are some pics that i took... trying very hard to be creative and full use of the camera (up to the knowledge aku ada lah) very amateurish...
it's a huge complex... kalau rajin tgk each n every room and small palace meant for the concubines... mau ambik masa 4 jam at least... aku yg jump here and there and getting tired... pun abis 4 jam... and tak g semua tempat pun.. but snap loads of pictures lah... nasib baik aku g sorang, kalau dengan member... sure bosan dia...

for this trip, aku cuma g palace ni je, ada 2 lagi tempat/historical building yg interesting, the summer palace and temple of heaven... save for later dates, insyaAllah... for those yg g trip package tour akan dpt g tempat2 lain lagi....

this palace is seriously a must visit definitely!!!

btw.... at the south gate tempat ni terletaknya tiannamen square yg famous tu. aku tak rajin nak bgn pagi tgk depa naikkan bendera... or perhaps ada taichi... hehehe