Sunday, August 20, 2006

The Forbidden City. Again.




This is my second visit to the Forbidden City, also known as The Summer Palace, also known as The Palace Museum. I went with ChenYing, SunRongLi and XiaoDing. As I had already taken a lot of pictures the first time, the goal now is to be IN the pictures.

63 comments:

  1. Nice Pix!...hummmmm.... just 720 dayds???
    This "Portal" is inside The Forbidden City?

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  2. Yes, two more years so that's roughly 720 days. No, all the pictures before the map are just outside the Forbidden City.

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  3. Haha, Chairman Mao! Really XiaoDing's granddad? o_o
    I've read some of his book before.

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  4. Nah, I just like teasing him about Mao because he clearly idolizes the man.

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  5. feeling Last Emperor and Joni!
    but wait, who is that strange man going up the stairs?

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  6. ^ meron ngang lalaki umakyat sa stairs! hahahah!!! janitior?

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  7. Shucks, meron nga! Hahaha! Di ko napansin. Mas napansin ko pa ang double-chin ko sa picture na yan. Hahahaha! Pero dapat bawal na umakyat ah. The men were barking at us to get the hell out na. As in nakabantay sila with each step namin hanggang sa paglabas.

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  8. This one is great one. Looks awesome. Whats it all about?

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  9. Is this Dragon killing a Lion? I thought dragon are good souls..... like me... a fire dragon hehehe!! This one looks like radically violent dude!! I am for sure scared just to look at it... of course not because of you!!

    Well, you are smiling at camera, dragon is smiling at you and I am smiling or scared ... what a great combination :) hehhehehehe!!!! The circle completes...

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  10. Like a good tourist place, dont they put english translation of what the heck the text means??

    On sunday, I was in city looking for nice posters with a friend of mine and we came across many posters with chinese characters like these.. and we both looked at one such thing and exclaimed simultaneously "Coooool".. simply means it looks great but we dont know what that really means :)

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  11. Look suspicious for sure!!!!! Whats in your mind? A special ops raid??

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  12. Do they have elephants in china? I mean real one?

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  13. Unfortunately, I didn't take this picture. I knew someone's going to say this is a great shot. Sigh. This is taken by ChenYing.

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  14. It's a totem-pole-ish kinda pole but there's only one head so I guess it's just a pole. Or a post. I don't really know what's the story behind it. This is already outside the Forbidden City. Maybe it's guarding the place?

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  15. I'm not even sure if it IS a dragon. It looks like it's a cross between a dragon and a lion. And it's crashing one of its own kind, maybe an erring offspring, under its paw. Or maybe they're just playing. It's probably tickling the little one. To death. You're a fire dragon? Were you born in 1976?

    Going off-tangent, I like how my skin seems to be glowing in this picture. I must point out that I'm already sunburned here. My entire left shoulder area is still lobster red and painful. Ironically, I think this is the first time that I've been burnt so badly. I underestimated the Beijing sun.

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  16. Nice try, Lionel, but no. I actually have a picture with the English translation:


    Sometimes it's also translated as "The Imperial Palace." I personally think that's a more accurate translation. Not that anyone's asking for my opinon but well, I figured it's my site :p. Yeah, I know what you mean about seeing Chinese characters and thinking how cool they look but having no idea what they mean. Be amused with the fact that they also feel the same way about English.

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  17. What's an ops raid? And I'm not sure if they have elephants in China. I sure haven't seen any yet but I haven't been to any of the zoos nor the jungles so I'm in no position to really answer the question. It seems right that they have elephants during the ancient times though. Weren't emperors always getting carried on elephants' backs during those times? Maybe I'm thinking about Thailand...

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  18. Oh Lionel, you were talking about the post! Yeah, maybe it IS saying "goodbye tourists". :p In the morning, I think it's saying "hello tourists," though.

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  19. Hahahaha! Crazy! And you felt the need to say it twice, huh? We're friends. There's nothing to it. Yet. Hehehehe! Seriously, if it develops into something else, I promise to write about it in my blog. :p

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  20. I saw 90+ pics and thought, "DAMN!"

    I'm such a nerd, I was taking pics of the drainage and ventalation systems of the place and asking about the fire-control pots. It's a cool place.

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  21. It's a lot better than when I went there about a month ago. They've renovated a lot since then. And these are just the ones that passed my it's-ok-to-post-these-and-let-the-world-see-them pictures. There are still others that didn't make it to this page.

    Oh yes, the fire control pots. Come to think of it, a fire control alternative would probably be just running out to the open spaces as fast at their bound feet could carry them.

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  22. Oh, I already figured it out. Opium, right? Hm, they wouldn't allow us in so maybe they do have something there.

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  23. Opium... OMG...... how did you reach there??
    It seems you are not watching half a million action packed drama shows on TV like E-Ring or CSI and similar catagory. Well, Special Operations or Special Ops which is a a wing in Pentagon, US it seems which handles military operations(Official as well as dirty ones :) )

    In that pic, you looked like you are about the raid the place by breaking the door! Well, I guess, i imagined too much ... or wait may be three much!!! hehehee

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  24. How do you add that pic in reply or post??

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  25. If we go on what you say like the bigger one is tickling the smaller one to death, then for sure its dangerous form of art...... hehe!!

    Wo Shu Long! Little chinese I picked from chinese friends around......

    The master piece to drive chinese girls around crazy is : Wo ai ni!
    (Well if pronounced fast enough then the same thing means in Hindi, india's national language "She didn't arrive.")

    Added flavor. To check if the chinese pronounciation is correct.... i tried it while walking with chinese friends in school corridor following some unknown chinese girl....... trust me she looked back and smiled and then followed a fast chinese conversation.... which I gather was about if I am learning chinese...

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  26. Step 3 n 4 are confusing!.. What code? HTML code?? or u mean URL?

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  27. You'll know what I'm talking about once you followed steps 1 and 2. And yes, those sentences are handy. :p

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  28. You've just made my page your scratch paper, haven't you?

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  29. Yes, you got it. Are you angry?? If so, you look sexy when you are angry!
    LOL

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  30. Payong nila ChenYing yan. Pinahawak yata samin. Pagtapos nyan sinoli na namin. Kaya yata sila di nasunog. Actually, ako lang ang nasunog. Waaaa!

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  31. Damn, I dig this bench! It's a funky bench! So polished, and shiny, and I love wood grain! Man, I would kill people to own this bench. People I like even. I would happily crucify family members. I would work 50+ hours a week (this is me pretending that I have any sort of choice in the matter at the moment) lifting heavy shit until Christmas for this bench. It is a truly amazing piece of benchness, 110% wooden benchy goodness...

    I love this bench.

    P.S. I really really really want this bench.

    P.P.S. oh, and I guess the chick is kinda cute too...

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  32. I indeed like this acute observation from chmjanice.hehe!!!

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  33. I indeed like this acute observation of Janice.hehe!!!

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  34. It probably won't require killing people to own a bench like that. But then again, what do I know about benches and killing people? And I like how that ^ is such an afterthought. :p

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  35. Yes Achi Janice, I like my blouse too. :) I bought it on sale. Sort of an end-of-season sale. That's one of the things I like about having four seasons :p.

    At bawal umupo at magpicture! Yung mga thrones, sa labas lang ang mga tao nagpipicture.

    I'm not sure exactly what that is. I'm voting for a stone bench but there's a kinda big roundish indentation which I don't think is meant for a butt on it so maybe it's not a bench at all.

    And that red shiny thing that looks like a hundred golden tits (without nipples) grew on it is a door. Why it's designed that way, I don't know. Emperors have their quirks too, you know.

    And there's no McDonald's inside!!! How dare you suggest that?!

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  36. nuni! you always - always always! - do this thing with your legs! whyyy? it looks weird. like your legs decided to sit and then suddenly decided against it.

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  37. I don't knoooooow! Could it be that my jeans are a little too long and they always decide to fold there? Because I swear I don't do anything. I just stand, though a bit awkwardly because you know, pictures and all... Next time I'll try it with an above-the-knees skirt then you'll see that I'm really just standing normally like everyone else. Sigh.

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  38. heh, of course ;-) Why just come straight out and say something when you can go full circle around it first?

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  39. i don't get it. what about her legs?

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  40. Thank you, Achi Janice! Thank you!

    Nick, but of course! That way, the trip is so much more interesting. :p

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  41. Amazing pictures.... and I really enjoy your site. Like going to a museum or cultural center. You stopped by my site... and I stopped at yours. You have a very interesting life. Hello from me!! Jim

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  42. Thanks, Jim. You seem to be leading an exciting job yourself, saving people and all. :)

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  43. This is a little late by about a week... or so... but I couldn't go through all of your pictures quickly ... I would look and see them.. Get lost in them... the Forbidden city... wow... how fortunate you are.

    I love my job... I get worn out over disasters... but the immediate fulfillment of doing some thing that makes a difference, more than makes up for it....

    You seem to be an Anthropologist of sorts... Travel!!! People!!! Culture!!!

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  44. Tricky there with the camera!! Good shot!

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  45. No problem. You should visit China after your trip to the Philippines. :)

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  46. You travel the world the same way you eat and elephant.... One bite at a time.... You got neat things on your site.

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