Did you know that the Emperor of China had an entire wing of the Forbidden City dedicated to house his 3,000 concubines? (and they wonder why there are so many peopele here!) Also, if you are a concubine and you try to kill the king while you are concubining, he will have his people rip off your flesh over the course of three days then tie you up to 5 horses and pull you in all directions? One thing I learned: If you are a Chinese concubine, you best just do your basic duty and not pull any fast ones.
The Forbidden City was okay...felt like once you saw one beautiful building, you saw them all. There was, however, a Starbucks smack dab in the middle of it! Nearly everyone in the group treated themselves to the only cold thing in the house: Frappuccinos! It's sad how much chains (KFC, McDo, Starbucks, etc.) have broken the market here. Our guide told us that the young kids prefer the fast food to the local food. Which brings me to the next point: Local food...very meaty, which is surprising since this is a country with many Buddhists. Dumplings (dim sum) are everywhere! Breakfast is awful - rice porridge or something like that (haven't tried it...), and there are plenty of dried animal looking bits around if you are interested in a snack. Johanna they have ha flakes by the bushelful! Haha.
We're out of Beijing which is nice (very, very busy) and are in Xi'an. We've eaten in the Muslim Quarter (who would have known?!?) which means no pork, but plenty of lamb and special bread. We are doing a bike ride soon around the old city wall (they are all about the city walls here!!) and plan on getting foot massages in a few. Tonight we're onto a dumpling party - I have heard you can't get dumplings in the south of China and I hope not because I am sick of them! All is well. Looking forward to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mmmmm.
3 comments:
Ha Flakes! Why don't you just eat ha flakes for every meal? That's what I would do. You know it's true!
I told you chinese food is boring! i'm chinese and i prefer the stuff the cambodians eat.
Hey! Where did you get the idea that the Emperor of China had an entire wing of the Forbidden City dedicated to house his 3,000 concubines?
First, there is no such thing as a wing of the Forbidden City, and second the number of concubines was much lower than this. The greatest number was 40, but most emperors had much fewer. Pu Yi had only two.
An emperor could call to his bed any female in his palace, and often did take maids in preference to his one wife and several concubines. This was because in most cases he did not choose the concubines. They were chosen by his mother or grandmother.
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