If you can get beyond the crowds, this little forest is really something else.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We're not exactly strangers to civilization, though. Right to Starbucks!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And we enter a portal into a garden world...
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I'm guessing we've got these guys to thank for the restoration work.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I think this is one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire place.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

How did we ever stay on time before the sundial?
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Nice, eh?
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I believe this is a prince's throne room, somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The urns here have been fairly recently restored as we enter yet another throne room.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is a female lion, which is obvious because under its left paw is a baby cub. For the males, under the left paw is the world.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is the path up to the main throne room. Apparently, only the emperor could use the central path, which seems really substandard compared to the adjacent steps.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

It takes a few hours to get to this point (if you go to the forbidden city, I'd highly recommend getting there early), and a rest is quite in order.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Each passageway in the forbidden city seems to lead to a completely different place, from the far side here you can see a lot of the central forbidden city's buildings going off into the distance.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The main throne room (I think).
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Ryan's looking royal.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This guy's awesome, despite the rather poor color choice for his clothing.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

A throne room, not the throne room. There are actually quite a few in the forbidden city, since it's an entire city where only one person could ever leave, in theory, the emperor himself. Of course, he rarely did.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Hey, folks!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Throughout the palace there are numerous exhibits, including displays of traditional costumes or (in this case) musical instruments.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I didn't see these folks 'till the exit, which made things much simpler.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

When I went to the Brandenburg gate in Berlin it was just like this, only sponsored by Deutsche telecom.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Linh is thinking really hard, while Bo Yong's about to kick some serious butt.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Bo's still trying to figure stuff out as we head in. A couple of minutes after this we all split up because it was easier then trying to get everyone to agree on what to do/where to go, etc...and from then on it was a whole lot simpler.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The beginning of the forbidden city is quite dramatic, but actually a little smaller then I pictured.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Michael Jackson's farewell tour comes to China.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Chillin' on the moat. There's a series of white bridges that are quite pretty, and mosquito infested.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Bo's making sense of it all, fanning himself with his awesome fan, as always.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

These guys stared at me for something like 5 minutes. So I took a picture of them.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This dude really wanted a picture with me as I waited for the tickets. So I wanted one too.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I waited here for 20 minutes while a ethnic Chinese bought our student tickets for the 40 kuai discount. Otherwise, you can have problems getting it. Just to illustrate how crazy these folks can be, a friend of ours who is a Chinese national (from Guangdong) on the UC program couldn't get the discount.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is a Chinese friend of another UC student...I think.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Look, up in the sky!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I was shocked to walk inside, and see a totem pole! Am I in Beijing, or Vancouver?
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Holy moly, when you get inside the first gate there's a lot of people. You have to go through this courtyard to the second gate to enter the forbidden city. There's a restaurant before the entrance...don't eat there. I got a piece of raw chicken in my tofu. Then I was approached by a beggar who wanted my food, which I gladly yielded. After furiously begging other students for tissues, I felt sick the rest of the day.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Headin' on in.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Hero's psyched!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is her first time to TianAnMen. She's been here over a year!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

See! What did I tell you, Absolutely no resemblance. Seriously.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

At left: "May the People's Republic of China last 10,000 years."
EAP China! Robert Klein.

To get across the street to the main gate of TianAnMen, you pull an Arc de Triomphe. Oh, and I stand corrected, 1 kuai for the vendor thanks to Hero's PRC flag purchase.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Chattin' it up with the vendor. She was a hit, though I don't think anyone bought her stuff.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The best PLA soldiers are used for crack flag raising duty.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I think I'm very pleased to see no resemblance.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Our Chinese buddy, Bo Yong and Linh, nicely framing Obelisk #1.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Obelisks of the people.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Very patriotic. Flags are only 1 kuai!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

See that big gate in the background? Yup, this is TianAnMen square.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The peasants lead forward! And so does Bo.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

It's Mao's mauseoleum, and its giant line (they whisk you by the body, I'm told, after a 45 minute wait).
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Qianmen's actual monuments are, of course, under construction for 2008. It'll be interesting to see what this city looks like "finished," but I have a feeling that won't happen for the next 30 years, at least.
EAP China! Robert Klein.