04.02.09 Visiting Mao

We started the day at 7:30 by taking a taxi from the hotel straight to the Tian'anmen Square to go to Mao's mausoleum. There was quite a queue already at 7:45, but it took us only about half an hour to get to see Mao, the whole 30 seconds of it. After we had walked through the room where he is lying we went to see exhibitions of the most important leaders of that time on the top floor of the mausoleum building.

After Mao we meant to go to a museum next to the Tian'anmen Square, but the museum is under repairs from 2007 to 2010. So, we decided to go to KFC for a little breakfast. With breakfast finished, we decided to go see the ancient observatory where all the emperors would go to predict the future (crops and such) and look at the stars. From the observatory we continued to walk to see the old Ming city walls of Beijing and South-East corner watchtower. The wall was build during the Ming dynasty to surround the city and protect it. Now, only parts of it remain that have been restored and parts that will be restored.


In the evening we went for dinner with Yanfeng. Tomorrow its time for Fiona and Roger to go back to Suzhou, and time for me to go to the dormitory. I can't wait to get my internet connection, but in a way I'm a little afraid too because I will be alone for the first time during my trip. But it will probably be ok, I have a roommate and there's probably other students in the dormitory too.