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Here
is another shot of the Forbidden City, with the large city
of Beijing all aound us.
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Here is Mike, and our tour guide, Xing
Xing. She is a really nice lady from the outer provinces,
who hopes one day to open up her own tour agency. She speaks
really good english, and became a good friend.
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Here is another palace building.
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Another one of the many thrones used
for only certain ceremonies and occasions. Each throne building,
room and throne has a different theme, color and style.
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There were large courtyards everywhere.
Not as many trees in the outer grounds, or shade for that
matter.
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There is a large moat surrounding this
enormous city complex. The excavation materials were used
to make a large hill, used for city defense. You can see this
hill behind Xing Xing and Mike in the background. It is covered
with trees, and is about 400 feet high.
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There were shops and snack areas everywhere.
There were also crews working on rebuilding and fixing the
city in many locations.
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Another imperial throne.
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In the very inner courtyard areas closer
to the man-made hill, there was a few acres of lush gardens
and trees. Here are some shots of that.
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Lots of cool resting places, small man
made stone cliffs with waterfalls, and special trees. Servants
used to have to carry water up the cliffs and pour the water
down to make the waterfalls work. That is alot of work!
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