Day 91 (5 September): Forbidden City

We arrived in Beijing early in the morning after taking the overnight train. We spent the day seeing Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. Along the way our guide took us into various government-sponsored factory shops for silk, perals, and tea. In the evening we saw a Peking Opera production.

Observations:
1) The manager of the tea shop was trading stocks behind the counter. When I asked him about it he said its how he spends most of his day.
2) Tourist overload. Compared to when I was in Beijing three years ago and at the same sights there is a complete overload now. China has definitely seen a tourist explosion. In fact, there are so many tourists now that seeing these major sights in Bejing is almost unpleasant now. Three years ago in parts of the Forbidden City you could be alone; now you are elbow-to-elbow with people fighting to make there way through it.
3) Corner bike repair shops. Instead of car repair shops bike repair shops for quick flat fixes abound in Bejing. This makes getting a minor problem fix easy and keeps the bike traffic flowing.
4) The relative ‘richness’ of Bejing to the rest of China seems to have decreased in the last couple of years at least based upon the places I went this time (which were different than last time) except for Bejing.