The Imperial Garden & The North Gate

The Imperial Garden & The North Gate

As time was short, we practically brisk walked through the Imperial Garden towards the North Gate! If we had a little more time, I would love to have lingered in this part of the Forbidden City and admire the trees there that were a few hundred years old!

In the distance is a bare tree known as the ‘Dragon Palm’. This was because the twisted mangled branches closely resembled the arms and claws of a dragon.

A closer look at the ‘Dragon Palm’ tree. That’s the top of my wife’s head!

Lots of old old trees. Some some old they looked petrified. They even felt like solid rock.

The royal study. The guide told us that this was where the Emperor and Empress would come to enjoy the view of the garden and gaze at the moon at night. Totally romantic!

That’s me. It was getting cold again and I had to add on a scarf!

Exiting one section of the Imperial Garden into another large section of the garden.

A pavilion in the midst of the garden.

Pink magnolia flowers.

Tree trunks so old, they looked and felt like rock. The white stuff was probably frozen bird poo.

Inching closer to the North Gate (Shen Wu Men) after leaving the Imperial Garden.

The last emperor of China, Emperor Pu Yi, left by this gate when he fled the city.

You can read about the gate on the sign above…if you have very good eye sight.

Finally exiting the Forbidden City after a 2 hour walk. It was about 3 pm then… we were all very tired and very hungry. We eventually had lunch at 4 pm!!! More like thunch! (tea + lunch)

The moat surrounding the Forbidden City.

One last look before we left the place for good. The experience was great!

So Tired

I feel so tired and sleepy. My initial hope was that the clinic would end early (fat chance actually) and I could go to the gym and maybe just sit in the sauna and relax. I have not gone to the gym the whole of this month and I felt it’s good money wasted.

Unfortunately, the clinic was packed! 50 listed patients and 41 unlisted ones. So that was a total of 91 patients not including those who walked in with a referral letter from wherever they came from. I didn’t have much energy to start with, having slept badly last night while on call. By 6pm, I felt like I had no more energy left. So I did the unthinkable….I left the clinic! There were about 5-6 folders not seen yet. Sorry my dear fellow colleagues, I just didn’t have the energy to see another patient!

Usually seeing patients is a breeze. Not today, most of the patients I saw were new referrals. That would mean taking a long detailed history from each of them, examine them thoroughly and finally formulate a plan of action, and then…explain to the usually bewildered and ignorant patient what I think is wrong with them, and my next plan of action. Long, tedious, tiring….

I saw a young chinese man today. He had this neck swelling that wouldn’t go away. So, he went to a private hospital and they took out some of the swelling and subsequently diagnosed him with tuberculosis. He was promptly started on anti-TB but he defaulted after he felt better and the lump disappeared. The lump came back with a vengeance within 2 weeks. Back he went to the private hospital, he was restarted on the anti-TB and was asked to go for a blood test.

Blood test came back last week….he has HIV. He came today with his mum and sister. His wife left him last week, taking along the 3 children they had together. He was a drug addict. Sigh! I think deep inside, he must be a very broken man.

You know, I really feel for him. I have great concern for patients like this young man. It’s one of the reason why I want to be an ID physician. A lot of people I know would have turned away in disgust. Some will say he totally deserves it.

I beg to differ. It’s not for me to judge him. It’s a challenge to get him back on his feet again and to offer hope. He is admitted now. I wish him well. I know that he will be in good hands. I also hope that he will have his family again; maybe not now, maybe someday, eventually. No one should go through this alone.

It’s been a long day and I am tired. But I feel happy. I believe I have started some one on the path of recovery. I like to think that now he feels a glimmer of hope.

The Inner Sanctum and Imperial Consorts

We are entering the inner court of the Forbidden City. This big yellow wall was the first sight we saw.

The ‘Hall of Mental Cultivation’. This is the place where the Emperor conducted his state affairs and private meetings. See the picture (Yang Xin Dian) below explaining the history behind this hall.

Another huge vat, this one was made of iron.

The buildings here were rather poorly maintained. The paint work hasn’t been touched up for a long time.

Roof architecture. This was the place where the Emperor held private meetings.

Ancient furnitures, taken through a glass pane (that’s why there are reflections)

The throne. Notice another larger throne behind the first smaller one? The two thrones were separated by a piece of cloth. Because the Emperor (Qing Dynasty) was so young, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Ci An sat behind him on the larger throne, properly veiled. From there she conducted the affairs of the state by proxy. They were known as the “Power behind the Throne”.

A peculiar piece of bronze work placed outside the entrance.

The ‘Room of 3 Rarities’. See the next few pics below.

Ancient manuscripts in the Room of 3 Rarities.

We left the Hall of Mental Cultivation to enter another much smaller courtyard. Here we encountered a large crystal placed in the middle of the court yard by the Empress Dowager. This area was inhabited by the Empress and the Emperor’s favourite consorts. It was said that some of his concubines only had one chance of being with him before being relegated to live elsewhere. So, competition was fierce! This place was called the ‘Hall of Consolation’.

The giant crystal. It was put there to ‘remind’ the imperial consorts of the virtues of purity, trust and loyalty. In short, ‘don’t even think of having an affair if you know what’s good for you!”

One of the many bedrooms in the Hall of Consolation.

Another bedroom

Yet another bedroom. You can imagine how many concubines stayed here!

Ancient clocks. The place was just full of clocks!

And still another bedroom!

The Emperor’s bed!

Furnishings in the Emperor’s bedroom

Ancient game of chess

We left the Hall of Consolation, to enter a small alley. Here were numerous giant door ways. All of them were unfortunately locked. I think on that day we barely saw 5% of the entire Forbidden City!

From here we exited through another large doorway to enter the Imperial Garden.

Toilets in Beijing

I must say I was most impressed with the toilets in Beijing. I think the dirtiest toilet that I used in Beijing was the one at the Great Wall at Badaling. There were a few drops of urine on the floor. Obviously the grave sin was from some one who was a bad aim, or have severe prostate problems or he was so frozen, he peed icicles (which subsequently melted on the floor). Elementary my dear Watson…

But seriously, I was really impressed with the cleanliness I encountered there. Every toilet I visited was sparkling clean. I think one can even sleep on the floor! They all have dedicated staff walking around with their mop, cleaning the place the instant you leave.

I thought it was amazing considering that some of the places I went receives tourists by the thousands! In Beijing, they have different names for toilets. They don’t call them toilets; the most commonly used word was ‘W.C.” which I think is an abbrevation for ‘water closet’. One place named their WC as ‘comfort room’. Interesting huh?

I also liked the concept of a shared wash basin area. The gents and the ladies are separated of course but they all used a common wash area after the ‘business’. I think it saves on building separate facilities.

I think a nation’s success can be measured in terms of how clean their public toilets are. I suppose Beijing would rank pretty high by this standard, what more with them playing host to the 2008 Olympics. Next year is Visit Malaysia Year…but judging by the way we abuse our toilets here, I really shudder thinking about what the tourists will think of us.

A very interesting sign outside a book store at the Changi Airport.

Toilets at the Changi Airport were of course immaculately clean. I wouldn’t expect any less. I can’t say the same for KLIA though.

A ‘Comfort Room’ at one of the places we visited in Beijing

A WC at one of the restaurants where we had lunch. The place was called ‘A Fun Tin’, a Turkish themed restaurant (very dark inside with TV showing Turkish dancers and singers…very distracting and noisy).

 

This was the stall at the toilet! Reminds you of a horse stable doesn’t it? Woe betide one who is busy doing his big business some one decides to barge into the stall!!!

Another funny sign outside the toilet at the Beijing International Airport. On it were instructions on how to use a ‘Shoes Burnishing’ machine. I take it that burnishing here meant ‘polishing’. I certainly do not want my shoes to be burnished (unless I am wearing copper ones of course).

Interrupted Sleep

Post call today. I feel like I haven’t slept at all. Interrupted sleep is like this. I dread to think of the clinic this afternoon. I can feel a small headache coming on the right side of my head…the start of a migraine. I wonder how am I going to make up for the 3 years or so sleep deficit that I have accumulated over the years!

I read in the papers yesterday that our Health Minister revealed the ‘shocking’ news that many doctors cannot handle emergency situations. I really wonder what’s so shocking about the matter. It’s to be expected isn’t it?

A specialist is defined as some one who knows more and more about less and less. So, over the years of training to be a specialist, I would not expect, say, an opthalmologist or an ENT surgeon to know how to resuscitate a collapsed patient.

It’s a different story with physicians or surgeons or ER doctors. I don’t expect these category of doctors to ‘forget’ how to resuscitate a patient.

Still, I laud the minister’s good intentions when he suggested that these ‘forgetful’ doctors attend refresher courses on emergency medicine. Actually I’d rather they attend coourses on how to manage simple medical conditions like hypertension or diabetes, instead of paging the physicians every now and then to manage these very basic medical ailments.

The Forbidden City

I remember asking one of my friend, why was the city called the Forbidden City. I remember him telling me to try and do something scandalous there and see how forbidding it is! Well, I didn’t. The reason why it was called the Forbidden City was because here was the dwelling place of the Emperor in ancient times. The place was persona non grata as far as the common people were concerned. Now the place has been renamed as the ‘Palace Muzeum’. However, everyone still called it by its former name; and why not, it sure sounded more romantic and mysterious.

A city is a very apt description for this gargantuan place. It was indeed a well fortified palace/city, measuring 15×15 km and surrounded by a huge moat at all sides. That’s even larger than my home town! Walking through the city was a memorable event. It was like going back into ancient history. We entered the city via the South Gate and exited at the North Gate 2 hours later! I have uploaded a pictorial guide of our 2 hour walk that day.

The entrance of the Forbidden City. The tunnel into the city was packed. Our guide had to hold the green flag real high so that we don’t get lost. Still, 5 of our group got lost and we had to wait for them to be found…

After the tunnel we entered into a large square. In the background, you can see the first of many incredible ancient buildings. The square was packed with tourists and souvenir shops. We didn’t linger long here.

Atop the building were 2 persons dressed in traditional clothings. I suppose they were acting as the Emperor and Empress. We didn’t linger long enough to look closely.

We entered another large square after passing through another tunnel. This square was larger than the previous one. In the middle was a man-made river traversing the square. It was called the Golden River. Five splendid bridges were built across the river. The middle one was exclusively used by the Emperor. The next two were used by members of the royal family. The lateral most 2 bridges were used by high ranking officers. This was the square where the Emperor meets his high ranking officials. This was also the square where the wedding of Emperor Qian Loong was held.

There were no trees in the square. Trees were not allowed to grow for fear of being used by assassins as hiding places.

The tunnels were we emerged from

You can see the beautiful bridges in the background

A bunch of chinese guards. Probably time for the changing of guard.

Picture taken from the door way to the toilet. Soldiers doing their daily march.

I can’t remember what the sign said and it’s too small for me to read it now!!!

After the aforementioned square. we entered another even larger square! Here stood the most majestic of all the buildings in the Forbidden City; the Tai He Hall. The hall was where the throne of the Emperor is placed and here was where he proclaimed his edicts and conferred various awards.

Unfortunately the Tai He Hall was under renovation when we were there; all in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. It was such a let down as we learnt that within the Hall was the golden throne and various ancient wonders.

Buildings flanking the Tai He Hall. Now converted into muzeums.

Ancient stones at the square. We were told that there are 15 layers of bricks in the ground! The reasons, we were told, were to prevent any underground digging by enemies of the Emperor and also to prevent growth of trees. Trees were also considered as potential fire hazard. Definitely not a good thing to have in a place built mainly with wood!

 The area behind the Tai He Hall. Here were 2 other buildings built on a 3 tiered terrace.

More than 3000 dragon heads adorned the walls of the complex. Each dragon has a sprout at its mouth to allow for water drainage. It was said that in summer when the rain comes, water will flow from each and every dragon head, giving a spectacular sight.

The ‘Hall of Preserved Harmony’ where the Emperor rested before he addressed his subjects at the Tai He Hall.

Another funny sign. I guess the message was ‘No graffiti allowed’

Posing next to a bronze vat. There are about 300 of these vats in the city, either made of bronze or iron. Some were even gold plated. Its function was to store water to be used in the event of a fire. Underneath the vats were small opening to kindling fire in winter so that the water does not become ice!

The throne room in the Hall of Preserved Harmony

Spectacular murals adorn the walls of the city. Everything in the city were big!

Passing the previous 3 buildings led us into another square, a sllightly smaller one this time. Beyond this square lies the Inner Court…the dwelling place of the Emperor and his Empress and his royal consorts of course. Will show them in another article later.