19 - 9. MAO IS STILL HERE - ALMOST

After lunch we wandered on worn feet to the Tian'Anmen square. The square is vast but not much was going on except Chinese snapping pictures of themselves because they now stood on the historical centre of Beijing. Framing the square were historical buildings, the national museum, the parliament and a mausoleum containing the preserved body of Chairman Mao. His portrait still hangs over the gate to the Forbidden City. Elsewhere you do not meet him - only on the money. A short distance from the square we came to the most famous shopping street in Beijing full of western fashion clothes and watches. We found books in a mega bookstore. On the next street hundred food-stalls sold exotic fare such as grilled scorpion, roasted snakes, intestines, all kinds of weird sea-creatures and insects, but no dogs. The tourists do not like to see cooked pets.

Nina