I must admit I wasn't especially looking forward to this visit; it had more of a feeling of something I should do rather than wanted to do. However after a few hours of strolling around the Forbidden City I was happy that I had seen it and ducking off to the sides could make it a surprisingly quiet experience even on a weekend afternoon.

The sheer size of the first part of the palace is what really grabs you, as Ben has stated below it takes a massive site to be able to swallow these large crowds and it certainly did that, it would be odd to see such large spaces with only a small amount of people in them. The main temples and pavilions really were impressive and I spent a fair bit of time just taking in their wonderful architecture and paintings.

After the grand ceremonial buildings at the front the rear of the palace is a series of interlocking courtyards and private palace quarters which were reasonably interesting, however the crowds felt a little denser here and I started to wane a little so decided to head on out before palace fatigue really set in.

I enjoyed my visit here more than I thought I would and the grand ceremonial parts of the complex allow you to get a sense of the awesome scale of the place as well as a chance to escape the crowds.

[Site 7: Experience 7]