The journey inside Forbidden City continues ....
Copper & Iron vasts were part of the fighting equipments in the palace. The Forbidden City has a total of 368 copper and iron vasts of various sizes.
Palace of Heavenly Purity, which is the major structure of the Inner Court. The "Heir Apparent Box" - a system secretly set up by Emperor Yongzheng, was placed behind the board inscribed with the words "Zheng Da Guang Ming". The name of the emperor's successor, written by the emperor himself, was kept in this box. After the emperor passed away, the secretly appointed crown price would ascend the throne.
The Hall of Union & Peace, aka Jiao Tai Dian. The inscriptions were written by Emperor Kangxi. which means doing nothing. The words "Jiao Tai" comes from the book of changes and meant the union of heaven and earth. Hence, Jiao Tai Dian is situated between Qian Qing Gong (Palace of Heavenly Purity) and Kun Ning Gong (Hall of Earthly Tranquility)
*pardon the dirty window!* Hall of Earthly Tranquility. Emperor Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzh, Guangxu and Puyi lived in this hall after they are married before moving to other halls. In the room sits a dragon-phoenix wedding bed. The silk quity is embroidered with hundreds of playing children, hoping that the emperor and empress will have many descendants.
Crossing this gate, we would have reached the Imperial Garden, where pavilions and halls are distributed orderly, landscaped with pine trees, cypresses, bamboos as well as hills and rocks.
Ancient cypresses not only decorate the garden, but they also have implied meanings - Baizhi (cypress branches) has a similar pronounciation as Baizi (hundreds of children), implying emperor's wish for multiple descendants.
Hill of Accumulated Elegance, Dui Xiu Shan. The hill is about 10m high and was created by piling rocks on a previous hall. Atop the hill is the Pavillion of Imperial Scenery.
Hall of Mental Cultivation, which was where the Qing emperor lived, handled the state affairs and had discussions with officials.
As one of the 6 Western Places, the Palace of Gathering Excellence was where Empress Cixi once lived.
Yan He Gate, leading towards Gate of Martial Spirit.
As the north gate of Forbidden City, the Gate of Marital Spirit was particularly for imperial concubines and members to come in and go out of the palace. With this, I had completed my tour of the palace - there are still some attractions that I didn't have the time, as the place is just simply too big to finish within 2 hours.
Back in the clubhouse, munching on club sandwich and working off the laptop.
Dinner @ Da Dong (北京大董烤鸭店), 5-min walk from the clubhouse. We tried to make a reservation for 8pm, but was told they were fully booked. However, they do take in walk-in and off we went~
While Quan Ju De's decor mirrored the traditional Chinese architecture, Da Dong leaned towards modern minimalist concept.
The giant open kitchen, specially catered for roasting peking duck, which greeted you upon stepping into the restaurant.
Awards decorating just one side of the wall ... more on the other side!
Headed to the watering hole for drinks while waiting for our table. Good strategy - to drink (another revenue source) while to wait!
Started my night with some applish-drink, cant rem exactly what I drank.
Tables get filled up quickly as soon as it gets cleared.
After approx 45 mins (or more) wait, we had a table! Yippee. The window decor, shot from inside of the restaurant.
Food & drinks menu.
Napkin box
All set and ready to start! Can't wait :)
The set that each customer is supposed to order, to complement the process of eating peking duck. It contained sweet sauce, shallots, sugar, garlic paste, preserved vegetables, pickles, radish, cucumber and pancake.
Here comes the chef! The skin and the meat were literally falling apart under his nitty moves.
Yum yum! Personally, this is way better than what I had earlier - it wasn't as oily and the meat was leaner. Coat the skin with sugar before popping it into your mouth - my latest method of savoring this dish :)
Owen started his night with 6 mini balls of spinach.
Not a fan of vegetables, but this dish really wowed me over. 2 love birds accompanied with egg white. And I finished it myself *proud*
A bowl of hot dumpling soup, heavenly when the restaurant is quite cold.
More greens for Owen~ He can't do without his greens, so guess I'm not his fave vege partner, since I can't help him to finish, lol.
We proceeded on to seafood - fish for Owen while I had my prawn & scallops. Da Dong's menu allows you to order different serving sizes, which is good as that means we can order more dishes to try out :)
Chicken with vegetables, followed by sea cucumber.
The table full of food :)
Sorbet & large platter of fruits to end the meal~ I've already planned my next trip back for another scrumptious meal upon walking out of the place, heehee! 
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