Day 6 trip to Shenyang, Liaoning


       
                       When we arrived in Shenyang, we were hungry so we ate a quick meal of fried chicken. After we were satisfied, we scouted for a very nice hotel and took a power nap. When we were up, well, when I was up (Seriously, Kyle is like an energy buzzer, does he sleep?), we changed into some new clothes and asked the doorman if there was any tourist attractions that would interest us and he babbled off a few names we could not quite understand. I caught some names though, they were Wulihe Park and Mukden Palace. We chose the Mukden palace and the hotel people drove us there. But before we went, we came prepared, with sweaters and hats. Last time there was an unbearable amount of AC and we almost froze. So we packed a little extra. Also we took some food with us not knowing how long we will be there.

Shenyang, Liaoning

                       When we got there, we were quickly hushed in to the palace and set out to view the structures. It is also known as the Shenyang Imperial Palace. We asked a lady why this palace was built and stuff. Apparently, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004 for its relationship to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Completed in 1636 by Abahai, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the construction actually began under the Ming- conquering Manchu ruler Nurhaci. Covering 60,000 square miles, the layout and structure of the palace is based on the Forbidden City in Beiijing. However, its architecture is quite distinct. It incorporates many interesting Manchu and Tibetan characteristics, intricate carvings and glazed roof tiles. Some rooms, like the throne room, are actually in better shape than the rooms in the Forbidden City. That was all we got. Kyle and I looked a little bit more, looking at the different designs and taking mental images on how beautiful it was. What a sight!

Mukden Palace

     

                            Soon after we finished gaping open mouthed at the palace, we were sitting in our hotel reading some magazines trying to find out where to go next. Finally, after about 10 minutes Kyle shouted, "Jackpot!"

"What did you find?" I asked. He didn't answer so I leaned over to see what he was up too. I saw him looking at a weird Chinese Rapper Star paragraph. It was the most hilarious picture I have ever seen... Wow it was funny! But nevertheless, I gave Kyle a stare and said barley holding in my laughter,

"Jeez Kyle, seriously man, just FOCUS!" Kyle obeyed but still had a huge grin on his face. Accidentally I looked at his magazine and saw a nice looking park called Beiling Park. We had nothing, so we decided to go there. Beiling Park was a nice and enormous looking park and I recommended we just find a bench and enjoy the scenery, maybe do some reading. We saw many birds, pine trees, and on the sidewalk were we were sitting we saw some men in red suits performing some sort of calm martial arts. We watched them fascinated, then got bored and headed back on the few minute walk back to the hotel. We immediately collapsed as soon we got in the room and went to sleep. All that traveling, site seeing, and walking it tough, you know? We fell asleep on the floor and woke up with sore muscles. We packed our stuff then stumbled to the elevator and then to the lobby. We told them we were here for only 2 more days, and he recommended we go to Jinan, in Shandong.

Beijing Park