The Hall of Supreme Harmony at the heart of the Forbidden City (photo: Dreamstime / travel stock)

By Bob · BeOhBe.com

One day after the Estonian painters left, I was back on the street at nine in the morning — this time with two guests from Mexico, though they now live in the United States. Their names were Hector and Monica.

They speak English beautifully, but their mother tongue is Spanish. That is rare for me, and it meant I finally got to practice a lot: they were warm, always laughing, and patiently corrected my Spanish every time I stumbled. I love that. And the best part — Hector is learning Chinese. So we made a deal on the spot: I help him with Chinese, he helps me with Spanish, and we keep learning from each other long after the tour is over.

We had three big stops ahead: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and Tiananmen Square. This is how the day went.

01 The Forbidden City, a Second Time in Two Days

I had walked the Forbidden City the day before with the Estonians, but it rewards a second visit — different people, different questions, a different pace. We started at 9am, and to save time I took them in the way I always prefer: through Donghuamen and then the Wumen Meridian Gate, which lets us slip past the long security queues that swallow most visitors.

Inside, the stone courtyards opened up exactly as they always do. We crossed the golden water bridges, stood before the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and let the scale do its work. Hector kept asking me the names of things in Chinese; I kept giving him the tones and making him repeat them. By 11:30 we had walked the central axis and finished the site.

02 Temple of Heaven and a Lunch That Missed the Mark

Then our driver — this part of the tour is arranged through a travel agency, so we had a car — took us to the east gate of the Temple of Heaven, el Templo de Cielo as Monica called it in Spanish. We finished there around one in the afternoon.

Fig 1: The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven (photo: Dreamstime / travel stock)

By then they were hungry and asked me where to eat lunch — la comida, as Monica put it. So we walked to the north gate nearby and sat down at a restaurant called Jingweicai. They enjoyed some of the dishes, but two of the classics simply did not land: the fried lamb with onion and the roast beef were not their taste. We smiled about it and moved on — some flavors take getting used to, and that is exactly what makes traveling fun.

03 Tiananmen Square: The Longest Line of the Day

After lunch we headed to Tiananmen Square — and this was the one part no amount of planning can fix. The line at the southeast checkpoint was enormous, and the security check crawled. It took us about an hour to finally step onto the square.

But it was worth it. The square is overwhelming in the way the Forbidden City is — a scale that makes you feel small. We spent about thirty minutes walking across it and taking photos before the couple asked to keep exploring on their own around Qianmen. The tour ended there, and they set off happily into the crowds.

04 Why I Keep Doing This

Days like this are why I stay in this job. Not because the itinerary is easy — it is not. Because of moments like a Mexican couple patiently correcting my Spanish while I teach an American-living-Mexican man the tones of Chinese. Two guests and a guide, each learning from the others.

When you travel with a local who actually talks with you — not at you — a day of sights becomes a conversation you remember.

05 Book Your Own Day

Want a day like this? I run private walking and driving tours across Beijing — Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, hutongs, 798 and more — and I can build the route around your pace, your interests and your language.

WeChat:BeOhBe/WhatsApp: +86 135 2231 0506 Web: www.BeOhBe.com Location: Beijing, China

Tell me who you are, where you’re from, and what you’re curious about. I’ll meet you at your hotel at nine, and we’ll take it from there.