The Forbidden City Behind the Heavenly Gate

TRAVEL BLOG: The Forbidden City has an enormous presence, both literally and figuratively. Its first gate, the Tiananmen (“Gate of Heavenly Peace”), stretches out across the northern edge of the square of the same name. Behind it, 180 acres of centuries-old buildings spread out to four distant corners, bound together as an even rectangle.

“Annyeonghaseyo”

TRAVEL BLOG: I’ve officially left China. The program anchoring me in Tianjin has finished, and my student visa is forcing me to leave the country that – after three months of ruddy hotels and bullet trains – stole my heart. This is why I now write from a café in Seoul, the haphazard metropolitan hub and capital of South Korea.