True! It's sooo impressive. We were fortunate to have a 12h lay-over in Abu Dhabi two years ago. One of our first videos lol.

Oh really? I wasn't aware! We just arrived in Xi'an. Any good recommendations?

@Autumn Leaves thanks for the info! :)

@Gemma Jordan Vlog well it was one of the very first so a completely different style, as you'll see ;) I think we've improved a bit since then :)

Hi thanks for sharing, it is informative. It's good to know you're allowed to carry big bags inside. Also, is photographing inside the buildings allowed?

you should go to Shenzhen if possible，which is an amazing city near HK! :)

Yes Canton is amazing!

It is very impressive!

It was just for the emperors to enjoy after all back then. How great was that?

Firefly Firefly what you said was not the point. The point is, through forbidden city and many other mega structures in china, people can see the resource organization capability of china even in ancient times. The same capability can be used to build mega project for people's wellbeing for both people in china and in other parts of the world. And FYI, many generations of emperors were not quite happy to stay inside, because the forbidden city is built strictly following the complicated rules of a typical traditional emperor palace, which is not quite suitable for human to live inside. Actually half of the emperors didn't stay inside often, except for some ceremonies.

Firefly 历史是人民创造的，灿烂的文化从来不只属于统治者

@@firefly4784 No you are wrong, that is the central government, that is, the pentagon is a place for officials to work.

I've really enjoyed watching your videos. They show the parts of the famous iconic places not seen elsewhere before. And you're such a jolly nice pair with positive appreciation of China. Thank you for sharing.

wow thank you for the incredibly nice feedback! so happy you're enjoying our videos :)

Not that big. Kind of a pity the summer palace was torched and looted after invasions, cause that palace was truly beautiful and big. Forbidden city is quite small in Chinese dynastic palaces, Weiyang of Han was largest, then Daming of Tang second. Daming of Tang is 4x the size of forbidden city.

欢迎到中国来玩😎

Darn. That sounds pretty cool. Next time! 😊 Thanks for the tip!

@@NaickKim And an emperor hanged himself there...>.< Afterall.. it worth visiting...

Wow thanks! Glad you loved it! What a place :)

Thanks a lot KoopieDoobie. Hope you get to visit it soon! ❤

Thank you! We try to do some research before we go somewhere. It is also nice that some Chinese people have provided some additional information afterwards here in the comments. It is great to learn about the rich history of China.

@@NaickKim enjoy yourtrip in china.

@@NaickKim as you are in Shanghai, I recommend you two cities HangZhou and SuZhou. Both of them are one hour bullet train to Shanghai. The difference is SuZhou can be one day trip while HangZhou may need two days to explore.

Thanks! We're not sure if we are going to make it there this time. They look really beautiful, but we don't have a lot of time left in China. So much choices to make!

@@NaickKim welcome back anytime. In Shanghai, 生煎包 is one of those must try food. Sheng jian bao

Perfect for your next trip

谢谢😎

Thank you so much. glad to hear that.

Thanks for the tip 😊👌🏻

Yes we know we didn't do a lot of it. We were planning to see more, but it took us 2 hours just to enter haha. Next time we will visit more parts for sure. We really loved Shanghai, such an amazing city.

You could walk around for days in there. It is soooo big.

You should def visit the forbidden city. One of the most impressive palaces we've ever seen.

You are very welcome! 🤗🙏🏻

Thanks a lot Charlie!

jingshan park, where the last emperor in ming dynasty hang himself

Thanks a lot Xiang!

Wow, we'd never heard about that story. Sounds like a great view. We missed it because we were so hungry haha.

We love beijing too!

You are so welcome! It's a really beautiful place.

That musy have been an interesting way to learn a lot about China's history! Glad we could take you on a trip down memory lane 😉

@@NaickKim Thank again

You're very welcome 🤗

@@NaickKim I recommend to Yellow mount (Huangshan) in Anhui Province, the montain scinery/langscape is very like a wonderland. or Jiuzaigou in Zhangjiajie of beautful waterfallsin scenic land., seeing is believing.

Thank you Om Ni! Haha yes if just 1 in 100 Chinese people would subscribe to us we'd be well on our way to a spike hahaha 😁 thanks for watching!

Thanks for the tip! We will return next time. There is still so much to discover there. Feels like we just did a small part of it.

Thanks for the tip! We'll remember it for the next time.

Thank you!

Thank you Ricky! Where are you from?

@@NaickKim am from mainland China. you did a great job.

😊🙏🏻

It was really amazing. We would love to go back to explore more. Have you been to China?

@@NaickKim not yet unfortunately, I might go there after I move to Japan at the end of the year tho! Are you guys going to explore more parts of the country?

@@AdamRifi Yes we are moving south to Pingyao, Xian, Chongqing, Guilin, Yangshuo, etc. Or at least that is the plan for now. Wow, Japan! That's so cool. We would love to visit. Where in Japan are you going to live?

@@NaickKim Exciting, looking forward to the videos from there! We will be living in Tokyo, if you end up going there, let me know and maybe we can film something together!

@@AdamRifi we definitely will! For now Japan is very high on our wish list but a bit over our budget, but when that changes we're heading your way!

Wow, thanks a lot for sharing all this history. It's super interesting. We really appreciate you sharing all this. Can you be our private guide on our trip? haha. It is indeed a problem that a lot of cultural treasures are in museums of other countries, often after it being stolen. This is the case for China, but also Egypt, Inca's, Maya's, etc. We already thought the forbidden city and summer palace were really enormous. I can't imagine palaces that are multiples of that. I can indeed see why it is controversial. On the one hand side it is part of the history where China lost the battles and the palaces. On the other hand, it was a great cultural and architectural feat. So many buildings were reconstructed in the centuries of history, so it is not that abnormal. What do you think about this?

@@NaickKim omg yeah, would love to be a tour guide for y'all, you guys are so much fun! Yep personally I think China should get over it's hangups and just rebuild the damn thing. It's basically an inferiority complex if it can't let go, especially when China has done itself so much disservice in many other buildings destroyed from its own politics. When China gave up the throne and became a republic (and we're not even starting on the Communist era decades later) Beijing had 3,000 temples, shrines and palaces. Ten years later by 1930 that had been reduced already to 300.And don't even start on places like Tibet (which lost 300 monasteries after invasion, though thankfully are now rebuilding). Basically whenever there's a regime change the new dynasty destroys/ reappropriates everything of the old, last seen in the Cutural Revolution. On one hand historians regard it as something that strangely 'renews' the society and has enabled China to become the world's longest surviving civilisation. On the other hand the loss... so much loss, and so much turmoil when it happens. Another result is China unlike other countries didn't build so much on its feats after a while, preferring to keep the balance of society - but status quo often becomes stagnant, which leads to internal rebellions or takeover. One third of China's history has been under foreign subjugation. -Whenever the empire changed hands it would start again, which is why China in the 1000s (when it went through its Industrial Revolution on par with Britain's) was more technologically advanced than in the 1700s etc, or after the 1400s as a colonial power with the largest ever pre-industrial fleets and ships sent round the world, it reverted and burned down its entire navy by mid century. It's gunpowder discovery, and the first modern warfare by the 1200s, was of course kept limited as Asian society began to disintegrate with so much weaponry (Japan did the same, burying the world's most advanced weapons/ armies and adopting the way of the samurai for the next 300 years instead) - so the Mongols took the Chinese tech and armies and took over much of Eurasia. The long history, in short has been a constant dance with the vast hordes of the Steppe beyond the wall - and every time China did try to break its mould it would be subjugated or destroyed (usually by the Mongols - so many died the carbon in the atmosphere actually reduced). The place is fantastic for interesting, eye-opening history, not so much if you actually had to live it ha. The current clime under the new dictatorship of Xi Jinping seems to be more on the same pattern. Basically after the disasters and coups to take down Mao the govt ensured that never again would power fall into the hands of one single person, at the sacrifice of 15 million, so that the head of the Party would always be shared by 6 or 7 experts in their fields (economic, military, academic, political science, sociology and recently, environmental, two of whom would act as the ceremonial figureheads) liable to the Party vote, and replaced every 8 years. With this the country has gone through a surprising period of stability that has seen in the economic rise. But then Xi comes along, imprisons all his detractors on the corruption purges, rewrites the constitution ... and nows starts to imprison the Xinjiangers. History appears to be repeating itself, China obviously got too comfortable for 40 years. omg sorry i write too much, another essay! I get so carried away with history, Im interested not just Chinese but all (you should see me get started on British). Hope you guys have a fab time, I love the rapport you two have and the funny honesty to the camera. It's never boring with y'all even if you were covering a traffic light lol.

@@NaickKim that is called Yuanmingyuan, or old summer palace. mainly ruins left as it was burned by UK/French in 1860 during 2nd opium war.

Thanks a lot!

Oh you can't see it all in half a day but we could not spend 3 days there. Must have been cool to see so much of it!

Oh really? We didn't know. Are they filmed in the forbidden city?

That's interesting, thank you! We really love the Ming & Qing building styles, I guess they are the ones you can most often still see in China today? Thanks for watching!

@@NaickKim Hahaha, yes, Ming & Qing buildings are the biggest part of ancient buildings~ Thanks for your great videos! Naick looks like a big brother and Kim is really charming~ Here are some photos of Shanhua Temple~ m.baidu.com/sf/vsearch?pd=image_content&word=%E5%96%84%E5%8C%96%E5%AF%BA&tn=vsearch&sa=vs_tab&lid=8344387321434710526&ms=1&from=1001192y&atn=page&fr=tab

Yes indeed. We prefer going on our own than going on a guided tour. This way we can explore on our own and enjoy it as we like. It's also difficult to make good videos when on a tour group. And in our experience there are not that many guides who can tell an interesting story.

😊👊🏼

Thanks JiJi! It's a pretty long list, you can find it in the description of each video. Camera is the Canon 80D with some good lenses 📸😍

We bought it at a ticket office across the road from the Beijing railway station. We spent 1 hour looking for an ATM that worked with our foreign bank cards and stumpled upon it haha. Our hostel was also selling the tickets as well. You can also book them online through an agent. You don't need an actual physical ticket (you don't get one), they just register it on your passport number (you need to bring your passport to enter).

you can buy online. they have their app.

@@NaickKim Interesting, I bought my ticket on the spot (just before the security check) , special booth for foreigners and my ticket was my passport. But I was also struggling to find the entrance :D

Thank you Hong! 😊

木哈哈 我在蘇格蘭和愛爾蘭待過，完全不像喔，像是比利時法語區的居民

@@AjosTok哈哈哈，这样啊😀😀，谢谢告知，我都没有去过😀😀

Thank you so much Haotian. Beijing is an amazing place! Do yoi still live there?

@@NaickKim I am in Sydney right now. Will come back when I graduate. I love the roast duck so much ^,^

We will 😊👍🏻

I know it blows my mind

Yes indeed! It was not the best we had. In another restaurant we had one that was way better.

Yes we saw that. It can be useful if you want some additional information.

The music is from epidemic sound, a subscription based service for KZfaqrs. There music library has 1,000s of tracks and they are incredible. The songs are called: 1. Evidence of truth - by Trailer Worx 2. Go from here - by Hallman 3. Origami sky - by Edward Karl Hanson 4. The flap of a butterfly's wings - by Christian Andersen

Yes that's no problem. There are many beautiful places there!

It's crazy isn't it? Can you imagine these marvels being built now without any of the modern machinery?

Great! When were you there?

Thank you! What area in Beijing do you live in?

@@NaickKim Xue Yuan Road, Haidian District

We swear haha. Naick now has 11 toes, which is why we never film his feet anymore ;)

Yes indeed! The forbidden city, terra cotta warriors, avatar mountain were all super busy. Part of being in China ;)

@@NaickKim I went to Suzhou at one time, and almost got crowded off a bridge in one tourists area. The bridge had no guard rails, and it was across a deep ravine!!!

建造物群本身就是最大的艺术品，有什么遗憾的

Yes indeed! THAT would have been an amazing thing to see. I think it was the biggest palace ever built, no?

@@NaickKim yeah i think so, if u wan to know how tang palace building design look like you can reference to japan traditional building which is inspired by tang culture during tang dynasty.

thank you!

Oh is it? It is indeed very massive.

@@NaickKim Tang dynasty's capital city Chang'an' City--now Xi'an was two times large than Beijing forbidden City. but it was destoryed by war 1000years ago. then Chinese capital city becomed Beijing.

Thanks for sharing 😉

Thanks!

Thank you! Where do you live in China?

@@NaickKim I live in Shenzhen

哈哈

强盗的后代

@@BBRX17 : 现在不可以这么说，历史的错还是让他停留在历史中吧，自强才是中华的根本！

Yangkip Hongtsg 那可不可以说你是匈奴的后代？ 奴才的后代？

It is an incredible place! Go go go 😉

Nice 👌🏻

@@NaickKim thx

Oh really, when was this?

Naick & Kim all the treasure was stolen by Eight-Nation-Alliance back in last century, the most dark history for China. Some tables, poles used to decorated by gold and gems....... they all gone during that time....

Renee Xin I‘m 随便 say say的

噬玩割基 I’m 认真 replying的～ 😉

Renee Xin 你new bee

It was all in pretty good state, I think they redo it occasionally :)

As far as I know, every corner of the forbidden city is maintained regularly

Thank you 🙏🏻😊

We should go and count them :)

It's actually 9999 and a half rooms because only Heaven have 10,000 rooms and the Emperor as Son of Heaven cannot possess the same numbers as Heaven. Lol

Thank you!

Yes. No passport no entry. We saw one guy getting turned away despite queueing for a looooong time because he didn't bring his.

@@NaickKim poor guy he is.oh no.

Yes he wasn't very happy about it 😳

At least haha! Very tired at the end of the day.

Glad you enjoyed our video!!

we like the hutongs too though :)

Yes the palace is incredible.

We haven't seen the taj mahal yet. But it's on the list of things to do. Have you been there?

@@NaickKim yes ,its one of those thing u look at picture and be like bleh but when you actually standing there youll be *-*

@@samy8897 that's great to hear! We're thinking about going to India in January probably. Taj Mahal is pretty high on the list there then. Any other recommendations in that area?

Mostly palaces, but there are some temples in there too

Your prayers have been answered!

Ahahahaha Jeslyn this really cracked us up! It's what would happen if Pablo and Marilyn would travel budget style, perhaps :p

Haha :) Some people don't like the city I guess.

Naick & Kim but now it has four dislikes:(

@@XDXD-uo6uq Yes indeed. Who knows. Maybe people clicked on it by accident. Or they really don't like us haha,

Naick & Kim ye lol

It's true that we haven't visited a country that is as busy as China haha. Still, we really enjoyed our time in China and would love to visit again.

The diversity you find in this country is unmatched in our opinion.

Politics are just politics and don't reflect the people and culture in a country. A few years ago we went to Iran and met the most hospitable and friendly people in the world. We're not muslim but we were invited to celebrate in their most holiest holiday. Everywhere we went they stuffed us with tea and food for free. A man invited us to sleep in his home after we met him for 30 seconds. I can tell you countless stories. Yet if you would believe the media, they're portreyed as extremists, terrorrists and religious nutcases. Our interactions with the Chinese have been nothing but positive. Thanks for watching! Where is your next trip going?

@@NaickKim will be heading out to Israel/Palestine for a few weeks. Was going to do the Siberian train but this opportunity came up so I will have to push the train back. I have lived in the Middle East and South West Asia and they are very hospitable. Never refuse tea from a Muslim, and never refuse vodka from a Russian! :)) Can't wait to see your next adventures! I need to try this vlogging thing!! LOL. Your budget vs. splurge video had me laughing! I keep things cheap, but will go all out one night for dinner. :)

@@BlueMooseTraveler we never refused either (tea nor vodka), so we're on the same page there ;) we heard Israel is incredible! We'd love to visit. We can only highly recommend the vlogging by the way, I think we have more fun when we film our activities than when we don't, actually :) it's become such a normal part of our day now haha. We'll probably be doing another one of those budget vs. splurge videos at some point, maybe when we make it to Japan... Some day... Because splurging in Japan sounds hella expensive :D have a great trip man!

No worries, politics is just politics, you will enjoy the trip for sure

Derek He absolutely!