Sadly that is the extent of my expertise of the subject. We ended up running through the world's largest palace complex in one hour just before is closed at noon on New Years Eve day. We had intentions of perhaps coming back at the end of the trip in order to fully absorb all the historical significance that is contained in a place that housed emperors from two dynasties for over 500 years, but we ended up wondering along a souvenir alleyway instead. The trip itself had happened so organically that it seemed unfit to force a visit to a place we had already been. But back to actually being there....
Even though I did not really know much about what I was looking at, there was a definite air of amazement while walking through the complex. It took a full hour just to walk from one end of the grounds to the other with just a little bit of time spent stopping to stare. Being there at closing time presented the great benefit of being relatively alone by the end. Sitting on some stairs in an empty courtyard and imagining who had once lived within those walls was one of those moments where things really start to sink in. I had many of these moments on this trip, but at this time in particular it really hit me. I'm in Asia. This world is so big and it's history is even bigger. It's possibly the smallest I have ever felt.
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