Lama Temple and Forbidden City (redux)

Bicycles in front of the subway station
see all photos »

Today we did some more city exploration on our own (using the subway again). We had a huge write-up of the day's events, but unfortunately something seems to have eaten it up :( We may try our luck again tomorrow to recapture the spirit of the story we've written. For now, we'll probably leave it at the title and go get some rest. We're leaving for Ottawa tomorrow early afternoon!

Another smoggy day in Beijing so another trip on the subway. People here ride their bikes up to the subway entrance and leave their bikes outside - by the thousands. There are 8 million bikes in Beijing - somebody apparently counted them.

So long Middle Kingdom

At the Lama Temple, even the garbage cans are beautiful
see all photos »

Our destination today was the Lama Temple, a large Buddhist monastery roughly north-west of our hotel. As a monastery it's still a going concern - the grounds don't even open until 9.30 a.m. or so, after the monks have done their morning business. The monastery was built between 1690 and 1750 or so, and was a strange mix of old and new. The glass behind which the many statues are displayed is handmade and so old you can see the waves in it - yet the entry ticket was a mini-CD. There are 29 different temple buildings on the grounds and we trudged through each one. Many other visitors saw it as a pilgrimage - every statue had someone on hands and knees in front praying and giving offerings of incense (and sometimes biscuits or cookies) while the godless heathen (us) tried not to disturb them.

The incense burners are incredibly intricate
see all photos »

The highlight of the temple is an 18-metre high statue of Maitreya (look it up :) ) , sitting on an underground 8-metre pedestal. It was carved from a single sandalwood tree. It's 4 stories tall and a plaque outside notes its commemoration in the Guiness book of Records. Many other temples on the grounds had imposing statues of various deities from Buddhism.

After that it was back on the subway to Tian'anmen Square. Our rough estimates put the crowd at about 10% of what we saw on Tuesday but it was still a noisy, sweaty mass of humanity spread across the square and into the Forbidden City just to the north. Our guide book mentioned the garden of Tai Miao and said it's "the best 2 Yuan you'll spend" (2 Yuan = 28 cents). The book said it's a quiet area, with trees and gardens, and so well worth the effort. We figured we wouldn't be able to find it, that it would be crowded and probably cost 20 Yuan but we were wrong on all counts. We passed through the 2 Yuan gate and into... emptiness. Silence. Even though there was a mob just beyond the gate there were practically no humans inside. We took pictures of the nothingness just to prove to ourselves that it was possible in Beijing.

Magda spinning a prayer wheel
see all photos »

We found an empty bench (really!) and had a nice lunch of bananas and just enjoyed the peace and the smell of the Chinese junipers (aka cypress).

We headed out after lunch and a quick bit of exploring, heading north about 1km to the park of Jing Shan, which contains a hill that was created when an emperor of the Ming dynasty excavated the moat around the Forbidden City. It was once the highest point in Beijing.

On the way we encountered many of the usual suspects - street hawkers that desperately want to sell you the shirt off thier back... ok that's stretching it a bit, but it was the usual postcards/watches/books stuff. Chuck had a block-long exchange with a watch salesman after Chuck offered him 5 Yuan (about 70 cents) for a Rolex to which the salesman countered "I buy your Rolex for 5!" In other words, no way. Very common around here and OK if you have fun with it.

Chuck visiting the empty gardens east of the Forbidden City
see all photos »

We were trusting the guide book again, in that it said the moat-dirt hill offered a great view of the Forbidden City and paid our 2 Yuan to get in only to find the temple at the top was under renovation. There's so much building, renovating and cleaning going on in Beijing (Olympics coming in 2008) that we shouldn't have been surprised. We took a few pictures anyway, through the trees at various points on the path up the hill, and they came out alright.

By this point we'd been on our feet for 4.5 hours. It was 3pm and we had to be back at the hotel by 5 for a Beijing Duck supper with the rest of the group. We decided to walk back to the hotel, not realizing it would be another 1 hour and 20 minutes before we'd get back. Our feet are still sore (it's almost 10pm) but we'd worked up a great appetite for supper and will sleep well tonite. Chuck's wise choice of wearing sandals for an all-day walk (duh!) meant feet so filthy you could see the sandal marks (ie clean spots) once we were back in the room.

Beijing as seen from the top of the hill opposite the Forbidden City
see all photos »

The Beijing Duck supper was pretty enjoyable, even though we'd sort of spoiled the surprise by already having a similar supper when we first landed in Beijing (carved roast duck and rice "tortillas" and assorted fixings). But it was a lot more than just duck, we got pork and chicken and beef and vegetable entrees. Very yummy! At the end of the meal our guide suggested that there should be pictures of the group of babies together. The babies were separated into two groups (based on the orphanage that they were from), and each group posed on the same bench for parents to take pictures. The first group of babies really didn't enjoy the whole experience, and we pretty much enjoyed a prolonged screaming symphony while the pictures were being taken. The second group looked pretty good: babies were sitting on the bench sorf of stunned, trying to figure out what was going on, with the parents trying to encourage them to smile. E&A (C&K's daughters) were in this group. A few pictures were taken, when all of a sudden people realized that one baby was missing from the picture. Well, it turns out this baby sympathised with the first group ("Separate me from my Mom? Never! Whaaaaaaa!"), screaming right into E's ear. E started crying as well (who wouldn't), but luckily, A seems to be quite used to E's crying, so she managed to ignore it. In the end, most of the babies from the second group should look pretty ok in the picture :)

Tomorrow is our last day in Beijing. In fact, it's the last 1/2 day, as we're leaving the hotel heading for the airport at 1:30. We're travelling through Vancouver, and should be in our house by about 1am local time, if all goes well.

So this is the end of our China adventure. So long Middle Kingdom!