Ting Ting delivered our personalised stamps this morning – although ours wasn’t flat and we had to send it back to be re done. Luckily it was done by the afternoon.
This morning we went to the Temple of Heaven. We were expecting just another temple, but the gardens around it were wonderful!!
The gardens covered 270 acres and 80% is covered wit trees. It was built in 1420.
The gardens are used by retirees in the mornings for exercise. It was a great set up! What I thought was a child’s playground was really exercise equipment!! The area was filled with older Chinese people exercising – they were using the equipment, stretching, playing hacky sack , a bat and ball game or just walking around. It was wonderful!! We had a go on a few of the pieces of equipment – it was great fun!
From there we walked towards the Temple of Heaven. The area was filled with dancers, singers, people playing cards or dominoes, knitting – all sorts of things!!
There was a large group dancing ball room style. This really caught Maureen and Leonies eyes! Some of the dancers were dressed in costume and looked wonderful!
The temple itself was just another Temple really. Impressive that it was built with no nails- all dovetailed joints. The design was very similar to what we saw at the Forbidden Palace and Ming Tombs. Similar coloured decorations on the buildings and the three white marble balconies leading up to it.
It was only used by the Emperor and high ranking officials. They prayed for good harvests or rain. Women were not allowed in as it was considered bad Fen Shui.
The view from the Temple was good – the smog had been blown away so we could see across Beijing and to the mountains.
We then wandered back through the gardens to watch all the people again. It was such fun to see!
There were lots of vendors running around selling things as always! This time most of us bought little feathered hack sacks (or keepy uppies) They are so cute and the Boys will love them! Jason also bought them a racket and ball game we had seen people playing around the gardens.
Lunch was wonderful, a nice change! While it was still the dreaded lazy susan, the food was quite different to what we have been having. There were dishes like duch meat dumplings, rabbit cooked in hollowed out bamboo and tipped from the bamboo onto the plate at the table. It was nice a spicy! There was also sticky rice cooked in a pineapple.
There was also music and dancing while we ate. I really enjoyed it all.
From here part of the group went on a ric shaw tour while the rest of us went to a free market “The Pearl Market”. It was very intimidating at the market. Vendors would grab your arm and drag you into their stores. I found it all too scary. I did buy myself a knock off D&G handbag for 140 RMB (around $28) and Jason got his calligraphy brushes and inks.
When we got back to the hotel some of us went for a walk to the “Merry Mart”, a supermarket about a block from the Hotel. The supermarkets here are strange! Shop assistants everywhere. In the meat section there were many butchers working out the back, then out the front the assistants were ready to put the unpackaged meat into bags for you. There were other sections that had pigs trotters, snouts, tails etc as well as dried meats, ducks and “Aquatic animals” LOL.
I was hoping to find a baby section to get Deb some Chinese baby soap or powder or something – but the store lay out made it hard to find
We bought water and snacks for our nightly get together. Things like chips, cashews and kitkats!
After a wander back to the Hotel we had a rest before dinner. Dinner was pretty awful again. We were glad to head back upstairs to our beer and snacks!
No comments:
Post a Comment