DAY 5: TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

This is my last day in Beijing on this visit so I plan to round off my sightseeing with a trip to the Temple of Heaven: a quick weather check shows another bright day!

I have to go on a lengthy subway trip to get there and turn up at the east gate.  I get a through ticket which includes all the buildings, good value at 28 RMB or about £3.  There are groups of locals singing and dancing in the park.

The Temple of Heaven was an altar where the Emperor would go to pray for abundant  harvests and seek atonement. Actually this process involved an entourage of thousands, an army in procession from the Forbidden City to the Temple. The common people had to hide in their homes during this procession and keep their windows shuttered and doors closed. Even to look out of the window whilst the Emperor was passing through the city meant death.

This is the east entrance to the park.

This is the Seven Star Stones, which are "pacifying" stones with mountains engraved on them They signnify the peaks of the Taoshan Mountains. There were originally only 6 but a seventh was added during the Manchu reign to signify the unification of China under the Manchu dynasty.

In a way I've approached the park from the wrong entrance, as I'm starting with the most impressive part, which is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. 

This was the central altar for the rite. The surrounding buildings are the Annex Halls.

The halls in the Temple of Heaven are arranged along a meridian from south to north. This is one of the massive gates to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

All the buildings are arranged in symmetry. This smaller pavilion is the Vault of Heaven, which is surrounded by the Echo Wall, like the one in St Paul's Cathedral where your own voice will travel along the wall (at least on a quiet day!)

The Circular Mound Altar was used for sacrifices at the winter solstice.

View from the Circular Mound Altar.

There is a lot more to see like the Divine Kitchens, Animal Sacrifice Pavilions and Hall of Divine Music, but I have had enough for one day by now. I walk through the cypress groves of which there are many and go back north to the east gate.

Following this I return to the hotel and go out for lunch in the hutong, of all things I have fish and chips in a little hole in the wall restaurant  which actually is not bad at all! I follow up with a visit to Great Leap Brewing where I get talking to a couple of American teachers who work in  Beijing. I get back to the hotel for a shower and change, then wander back out for a few beers. I actually bump into a colleague of mine from the University which is a real surprise, we get talking and by now I'm getting drunk. I don't get to eat until past 10pm, then I have some more fish and chips and round off at my usual haunt to say goodbye to the staff. Next day I'm back in Baoding but have had a really great time: although I spent too much money! One thing about this is that I've been able to take my time sightseeing, I just did one a day and then relaxed over a beer and some food. It was a pleasantly relaxing pace.

DAY 4: BEHAI PARK, JINGSHAN PARK

I get up early (7am)  having decided on a more relaxing day, and try to hire a bike but I can't find one that suits my size, so I decide to walk through Behai Park. This was once an imperial playground: a vast frozen lake and on the island in the centre wasthe palace of Kublai Khan, possibly the model for Coleridge's "Xanadu".

This area is the edge of the skating rink: the lake is deeply frozen so many Chinese go and play on it: I actually saw someone go swimming in a hole broken in the ice. I found it hard to believe, the temperature would have killed me! It must have been freezing or round about there. There are a few groups of locals dancing in the park as well.

The White Dagoba (White Tower) was destroyed in an earthquake in 1679, also restored after another earthquake outside Beijing in 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beihai_Park

I spend an extra 10 RMB (about £1) to go up to the pagoda but it isn't really worth it as you can't see much. Actually the park is worth another visit, I missed a few things I didn't realise were there last time, hence I've included this link. I could visit again however next time I'm in Beijing the week after next.

This is the pagoda seen close up.

I walk out of the east gate of the park into Jingshan Park which Sarah and I visited when we came to Beijing in 1997. There is a vast artifical mound with a Buddhist temple at the top, from which you can see this view of the Forbidden City (mental note to perhaps visit all 3 on a walk next time?)

Here is Behai Park seen from Jingshan Park, I took a similar view from here in 1997 so Sarah may want to compare them in our photo album!

I walk back along this road, to Houhai and go for lunch in the hutong. You can see the Drum Tower from here.

Here is the edge of the lake.

I have a passable spag bol in this little restaurant.

In the afternoon I stroll around and sit reading my Lonely Planet for a bit while I decide what to do in the evening. In the end I have another hot pot feast only this time I think I overdo it as I can't eat it all!

DAY 3: LAMA TEMPLE AND HUTONG

I invite Seven and Christine to come with me to the Lama Temple, and they agree. I use the subway as I'm now used to it (they helped me to get a pass which I can use all the time, like an Oyster card.) The Beijing subway is fast, easy to use and seemingly, safe, but it doesn't run 24 hours a day. I meet them at the temple but I need coffee so we visit a coffee shop nearby.

The Lama temple was once a small palace but it became a Buddhist Monastery during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in 1722.

Its beautiful but strangely not as great an opportunity for photography. Its grounds are quite small and cloistered in comparison to the Forbidden City.

Like the Forbidden City you walk  from south to north to pass through.Many people come here to pray, like Seven and Christine who are Buddhists themselves. They showed me how to pray in Buddhism and we burned some incense together in the temple. 

Prayer Wheels in the temple

The Temple has a large number of halls all connected by narrow passages and courtyards.

This is the Hall of Ten Thousand Happinesses, the main building of the complex, which contains this 18m (60ft) high statue of the Maitreya Buddha ( the temple contains thousands of Buddhas)

Inside some of the halls there is fruit and bottles of water. Seven explained that the fruit is symbolic of hopeful things and the water of clarity and purity, also of tranquility as signified by the stillness if the water when it is not disturbed. These are important values to them which I can see seems to make them happy and content people. I can learn a  lot from them. Here are some trees in the courtyard.

This bronze lion guards the gate of the temple. It comes from the time when it was a palace.

I spin the prayer wheel: you are meant to wish for something: a small prayer for someone you love or for a way to find happiness.

My friends then show me the gate of the Confucius temple nearby but it's closed today, I might visit another time (as it happens my hotel for the next visit is close by) and a small restaurant in the hutong where we have spicy vegetables and dumplings: it's actually so hot I find it hard to handle and it's only the medium spice!) Seven has some spicy noodles which are too hot for him!

Following this we walk around the hutong, which is full of small shops, cafes and bars, some of which are closed but open later in the evening. The hutong are part of Beijing's attraction for visitors as they are so charming and sadly endangered by development!

Here you can see part of the Temple from the hutong.

After we part at the subway station I walk around the hutong near my hotel and find whole streets full of shops and bars.

This is a nice one where I stop and have a beer.

Later I go back to the hotel, change and go out for something to eat, but not a big meal as I had a lot to eat at lunch. At night the hutong are lively, atmospheric and look magical with all the bright lights: you can easily get lost (which later I manage to do!)

This shop window has a lively display of fans!

I find a small and basic restaurant as I'm looking for cheap food: actually its too salty for me but it does the job of filling my belly.

I then start moving back toward my hotel and get talking to a friendly bunch of local guys despite the fact only one of them speaks any English!

Lantern outside one of the restaurants.

Local residents

I then try looking for this place, which is described in Lonely Planet as "hard to find." Its a microbrewery run by a young American called Carl and is expanding fast. I never photographed it so here's the web link:

http://www.greatleapbrewing.com/

I actually manage to get lost, but by virtue of this just as I decide to give up I stumble on it by accident! I have a great time talking to a couple of expat guys from Canada and the USA,  debating all sorts of stuff. Very lively. They ask me to another bar but by then I want to stay local so respectfully (I hope) decline. By this time I'm pretty drunk, so I have one in my favourite local bar then go back to the hotel and crash out at some hour of the early morning. I've had a bit of insomnia over the last couple of days so this cures it!