Beijing Sightseeing

It smells good, too!

While visiting Beijing we see other historical (and non-historical) places.  At the Temple of Heaven, I see my first (known) juniper tree.  Very pretty!

Long, but not quite as long as the Great Wall.

Near the entrance gate we walk down the Long Corridor (that's it's name, really - I checked the map).  The beams are very colorful and similar to what we saw at the Ming Tombs at Forbidden City.  Previously we asked our guide about it, and it's not exactly paint - minerals are crushed and applied to the surface.  The colors are very saturated.

This appears to be THE place to hang out.  It's shaded, and there's a bit of a breeze, so it helps with the heat.  People must be able to get season passes - I can't see them paying every day to come in.  There are groups all along the Long Corridor - segregated by activity.

There is a section of checker players...

Would it be called Chinese Checkers if they're playing regular checkers in China?

...then there's the card playing area (the most popular pastime)....

It looks like they're playing Go Fish!

...and my favorite, knitting!  I have some friends who would have jumped right in and started talking with these women.  Even if they didn't speak the same language, they would have been able to communicate just fine!

Knit, purl....okay, that's all the knitting lingo I know.

I'm able to tell from the roof lines that these buildings are not as important as the ones in the Forbidden City.

Less than twelve creatures!

There are audio guides available, but we don't get them.  I do learn a little bit, though.  The entire facility is about 660 acres, so it's quite big!  It was originally built in the early 1400s by the same emperor responsible for the Forbidden City.  The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is made of only wood, and there are no nails.  The current structure was built in the late 1880s - lightning caused a fire that destroyed the previous one.  It's very impressive and the interior is gorgeous, too!

Say cheese!  Or should it be chow mein?

Beautiful!

There's incredible stone carvings here, similar to the Forbidden City.

Scary dragon!

I love the designs on the columns in the buildings.  These would be very interesting as quilting designs!





















 

This is their ninth photo of the day with strangers.

Here's a very common sight during our trip to Beijing - people wanting to take pictures with Craig, Michelle and the girls.  We believe it's the blond hair - no one wants pictures with Steve and me!  I think Emily has decided she doesn't want to be famous.  She gets tired of all the stares and pictures.











 Ha - we'll take our own picture!

Seriously, why doesn't anyone want our picture?  We don't bite!

We have some fun at the Circular Mound Alter.  These openings are fun to peep through!

"Chow mein!"

Across the street from the Kingdom of Heaven is the Pearl Market, so we go over to do some shopping.  Our guide, Sharon, has a friend of a friend who's willing to show us some merchandise...

Inside, it's not so bad.  Steve told me stories of his previous visit where people would actually grab your arm and try to pull you over to their booth to sell you merchandise.  I hate over bearing sales people, so I wasn't sure if I want to go in.  But it's not like that at all.  Everyone has their own counter like a department store.  No one touches you, and they call out at you to try to get you to come over, but it's easy to say no and they leave you alone after that.  

For dinner, we decide to go back to the same restaurant as the previous night.  We order some new dishes and some favorites from before.  Craig remembers a local liquor he wants us to try and teaches us a Chinese toasting custom.  The girls get a little worried that they might have to carry us home, but it's not a strong alcoholic drink (or at least, we don't drink that much of it) so we're okay.

Not a food market

I had wanted to see the night food market, but it was permanently closed the week before we arrived in China.  Too much noise and pollution, apparently!  I read about another little night market near Wangfujing Street (a major pedestrian-only shopping street) that's only a few minutes walk from our hotel.  Some of us go to check it out.  Unfortunately, there's no interesting foods on a stick, so I don't get to try anything new.  It's more like a chance to do some last minute tourist shopping - there's all the items we've seen at every souvenir shop the entire trip.  Naturally, we all end up buying some things we feel like we have to bring home with us.


 

We pass these statues several times.  I don't know who they represent, but I've been dying to get a photo with them!

The next morning we have a little trouble with our ride to the airport.  Everything was all arranged through the same company - our airport pickup, the tour with Sharon, and the dropoff for the airport.  But the driver never shows.  Even though all the communication was through email with the an employee of the hotel (so he said), the front desk says it's not the travel agency they use.  Interesting, since I was contacted within 24 hours of making the hotel reservations, and they knew Craig's family and our family were together, so they got our information somehow....  It takes about thirty minutes, but we finally get a large taxi to fit the six of us and our luggage.  We still make it to the airport with time to spare.  We've enjoyed our trip, but we're glad to be returning to Japan!