April 7, Saturday

April 7, Saturday

I switch hotels today.   Cindy, our guide for Beijing, meets me at the Days Inn Forbidden City in a big black luxury car and we go to the Hyatt Beijing Wangfujing Hotel where the group will be staying while in Beijing.  You absolutely have to go on the Internet and check this hotel out.  WOW !   It’s 5-star accommodation and Cindy informs me that I will have my own private room.   I indicate that I have paid for “shared” accommodation and have not been advised that I need to pay the single supplement, nor am I willing to do so.  She explains that we can double check with Kit, the tour director.  Sure enough, the lady I was scheduled to share with has changed her mind and I get to have my own private room (except for the 3 nights on the cruise) without having to pay a supplement.  BONUS !

When I finally see the room I can’t help but laugh at the luxury.  I am definitely not used to this type of accommodation.  I must have died and gone to hotel heaven !

 My suite at the Hyatt Beijing Wangfujing Hotel

 It even has an office space, and the bar fridge is an entire 2-door cabinet with mirrored bar.

 The view from my suite;  I have an entire wall of windows since I'm on the end unit.

The rest of the day is my own so I go off again to explore.  Cindy suggest I take a taxi to visit the Lama Temple, so that is exactly what I do.

 Arriving at the Lama Temple

 and its main entrance gate.

 Here again, it is a huge site, complete with gardens and gate after gate to go through.

 Etching map of the Lama Temple site

 The bell tower.

Lama Temple, Yonghegong, or Palace of Peace and Harmony, of the Yellow Hat Sect of Lamaism.  It consists of 5 large halls (Palace of the Heavenly King, Palace of Eternal Peace (Yonghegong), Eternal Blessing Hall, Hall of the Wheel of the Law, Hall of Boundless Happiness) and 5 courtyards  It has over 300 years of rich imperial and Buddhist history. It contains the largest wooden Buddha in the world, sculpted of a single trunk of white sandal wood.  This was confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records in 1990.  It stands 18 metres tall; its big toes are more than 1 foot high. Sorry, no photos allowed inside this sanctuary.  

   The huge sign confirming the Guinness Book of Records for the wooden Buddha.


 The pavilions look strangely like the ones I visited at the Heavenly Temple yesterday
 but inside this one the people come in to worship/pray (not sure those are the right words).  They burn joss sticks as an offering to Buddha.
 And the same 4 guardians as in the Indian Temples are here, on each side of the Buddha statue
 Golden smiling Buddha
 The 4 guardians

“Yonghe Lama Temple was originally used as the official residence for court eunuchs of the Ming dynasty. It was converted to the royal court of Prince Yongzheng during the Qing dynasty, in the 33rd year (1693) of Emperor Kangxi's reign. In the 3rd year of Yongzheng's reign (1725), it was elevated to imperial palace for short stays away from the capital, and its name was changed to Palace of Eternal Peace (Yonghegong). During the 9th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1744), it was dedicated for use as a Lama Temple and a bell tower was added.”

Most of the people visiting today were burning incense, or joss sticks, to Buddha.
 The courtyards contain huge elaborate incense burners
 And in another building, another golden Buddha
 This one of the "yellow hat"

 You can see how huge this one is by the size of the monk in the middle of the picture.
The monks robes are all set out on the surrounding benches, waiting for the next ceremony.


The buildings or halls all have the now familiar roof lines.   But these two buildings have a connecting hallway on the second floor.

   A woman spins the prayer wheel
  The grounds are impecably clean.  Such a contrast with India.
According to my tourist map, the Confucious Temple is“nearby” but how close it is I’m not sure since there are no addresses indicated. No signs visible anywhere and just leaving in any one direction is of no help since the Lama Temple is just a dot on the map and I don’t know which street I am on. I decide to walk up the street and see if I can find someone from whom I can ask for directions. Taxi driver is absolutely no help when I point to the little block of info on my map that shows the tourist attractions. He just indicates “no” with his head. No police officers around to ask. I decide to try one of the shops, but many of them are busy with customers. I finally find one where the man is just sitting in his shop and I go in to show him the same little block of information. (Each little block has a picture, a description in mandarin, and a description in English.) He smiles at me and gestures towards the street; he comes out to the street and points to the right and says “Lama Temple” on the right then says “Confucius Temple other side of street” and points across from that. I thank him and go on my way. Thank God I hadn’t walked too far before asking for help.

 The street in front of the Lama Temple

Crossing the street is not such an easy matter; two lanes in one direction, a very narrow median, and two more lanes on the other side. No lights; no stop sign. A Chinese lady comes up beside me and she is ready to cross the street as well, so I simply take my cue from her and as soon as she starts to cross I follow her; dodging the cars as we go. Safely across the street, I still can’t see any indication of the Confucius Temple, but there is a narrow pedestrian street going into this block of buildings and lots of stores along it so I decide to explore this street a little way to see if it leads to the Confucius Temple. 
 The small street

YES ! There it is on the right about a large city block down from the main street I started from.

“The Imperial College Street came into being early in Yuan Dynasty and was knows as the Imperial Academy of Yuan. In Ming Dynasty it was affiliated with the Confucius Temple.”

 A statue of Confucius.  It looks very new.  I wonder if anyone really knows what he looked like.
 As I enter the grounds of the temple, I notice the bell tower.
 As you can see by the entrance gates, they are huge and elaborately decorated.   Everything is made of wood and brightly painted.  I wonder how often they have to repaint... or is there a lacquer on top to protect it?

This is the 2^nd largest Confucius temple in China, completed in 1302.   The site also contains “198 stone tablets positioned on either side of the front courtyard, and they contain more than 51,624 names of Jinshi (advanced scholars) of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and 14 stone stele pavilions of the Ming and Qing dynasties that hold various historical documents of ancient China”.  

 Elaborate stone slab carving on the staircase leading into the main temple

 Detail of the carvings

 Musical instruments in the temple

   There are huge cypress trees on this site which are quite impressive.
 Inside the building with the stone tablets I find the older statue of Confucius.  Maybe that really is what he looked like.

When I exit the site, there is a man selling some type of cake in the street. It is a huge yellow concoction more than 1 foot tall and about the same width, with what looks like raisins in it. I gesture to him that I want only a small piece and he cuts a huge slab of this stuff. I pay much more than I should, but I figure I’m supporting the community. There are some young Chinese students nearby watching me buy this “thing” and I ask them what is is. They don’t speak much English and although they try to tell me in Chinese, I obviously don’t understand. I taste the dough, expecting it to be sweet, but it is tasteless and the texture is gooey. I only take a few bites and then give the entire slab to an old lady with a begging bowl. She seems quite happy with my donation.   When I get back to the main street, the group of young people is there and between the four of them they have come up with “Not eat, not healthy” to describe whatever it was I had purchased. I thank them for their assistance and show them that I no longer have the food. We all have a good laugh.  

I try flagging down a taxi, but it takes three tries before I find one that will take me back to the historical district. Differently coloured cabs = different regions they service maybe?  

I finally get one and head to the National Museum of China to finish my day. At least I’m wearing comfortable running shoes today. The building is huge, and has huge open spaces within it, but some of the floors have no displays at all. The ones that are on display however are very impressive

 The museum

 It is an impressive building both from the outside and the inside with huge open spaces
  but few of the galleries on the 4 floors have displays
  The ones they do have however are quite impressive

  A miniature carved piece of jade, only a bit wider than 1 inch
  One elaborately carved
Huge bronze pieces more than 4,000 years old
  The other quite plain except for the top and bottom
 Jade tile funerary covering.  I remember this one from a National Geographic article.
 And they have some of the Terracotta soldiers and a horse discovered in Xi An.
  This stone relief slab was a real marvel,  I wonder how much it weighs.
  And the ceramic pieces were impressive as well.

My feet are killing me by the time I get back to the hotel.  I had my new running shoes on today, but still did a lot of walking.

I have dinner on my own in the hotel dining room. 

   I treat myself to duck pie with roasted potatoes and a nice chilled glass of white wine.

Later in the evening I decide to use the hotel pool for awhile and float away the aching pain in my feet and legs.  For some reason sleep does not come easily and I have a very restless night.T he mattress feels like I’m sleeping on a cloud, and I’m used to sleeping on a firm mattress. Too much luxury ?  Really ?  I guess I'll just have to tough it out.   ;-)