February 7, 2008.
The Lama Temple
Incense everywhere!!!
The smoke rises above the masses...
One of the many Buddhas
Outside the temple looking around for a possible lunch joint...Our second day in Beijing we woke up at 10:00 am!! It was later than I would have liked (we only had a few days there, after all), but it was some much-needed rest. So, we quickly got ready and made our first attempt to take public transportation. There were many buses outside of our hutong--the trouble was deciphering where they went...
We finally got on the 13, which supposedly was headed to the Lama Temple. Riding the bus in China only costs about 12 cents, which is pretty sweet. I had a paper with our destination written in Chinese, and we made sure to show it to many people so we could get off at the right spot. They motioned for us to get off, and we did, about 2 blocks from the temple. As we were walking, we came to what we thought was some kind of demonstration...there were hoards of people waiting for something, with part of the street cordoned off by police...
Our eyes found a whitey couple (from Canada) who filled us in on the situation. Since it was still officially the holiday, the crowds of people were lined up outside of the Lama Temple, which was about the only thing open that day. Did we want to wait in this line to get in, not knowing how long it would take? We decided we did, and made a bit more conversation with the Canadian couple standing nearby. This started at 11:00. Slowly, the crowd began to move...
...it would move and stop about every 10-15 minutes. And we were packed in like sardines. I'd never seen anything like it, and my mind began to think about all the people there are in China (and this was just in one city during a non-busy time!). My mind couldn't contain it all--the largeness, the greatness of China. Mind-boggling. People pushing into your back whenever the crowd would start to slightly move. Kids crying because they were cold and tired of waiting.
After about an hour (or a little more) of waiting like this, we got to the temple gate and bought our tickets. Now, there are many temples in Beijing. Here is a little about this particular temple (courtesy of the Lonely Planet China guide): The Lama Temple is Beijing's most magnificent Buddhist temple: beautiful rooftops, stunning frescoes, magnificent decorative arches, tapestries, incredible carpentry and a great pair of Chinese lions. The most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet, the Lama Temple was converted to a lamasery in 1744 after serving as the former residence of Emperor Yong Zheng. The temple's most prized possession is its 17 m-high sandalwood statue of the Maitreya Buddha in the Wanfu Pavilion (and it's made all from one single tree!). An absorbing exhibition at the rear displays numerous Tibetan items and chronicles the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. You can read more about this temple here.
This temple was quite impressive, and the experience was made even more interesting by the throngs of people coming in to pray and offer incense to the many Buddhas. These people had literally tons of incense. One man even gave a pack to Paul to light once we got in there. There was smoke everywhere, and the stone ground was littered with incense sticks, dust, and wrappers. I kinda felt bad for the guys that had to clean everything up! I think it would have been a little nicer had we not been pushed through each hall by folks eager to light their incense--we could have more time to check out each of the statues. But hey, I guess that's what we get for going there during New Year! The Maitreya Buddha was quite a sight! To think she was made from a single tree!
After our unique experience at the temple, we wanted to follow up with our first restaurant experience in China. We walked away from the temple a bit and along the river, following the thousands of families out enjoying the day. We finally came to a busy street that had a lot of Western chains, stores that were closed, and some Chinese restaurants. After much walking (and it was 2:00 by this time and we still hadn't had breakfast!) we found one that looked pretty good. We went to the second floor dining room (passing by tanks of fish and frogs!), which was quite bustling. Eventually we staked out a table and, thanks to a pictures and English in the menu, were able to order with ease. We ordered wonton soup, peppered beef and onions, Mongolian beef and peppers, steamed rice, green tea, and Tsingtao beer (which tasted terrific--worlds better than Korean beer!). We ate with our long, long chopsticks (Korean ones are shorter and made of metal), waiting for our steamed rice--I wanted to eat it along with the sticky rich sauces from the meat dishes. But they didn't bring it out for a long time. Finally we flagged down a waiter and requested our rice. He brought it out, and we were curious as to why it hadn't been brought out with the rest of the meal. It turns out that in China the rice is brought out last, especially after all the alcohol has been drunk. Not only had we been hasty Americans, but we had also been drinking the beer from the bottle (which apparently is only something that drunks do in China!). Silly foreigners...
We left the restaurant and found the subway, where we took a train (for 25 cents--I love this place!) to Tiananmen Square (the world's largest public square!). Here we also had to wait, for it was about 5:00 and they were preparing for the changing of the guard (the soldiers are drilled to march at precisely 108 paces per minutes, 75 cm per pace). We found another foreigner couple (he from Australia, she from Ethiopia) and exchanged traveling tales and impressions of Beijing. Finally, we got to enter and check things out. Got to see the big portrait of Mao up close! (The dominating feature is the gigantic portrait of the ex-chairman, to the left of which runs the poetic slogan 'Long Live the People's Republic of China' and to the right 'Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World'. The portrait was famously pelted with paint-filled eggs during the 1989 demonstrations in the square; the iconoclasts were workers from Mao's home province of Hunan. A number of spares of the portrait exist and a fresh one was speedily acquisitioned). And all the guards in their long green coats. In the square, you stand in the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. The rectangular arrangement, flanked by halls to the east and west, to an extent echoes the layout of the Forbidden City. As such, the square employs a conventional plan that plays obeisance to traditional Chinese culture, while its ornaments and buildings are largely Soviet inspired. Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, so it's all a bit Kim Il Sung-ish. During the Cultural Revolution the chairmain, wearing a Red Guard armband, reviewed parades of up to a million people here. You can read more about this famous landmark here.
We left Tiananmen Square through the back gate and walked around 'til we ended up in Wangfujing, a famous market district. There they had a street filled with food vendors, selling the most exotic looking things on sticks (like scorpion, snake) in addition to seafood, grilled meat, and fruit kebabs. We played it safe and chose the fruit kebabs, which were "iced" in sugar...mmmm....
Then we walked further into Wangfujing, which has a hip, modern shopping area with many restaurants. First we warmed up with some hot chocolate at McDonald's (which are EVERYWHERE!). We wandered in and out of a few shops (including the official 2008 Olympic store!) and ended up in a really cool mall, where we eventually ate dinner (ate a nice cafeteria that makes up whatever you want right before you!). Then, we caught a cab and headed back to the hutong, to rest up plenty for the following day's agenda...THE GREAT WALL.
We finally got on the 13, which supposedly was headed to the Lama Temple. Riding the bus in China only costs about 12 cents, which is pretty sweet. I had a paper with our destination written in Chinese, and we made sure to show it to many people so we could get off at the right spot. They motioned for us to get off, and we did, about 2 blocks from the temple. As we were walking, we came to what we thought was some kind of demonstration...there were hoards of people waiting for something, with part of the street cordoned off by police...
Our eyes found a whitey couple (from Canada) who filled us in on the situation. Since it was still officially the holiday, the crowds of people were lined up outside of the Lama Temple, which was about the only thing open that day. Did we want to wait in this line to get in, not knowing how long it would take? We decided we did, and made a bit more conversation with the Canadian couple standing nearby. This started at 11:00. Slowly, the crowd began to move...
...it would move and stop about every 10-15 minutes. And we were packed in like sardines. I'd never seen anything like it, and my mind began to think about all the people there are in China (and this was just in one city during a non-busy time!). My mind couldn't contain it all--the largeness, the greatness of China. Mind-boggling. People pushing into your back whenever the crowd would start to slightly move. Kids crying because they were cold and tired of waiting.
After about an hour (or a little more) of waiting like this, we got to the temple gate and bought our tickets. Now, there are many temples in Beijing. Here is a little about this particular temple (courtesy of the Lonely Planet China guide): The Lama Temple is Beijing's most magnificent Buddhist temple: beautiful rooftops, stunning frescoes, magnificent decorative arches, tapestries, incredible carpentry and a great pair of Chinese lions. The most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet, the Lama Temple was converted to a lamasery in 1744 after serving as the former residence of Emperor Yong Zheng. The temple's most prized possession is its 17 m-high sandalwood statue of the Maitreya Buddha in the Wanfu Pavilion (and it's made all from one single tree!). An absorbing exhibition at the rear displays numerous Tibetan items and chronicles the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. You can read more about this temple here.
This temple was quite impressive, and the experience was made even more interesting by the throngs of people coming in to pray and offer incense to the many Buddhas. These people had literally tons of incense. One man even gave a pack to Paul to light once we got in there. There was smoke everywhere, and the stone ground was littered with incense sticks, dust, and wrappers. I kinda felt bad for the guys that had to clean everything up! I think it would have been a little nicer had we not been pushed through each hall by folks eager to light their incense--we could have more time to check out each of the statues. But hey, I guess that's what we get for going there during New Year! The Maitreya Buddha was quite a sight! To think she was made from a single tree!
After our unique experience at the temple, we wanted to follow up with our first restaurant experience in China. We walked away from the temple a bit and along the river, following the thousands of families out enjoying the day. We finally came to a busy street that had a lot of Western chains, stores that were closed, and some Chinese restaurants. After much walking (and it was 2:00 by this time and we still hadn't had breakfast!) we found one that looked pretty good. We went to the second floor dining room (passing by tanks of fish and frogs!), which was quite bustling. Eventually we staked out a table and, thanks to a pictures and English in the menu, were able to order with ease. We ordered wonton soup, peppered beef and onions, Mongolian beef and peppers, steamed rice, green tea, and Tsingtao beer (which tasted terrific--worlds better than Korean beer!). We ate with our long, long chopsticks (Korean ones are shorter and made of metal), waiting for our steamed rice--I wanted to eat it along with the sticky rich sauces from the meat dishes. But they didn't bring it out for a long time. Finally we flagged down a waiter and requested our rice. He brought it out, and we were curious as to why it hadn't been brought out with the rest of the meal. It turns out that in China the rice is brought out last, especially after all the alcohol has been drunk. Not only had we been hasty Americans, but we had also been drinking the beer from the bottle (which apparently is only something that drunks do in China!). Silly foreigners...
We left the restaurant and found the subway, where we took a train (for 25 cents--I love this place!) to Tiananmen Square (the world's largest public square!). Here we also had to wait, for it was about 5:00 and they were preparing for the changing of the guard (the soldiers are drilled to march at precisely 108 paces per minutes, 75 cm per pace). We found another foreigner couple (he from Australia, she from Ethiopia) and exchanged traveling tales and impressions of Beijing. Finally, we got to enter and check things out. Got to see the big portrait of Mao up close! (The dominating feature is the gigantic portrait of the ex-chairman, to the left of which runs the poetic slogan 'Long Live the People's Republic of China' and to the right 'Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World'. The portrait was famously pelted with paint-filled eggs during the 1989 demonstrations in the square; the iconoclasts were workers from Mao's home province of Hunan. A number of spares of the portrait exist and a fresh one was speedily acquisitioned). And all the guards in their long green coats. In the square, you stand in the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. The rectangular arrangement, flanked by halls to the east and west, to an extent echoes the layout of the Forbidden City. As such, the square employs a conventional plan that plays obeisance to traditional Chinese culture, while its ornaments and buildings are largely Soviet inspired. Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, so it's all a bit Kim Il Sung-ish. During the Cultural Revolution the chairmain, wearing a Red Guard armband, reviewed parades of up to a million people here. You can read more about this famous landmark here.
We left Tiananmen Square through the back gate and walked around 'til we ended up in Wangfujing, a famous market district. There they had a street filled with food vendors, selling the most exotic looking things on sticks (like scorpion, snake) in addition to seafood, grilled meat, and fruit kebabs. We played it safe and chose the fruit kebabs, which were "iced" in sugar...mmmm....
Then we walked further into Wangfujing, which has a hip, modern shopping area with many restaurants. First we warmed up with some hot chocolate at McDonald's (which are EVERYWHERE!). We wandered in and out of a few shops (including the official 2008 Olympic store!) and ended up in a really cool mall, where we eventually ate dinner (ate a nice cafeteria that makes up whatever you want right before you!). Then, we caught a cab and headed back to the hutong, to rest up plenty for the following day's agenda...THE GREAT WALL.
posted by streetwise at 3:47 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home