Everything about Beijing seems big. Enormous in fact. The airport is immense, now the largest in the world apparently and having walked through only a small part of it, we’d believe it. It looks very impressive and we were amazed it was virtually empty!
After being cramped in Japan, we made the most of the spacious hostel room and private bathroom (all for half the price of Japan accommodation) and had a decent nights sleep before eating our (free!!) breakfast. Anything free is a bonus. Euans even started having sugar in his coffee because its free :-) The room was so quiet too – something else that had been lacking in the Japanese Hostels with paper-thin (I’m not joking) walls.
The next morning we grabbed a map of Beijing, decided that the Forbidden City wasn’t that far as it was in the Dongcheng district where we were staying, and took off on foot. After walking two blocks and about 40 minutes later it started to hit home just how big Beijing is. By the time we got to Jingshan Park and climbed up the hill for the view, we’d been going well over an hour and had covered barely 2cm on our map.
The hill the temple is on was made from the earth taken when digging the moat of the Forbidden City. There were great views and while we didn’t realise it at the time, it was a relatively clear day. The fact we couldn’t see the end of the terracotta rooftops of the Forbidden City was a good hint at its size.
Once in there, you could see the hill in Jingshan Park, where we’d just been, peeking out in between the many roofs in the Forbidden City
We were in the Forbidden City for hours and hours and it’s a bit like a maze and looks very much the same whichever way you turn
but does have some lovely gardens and pavilions
We went into the Clock Exhibition Hall and saw every kind of clock you could possibly imagine. All were very ornate and some you could barely see where the actual clock face was! I liked the hot-air balloon one below and there was also one of a sunflower which was pretty cool.
This is the Imperial Carriageway, a solid 250 tonne slab of carved marble that had been moved into Beijing on ice. Water was poured on the streets in the winter and after it froze, the marble slab was transported along the ice.
Some of the buildings were very imposing, not sure whether it was the wall of solid red at the base or just their vastness but by this stage I was over posing nicely
This is massive courtyard that held imperial audiences of up to 100,000 people
If you’re into history and palaces you could easily be in the Forbidden City for days but after about 3 hours we were ready to exit
After being cramped in Japan, we made the most of the spacious hostel room and private bathroom (all for half the price of Japan accommodation) and had a decent nights sleep before eating our (free!!) breakfast. Anything free is a bonus. Euans even started having sugar in his coffee because its free :-) The room was so quiet too – something else that had been lacking in the Japanese Hostels with paper-thin (I’m not joking) walls.
The next morning we grabbed a map of Beijing, decided that the Forbidden City wasn’t that far as it was in the Dongcheng district where we were staying, and took off on foot. After walking two blocks and about 40 minutes later it started to hit home just how big Beijing is. By the time we got to Jingshan Park and climbed up the hill for the view, we’d been going well over an hour and had covered barely 2cm on our map.
The hill the temple is on was made from the earth taken when digging the moat of the Forbidden City. There were great views and while we didn’t realise it at the time, it was a relatively clear day. The fact we couldn’t see the end of the terracotta rooftops of the Forbidden City was a good hint at its size.
Once in there, you could see the hill in Jingshan Park, where we’d just been, peeking out in between the many roofs in the Forbidden City
We were in the Forbidden City for hours and hours and it’s a bit like a maze and looks very much the same whichever way you turn
but does have some lovely gardens and pavilions
We went into the Clock Exhibition Hall and saw every kind of clock you could possibly imagine. All were very ornate and some you could barely see where the actual clock face was! I liked the hot-air balloon one below and there was also one of a sunflower which was pretty cool.
This is the Imperial Carriageway, a solid 250 tonne slab of carved marble that had been moved into Beijing on ice. Water was poured on the streets in the winter and after it froze, the marble slab was transported along the ice.
Some of the buildings were very imposing, not sure whether it was the wall of solid red at the base or just their vastness but by this stage I was over posing nicely
This is massive courtyard that held imperial audiences of up to 100,000 people
If you’re into history and palaces you could easily be in the Forbidden City for days but after about 3 hours we were ready to exit
and we kept thinking of the poor Chinese Emperors, particularly P’u Yi who became Emperor at the silly age of six or something, being shut away from the outside world in here. Apparently P’u Yi rejected Chinese culture to an extent, dressing like a westerner and learning tennis and studying English.
We came out opposite Tiananmen Square and the road running along one end of the square was pretty much a motorway and crossing was impossible.
Every now and then a group of soldiers would mark past in a group. I thought they looked rather scary so while jumping the barrier was considered it was ruled out when I saw these chaps march past.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Tiananmen Square is also vast and flanked by these seemingly Soviet-inspired buildings.
We were headed towards the Temple of Heaven Park but, unbeknown to us, this was another hour and half walk away. We stopped somewhere for lunch and had the cheapest meal we’ve had for weeks and over-ordered by accident. We learnt our lesson and now know that one meal feeds at least three. I mean, where else can you order dumplings and get dished up 24??? It normally more like 6!!
The Temple of Heaven is in the middle of the 270 ha park (that’s probably about the average size of a NZ farm!) and it was quite pleasant to be in amongst the trees with people singing, playing instruments and doing exercise. It was very entertaining as well. The temple complex covered a large area and only a portion of it is shown below
This is the main temple in the complex, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The supporting pillars are made of wood support the ceiling, at 38m high, without nails or cement. It was originally built in 1420 but got hit by a lightning bolt in 1889 so was rebuilt in 1890. All the temple halls were round and the bases square, apparently symbolising heaven and the earth.
The kids keep us entertained wherever we go; they’re so cute and this little girl was clearly bored and had climbed in a pot. She popped out just as we walked past.
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We were done for the day after that and our map quickly got slagged off as we realised the metro stop wasn’t on the corner as it indicated, but was in fact another couple of kms down the road. I don’t think walking for 7+ hours would be a big deal had we not spent the last two months plus sitting on a truck or Shinkansen! We’ve both considered starting to run every day – I’d likely give myself shin splints in my crocs and Euan would definitely trip himself up in his Tevas but it could be worth a go.
1 comment:
I have to say you have a lot of patience. I remember visitng Wat Po in Bangkok about 10 years ago and although it is not even close in size, i had quickly had enough of all those temples.
must be quite impressive to see a man made structure that largeladi
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