Wednesday 30 May
Reg's tummy is definitely improving, and mine is back to normal, so we're feeling a lot better today. Someone in our hostel has recommended that we visit the "Temple of Heaven", and it sounds like a place we will enjoy. Also, it's only a half hour bus ride away, and we're meeting up with an American couple for dinner this evening, so it's an ideal place to go to today.
It's a hot day, but there's a refreshing breeze. and amazingly for Beijing we're told, there's a clear blue sky; apparently it;s rare to see Beijing without it's veil of smog. Yesterday evening's rainstorm must have cleared the air.
In a way, at first sight, the Temple of Heaven has some similarities to the Forbidden City; there are various wooden Pagoda type buildings, each having a separate purpose eg The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, The big difference though between the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City is that the former area is surrounded by trees and lovely parkland, with an enchanting Rose Garden.
The Temple of Heaven was a worshipping site, where the Emperors used to come, in a ritual ceremony, to make sacrifices and pray for a good Harvest. The ritual ceremonies were very grand affairs - the Emperor would be dressed in appropriate costume, and a procession would take place involving all the dignitaries and government officials. Common people had to stay indoors and were forbidden from watching the ritual ceremonies and processions.
A particularly interesting feature is a small door in an outside wall, called the 70 year old door - not because the door is 70 years old, but because when one of the Emperors (Emperor Qianlong) reached 70 years old, his aides realised he was struggling to walk the distance covered by the long ritual procession to the Hall of Prayers. So the officials suggested to the Emperor that they make a door in a wall as a shortcut for him. The Emperor readily agreed; but to prevent his successors becoming lazy, and using this "short-cut door" to make life easy for themselves, the Emperor decreed that no future Emperor could use the "short-cut door" unless they had reached the age of 70. No future Emperor ever reached 70 years old, so the door was only ever used by Emperor Qianlong.
As sometimes happens on our trip, a group of 3 older schoolboys stop us and ask if we will please have our photo taken with them - one member of their group takes the photo. They are enjoying practising their English. One of the boys says he will go to America when he finishes school.
"Not England then?" we ask.
"Oh, England too," he hastily replies, realising we aren't Americans!
After enjoying a leisurely stroll around the main area of the Temple of Heaven, we stop for an icecream in the shade (it's very hot now) and take a walk through the beautiful tree-shaded parkland. We discover a temple we haven't seen yet - the Fasting Temple. It's an extra 10 yuan (£1) to visit it, but we're so glad we did. It's small, and no-one else is visiting it at the time; it's peaceful, and the surrounding grass is somewhat overgrown, like a meadow - almost as if it;s been forgotten about. In the courtyard is a huge brass bell.
After resting in the shaded Rose Arbour in the rose garden, we slowly make our way back to the South Gate to catch our bus. We think we enjoyed the Temple of Heaven more than the Forbidden City, because of the proliferation of trees and parkland. It made us think of England.
After a rest at the hostel we make our way to a restaurant where Peking Duck is a speciality. We're meeting up with an American couple we've been introduced to, Warren and Betsy Talbot, who are also currently travelling across Asia. The difference is that they are much younger than us, and have sold their home and all their possessions in order to travel the world. We have an enjoyable evening sharing stories - they have their own website, www.marriedwithluggage.com. We promise to keep in touch, and tell them to look us up when at some time in the future, they are sure they will revisit England. The meal is delicious - and a fraction of the price we were charged when we were scammed on Monday night. We pay 144 yuan (£14.40) for a meal for 4 people.
Reg's tummy is definitely improving, and mine is back to normal, so we're feeling a lot better today. Someone in our hostel has recommended that we visit the "Temple of Heaven", and it sounds like a place we will enjoy. Also, it's only a half hour bus ride away, and we're meeting up with an American couple for dinner this evening, so it's an ideal place to go to today.
It's a hot day, but there's a refreshing breeze. and amazingly for Beijing we're told, there's a clear blue sky; apparently it;s rare to see Beijing without it's veil of smog. Yesterday evening's rainstorm must have cleared the air.
In a way, at first sight, the Temple of Heaven has some similarities to the Forbidden City; there are various wooden Pagoda type buildings, each having a separate purpose eg The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, The big difference though between the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City is that the former area is surrounded by trees and lovely parkland, with an enchanting Rose Garden.
The Temple of Heaven was a worshipping site, where the Emperors used to come, in a ritual ceremony, to make sacrifices and pray for a good Harvest. The ritual ceremonies were very grand affairs - the Emperor would be dressed in appropriate costume, and a procession would take place involving all the dignitaries and government officials. Common people had to stay indoors and were forbidden from watching the ritual ceremonies and processions.
A particularly interesting feature is a small door in an outside wall, called the 70 year old door - not because the door is 70 years old, but because when one of the Emperors (Emperor Qianlong) reached 70 years old, his aides realised he was struggling to walk the distance covered by the long ritual procession to the Hall of Prayers. So the officials suggested to the Emperor that they make a door in a wall as a shortcut for him. The Emperor readily agreed; but to prevent his successors becoming lazy, and using this "short-cut door" to make life easy for themselves, the Emperor decreed that no future Emperor could use the "short-cut door" unless they had reached the age of 70. No future Emperor ever reached 70 years old, so the door was only ever used by Emperor Qianlong.
As sometimes happens on our trip, a group of 3 older schoolboys stop us and ask if we will please have our photo taken with them - one member of their group takes the photo. They are enjoying practising their English. One of the boys says he will go to America when he finishes school.
"Not England then?" we ask.
"Oh, England too," he hastily replies, realising we aren't Americans!
After enjoying a leisurely stroll around the main area of the Temple of Heaven, we stop for an icecream in the shade (it's very hot now) and take a walk through the beautiful tree-shaded parkland. We discover a temple we haven't seen yet - the Fasting Temple. It's an extra 10 yuan (£1) to visit it, but we're so glad we did. It's small, and no-one else is visiting it at the time; it's peaceful, and the surrounding grass is somewhat overgrown, like a meadow - almost as if it;s been forgotten about. In the courtyard is a huge brass bell.
After resting in the shaded Rose Arbour in the rose garden, we slowly make our way back to the South Gate to catch our bus. We think we enjoyed the Temple of Heaven more than the Forbidden City, because of the proliferation of trees and parkland. It made us think of England.
After a rest at the hostel we make our way to a restaurant where Peking Duck is a speciality. We're meeting up with an American couple we've been introduced to, Warren and Betsy Talbot, who are also currently travelling across Asia. The difference is that they are much younger than us, and have sold their home and all their possessions in order to travel the world. We have an enjoyable evening sharing stories - they have their own website, www.marriedwithluggage.com. We promise to keep in touch, and tell them to look us up when at some time in the future, they are sure they will revisit England. The meal is delicious - and a fraction of the price we were charged when we were scammed on Monday night. We pay 144 yuan (£14.40) for a meal for 4 people.
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