The Temple of Heaven.
Today we managed to get ourselves out of bed at the bright and early time of 8:30am, which is kind of a record nowadays! Its hard I know you understand... As soon as we were up and had shuffled through the communal showers we were ready to embark on the day. Today we had decided to take it a little easy and visit a location close by as tomorrow will be our 'secret great wall tour' organised through the hostel. Since it was so close by we decided to walk. It was another sunny and pollution free day in Beijing, with a million pieces of willow tree fluff in the air. Once we arrived we gained admission for 15rmb each and entered the park surrounding the temple. As with most other attractions in China, the park grounds are massive! There are also secondary areas within the attraction that you have to pay for additional tickets. Considering we were setting a more relaxed pace today we made the best of the cheaper entry tickets and skipped the entire walk through, as it would easily have taken the whole day.
The Temple Of Heaven Complex, An imperial complex built during the years of 1406 to 1420 during the Emperor Yongles reign. The Emperor Yongle is also responsible for another imperial building in Beijing, The Forbidden city. The temple of Heaven is a Taoist Temple, despite the annual ceremonies & prayers are of heavenly worship and for a good harvest. Throughout it's history the complex has had extensions, restorations, 3 new temples built (Sun, Earth & Moon) & was occupied by Anglo French soldiers in the 2nd opium war. It was also occupied by the Eighth Nation Alliance, an occupation that led to serious destruction of the temples & temple grounds. After the downfall of the Qing, it was neglected & left in a desecrated state resulting in various temple hall's collapsing. Today the temple grounds cover 2.73 km's of beautiful parkland & have 3 sections of construction including the Temple Of Heaven.
Once we entered the park we were greeted by the familiar site of many purple flowers enveloping the ground beneath the trees. As well as the familiar colours of pink and yellow blossoms, and deep leafy green foliage of the larger trees. We took many photos whilst wandering through the garden sections surrounding the temples and monuments, often getting into awkward positions for the best angle! The gardens were fairly empty which was a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of many of the scenic locations around Beijing. We were able to take many breaks along our way and drink some 'ice tea' and snacks we bought from the super market. Very tranquil and relaxing indeed. Its a strange realisation that you need to seek out these moments of quiet while on holiday. I guess you would think we would have all the time in the world to get some quiet moments in, but it just doesn't work out that way! Theres always something to do or somewhere you need to be. China can be pretty suffocating with all the people sometimes.
After wandering around for some time we decided to enter one of the paid sections (another 20rmb each). We were then able to see inside one of the temple structures, which included many rich coloured walls and architraves. Ancient relics lined the walls which we managed to grab a glimpse of before the queue jostled and shuffled us along! I can't explain how different the personal space is over here. Everyone is pushing and shoving, and it just seems common place. You can bump some one fair in the face and turn around and they have carried on like its just another day. Quite strange! I guess thats how it needs to be for everyone to manage to get where they are going!
We continued on in a clockwise fashion around the park. Encountering another stunning marvel of architecture. A large temple, which we later found out was a location for the emperor to fast and obtain from his various royal pleasures. He would enter this sanctuary 3 days prior to the formal 'Heaven Worshiping Ceremony'. This structure boasts a massive external moat, as well as a smaller internal moat (which we couldn't see as the building was closed to the public). Once again we find ourself amazed at the magnitude of the structures and earthworks that are conducted to create these monuments. I guess the old adage of 'many hands make light work' rings true again.
After doing a thorough round of the grounds we walked back to the hostel and stopped off at another one of the many spectacular restaurants here in Beijing. Its amazing to be able to indulge in such amazing foods and stuff our bellies full every day for as little as 30aud between us, including a 500ml beer each. We can't wait to return home and cook some of this food for you all!
-Tom
After wandering around for some time we decided to enter one of the paid sections (another 20rmb each). We were then able to see inside one of the temple structures, which included many rich coloured walls and architraves. Ancient relics lined the walls which we managed to grab a glimpse of before the queue jostled and shuffled us along! I can't explain how different the personal space is over here. Everyone is pushing and shoving, and it just seems common place. You can bump some one fair in the face and turn around and they have carried on like its just another day. Quite strange! I guess thats how it needs to be for everyone to manage to get where they are going!
We continued on in a clockwise fashion around the park. Encountering another stunning marvel of architecture. A large temple, which we later found out was a location for the emperor to fast and obtain from his various royal pleasures. He would enter this sanctuary 3 days prior to the formal 'Heaven Worshiping Ceremony'. This structure boasts a massive external moat, as well as a smaller internal moat (which we couldn't see as the building was closed to the public). Once again we find ourself amazed at the magnitude of the structures and earthworks that are conducted to create these monuments. I guess the old adage of 'many hands make light work' rings true again.
After doing a thorough round of the grounds we walked back to the hostel and stopped off at another one of the many spectacular restaurants here in Beijing. Its amazing to be able to indulge in such amazing foods and stuff our bellies full every day for as little as 30aud between us, including a 500ml beer each. We can't wait to return home and cook some of this food for you all!
-Tom
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