Beijing, China: Part 2
On June 8th Ryan and I accompanied his grandparents for a trip to the Summer Palace. It was originally part of the Old Summer Palace, which was quite a bit larger, and was rebuilt after a massive fire. It was situated mainly around a large lake, with the Buddha Incense Tower overlooking it. Apparently the Tower sits on a hill built entirely from the extra dirt when excavating the lake! I had a beautiful blue sky to photograph as there was a thunderstorm the night before.
We had to trek down the Long Corridor to see the lakeview. Hand-painted on each pillar were unique scenes from ancient China. Pretty neat!
The Marble Boat.
We rode by the Bridge of Seventeen Arches, which led to an island temple.
After having tasty hot pot at Yourenju, a Szechuan hot pot restaurant, and some rest from the heat, we headed over to the Olympic Green to see the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest. It was a cool experience, and we caught them right before sunset.
After wandering around the Green, we had dinner with Ryan’s dad at Houhai, a strip of shops and restaurants surrounding a lake. It was refreshing to experience some nightlife, and we had time to explore and buy some snacks from vendors.
The next day on the 9th, Ryan and I got up bright and early to visit the Temple of Heaven. It was built during the Ming Dynasty and the emperor would visit it annually to pray for good harvests in the coming year. Considered sacred ground, only the emperor and his retinue were allowed to visit, so it was a treat for it to be turned into a park and national monument for us all to enjoy.
We entered the Temple of Heaven grounds from the east gate and walked through some forests. The grassy areas nearby are popular with the locals and many come to practice tai chi.
After a stroll, we visited the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest ancient wooden structure still standing today. It’s built completely from wood and features a triple-eaved roof with enormous supporting pillars. Decorating it are colored tiles and a large gilded ball at the top.
I was impressed with the craftsmanship and the perfect symmetry. More than that, it’s built entirely from wood and uses no nails! The engineer in me was in awe. The neighboring halls also contained scaled-down models of the interior so I could look at the architecture. It was amazing.
We also visited the Imperial Hall of Heaven and the Circular Mound Altar, all on the Temple grounds.
In each structure the numbers of tiles, pillars, and each structure’s respective shape were symbolic of Heaven, Earth, the seasons and the calendar. Pretty cool!
After driving back to Beijing proper, we visited Zhengyangmen, colloquially called Qianmen, the front gate to what was once Beijing’s walled city. It’s located south of Tienanmen Square and features a long street with neighboring alleys, all filled with historic shops that have been in operation for hundreds of years. It was a treat for me to browse the shops, see the sights, and experience history still alive.
After a refreshing and mouth-watering lunch at Duyichu, a restaurant once visited by the Qianlong emperor himself and famous for its shoumai, we wandered to a silk market. It had a great selection of silks as I’ve never seen before in the US, and my eyes popped. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any sewing projects in mind at the time and so didn’t buy any fabric, but I’ll be back!
After a walk to digest, it was time to visit Jingshan Park. Literally meaning “Prospect Hill”, the park had some grassy grounds with trees lining peaceful walkways. As it was an incredibly hot day and we visited at the hottest hour, there weren’t that many people walking around. There were some hiking up the steps to the top of the hill, so Ryan and I went up ourselves. At the top we beheld a Buddhist temple and a breathtaking view of the Forbidden City. It was only then that I realized how enormous the Forbidden City was — from the top of the hill I couldn’t fit the entire width of the city in my viewfinder and it stretched towards the horizon.
After the trek up the hill, Ryan and I descended and wandered across the street to Beihai Park. Jingshan and Beihai Parks were both once part of the Forbidden City, and they had lakes, willow trees, and tranquil walkways in common. Beihai Park also featured a White Pagoda, which upon entering the grounds, I could see from a distance.
The White Pagoda is actually a Buddhist reliquary, so while we were able to visit the Buddhist temples and climb the steps leading up to the Pagoda, we were not allowed to enter. Still, standing at the peak afforded us a nice view of Beijing.
The next day on the 10th, Ryan and I accompanied his grandparents to Longqingxia, a lake that was created after damming a valley. Located over an hour outside of Beijing, we were able to visit the lake through a series of escalators. We went for a pleasant boat ride around the lake where we could enjoy the cool air and the surrounding mountains.
After the long drive, we all took a rest and called it a day.
Our last day in Beijing was far more relaxed — we spent most of the day at Tsinghua University visiting grandparents. Ryan’s grandfather took us for a short walking tour of the campus as I’d never explored it before. The university itself is very quiet and safe and we visited numerous gardens scattered throughout the campus.
After lunch at the university, Ryan’s dad accompanied us to visit Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace. As it was looted and burned down in 1860 during the Second Opium War, we could only see the remains of the gardens. Even so, I was astounded at the sheer size of the gardens, lakes, and structures remaining. We also saw a small museum with a model of how the Old Summer Palace looked before the fires.
One interesting part of the gardens contained a set of European Buildings. The remains were more complete here than in other parts of the Palace as the European structures were built of stone and not wood.
As we wandered around another of the numerous lakes we caught a thunderstorm and had to hurry out of the gardens before we were completely soaked. It took a while, but we finally made it out to the car after resting a few minutes under some eaves. Of course, the rain cleared up as soon as we left the Palace grounds! We spent the rest of the afternoon drying off at Tsinghua and we had the most scrumptious dinner at Ryan’s grandparents’ — homemade Szechuan cuisine, and with such awesome company! It really was the perfect farewell dinner after a wonderful and fun trip.
I want to say a heartfult thank you to all of Ryan’s family, particularly his grandparents and Dad for welcoming me to Beijing and making us feel at home! It was a memorable trip and Ryan and I had a wonderful time!
For more pictures from the trip, please click here.
