Blogs from Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

Today was packed with adventures. First, we went to the Summer Palace where I saw a a lot of similarities to the Forbidden City in terms of architecture and paintings. It was a very serene area, I can definitely see why emperors would take their vacations there. We took a boat ride at the Summer Palace across the lake. The Temple of Heaven also had similar features. My favorite part of the Temple of Heaven was the area leading up to the Temple that is the center of Beijing. Many people stopped to take pictures. I liked both sites very much. One thing that struck me was the size of these two places. When learning about them, you realize that they are large, but do not think about exactly how big they are. Another interesting thing ... read more

After sleeping in and multiple attempts at asking the front desk attendant if there is wi-fi available, we got dressed and ready to hit the city for another action-packed day. There was no wi-fi but there was an ethernet cable hanging out of the wall that we managed to overlook. It’s nice to feel connected to the outside world. Even if I am on vacation. One of Alicia’s co-workers went to college in Beijing so she knows the area very well. She was kind enough to make us up an itinerary for our trip. It even includes the best ways of getting from place to place (i.e. subway, taxi, city bus, or walking). Today’s adventures includes the Temple of Heaven as our first stop. It is not very far from the hotel but once we set ... read more

Last weekend I checked out the Temple of Heaven, southeast of the Forbidden City. It's where the emperor used to make sacrifices to bring good harvests. Today the area is a nice park around the central temple and other various sacrificial sites. My roommate took a trip to the countryside and asked to borrow my camera so I included the best picture he took. The location is around an hour outside of Beijing. This Friday we had our mid-terms which went very well in my case. Next week there is no class so tomorrow I'm starting out to Xining, in Qinghai province. It's about as far out of civilization I can get with only a week to travel. From what I hear the small city has a good mix of historical religious sites in the forms ... read more

Once again we left early and went to our one attraction of the day. We have a lot of extra days in Beijing so we can take our time. Which is nice since the traffic here is pretty bad, it lets us take things slow and relax. Today we saw the Temple of Heaven, where the emperors since the Ming dynasty have been worshipping Heaven, as early as the 1300's. It was kind of overcast but still pretty cool and exciting. We walked around the whole park which had some awesome trails through rows of trees. When worshipping Heaven there were many different phases throughout the ritual with ceremonial sacrifices. There was also a phase of dancing and singing. Walking along the path you could see many people singing or dancing to music or doing Tai ... read more

Ni Hao from the Far East. China has already been an awesome experience. Day one was a -10 degree brisk and fresh morning but beautifully clear so we decided to walk to the Forbidden City, much to a rickshaw driver’s disappointment. ‘Breath-taking’ sounds so cliché but the architecture really was spectacular. We began at the North Gate, which turned out to be a good move as the building increased in grandeur and exquisiteness as we walked. The names really put a smile on my face; ‘Temple of intense happiness’, ‘Hall of complete harmony’ and ‘Gate of heavenly purity’ etc. Brilliant. Tiananmen Square was bloody massive and we walked through it onto a gorgeous main street with lots of alleyways with hanging lanterns and the smell of sweet and sour lingering in the air. The abundance of ... read more