Blogs from Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China, Asia - page 4

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Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven November 9th 2009

What a busy day we have had today... Started off with yet another big breakfast although I opted to skip the waffles with chocolate sauce this morning to be a little healthier. We then headed off to the Temple of Heaven, $30¥, which was amazing. The buildings are beautiful and we saw some interesting dancing in the park area's. Well it was more like swaying with your arms going up and down - quite funny! We were also lucky (if you could call it that) to have it snow for a little while we were there! We then headed off to the China World Tower to meet and have lunch with some of Tamara's business associates from Telstra/Sensis. They were really lovely and all spoke English very well. We had a wide selection of food at ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven October 27th 2009

Ok, perhaps the path to heaven can be reached by riding a small pink trike through the streets of Beijing, in a suit, drinking something exotic...we saw this chap (pic 1) on the way to the Temple of Heaven. He was using a cell phone at one point too. This nearly surpasses the crazy driving in Xian...The Temple of Heaven was under construction in preparation for the Olympics during our past visits. It looks much better these days.... read more
The Imperial Vault
The Hall of Prayer

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven September 18th 2009

Hello world We tried to get up early today however we slept through our alarm and got up at 9.40!! Weather not as hot today, which turned out to be a blessing! Still warm but just want to mention again that although the pics look overcast or foggy, it is actually just smog! I persuaded Anne to take a walk to the Temple of Heaven (was used by the Ming & Qing Dynasties to pray for good harvest) as it looked pretty close on a map, but it wasn't! It took us about 2 and a half hours to get there and on the way picked up our train ticket to Xi'an - the shop was in the middle of a supermarket which was wierd. We got to the temple of heaven and walked about for ... read more
map
beijing day 4 023
beijing day 4 027

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven September 9th 2009

Hello everybody. We had our second lesson today, we're getting slightly better at all of the sounds that sound exactly the same to me. In fact, when I repeat the sounds for three different letters in exactly the same way, the teacher seems happy with me, so maybe that's the secret, there aren't as many sounds as they think there are. After that we went to see the Temple of Heaven - awesome. I should be up with all the details about why it's so famous, and how old it is and how long it took to build, but to be honest, it's just a really cool place to be and see, if you like knowing all the facts and figures...that's what Wikipedia's for... We're not sure if there's an East Gate to the temple grounds, ... read more
Walking to the North Gate
HOPFGHs again again
North Gate & Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven September 1st 2009

It is Tuesday September 1st and I have spent the afternoon ambling through the gardens of the Temple of Heaven. Sound heavenly? It was. And for the first time since I can remember, I smelt the smell of newly cut grass, and it made me happy, and it made me think of home. I have spent today (after arriving at 6am) walking around the 2 places I didn't get to visit before; namely the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Both were nice, but these Chinese eyes are tired and I'm focused on leaving these shores now. So I have arrived back where I started. Seems like a lifetime ago now. Beijing today is a far cry from the -200 million degrees we had to endure back in January; all that newness, all that uncertainty. ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven July 12th 2009

Since we got in so late on Friday night, we were fortunate to have a late start on Saturday morning. We were back at the same hotel in Beijing, the Jinguo Garden Hotel, and which meant we had the same food for breakfast: an array of Chinese and American cuisine. As we get ready to return to the US and because Chinese 3x a day is getting a little old I opted for croissants and fruit rather than fried rice and dumplings. Our first stop today was the Confucius temple in the city center. This was really an appropriate stop for a group of educators being that Confucius is probably one of the world’s oldest teachers. Known the world over for his philosophical teachings, he is an inspiration to all educators. He lived from 551 - ... read more
Address to Temple
Ornate architecture
Confucius Temple

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven July 9th 2009

Sadly, it was time to leave China. The Beijing airport is huge, clean, modern. While standing in line for baggage inspection, I hear, "Marilyn Clark?" What, is something wrong with my passport? Who is wanting me? It turns out it was Dave Gill, a colleague from my Cummins days who I haven't seen in 6 years! He is working on a new plant near Beijing. It trully is a small world. On the trip home we woke up just in time to see the sun rise over Mt. McKinley in Alaska. Awesome! We loved China and I hope Kim and Ryan end up there so I can visit again! And, Ben, you have to go climbing in Yangshou!... read more

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven July 7th 2009

Eh, just read the pictures. I started out with Ethan, Sam, Parker?, & I don't remember who else out of our group, but ended up wanting to explore more than them and headed off on my own for a speed run to be able to see both the Olympic Park and Military Museum before our flight back. During my visit there was some weird dancing by any standards, fighting over pictures atop the great circular mound, a few history lessons and info about how livestock were sacrificed, a beautiful cypress tree, an insanely tall lantern, and a failed Echoing Wall attempt. If you go to Beijing, you have to go here, it was believed in ancient times by the Chinese that this was the center of the universe/world...or was that the South Temple? Whatever, still have ... read more
I see it! Now how do I get to it?
Funny dancing by any culture
Temple of Heaven

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven July 5th 2009

There are so many people in China that retirement for men is mandatory at 55 and at 50 for women. So what do the Chinese do? Go to an old folks home, become reclusive and moan that no one visits? Nope. Instead, they become fully sociable, joining clubs, taking up hobbies, singing and playing games. And the place to do it all is the Temple of Heaven. Here they dance, play hackey-sack, sing in large choruses or solo, twirl ribbons, create music on Chinese stringed instruments alone or wind instruments in bands, play badminton and cards. Throughout the sprawling and well kept Temple of Heaven grounds (no one walks on the grass so its always perfect) groups gather according to what they want to do. The air is filled with music from radios, choruses and bands. ... read more
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven

Asia » China » Beijing » Temple of Heaven June 26th 2009

This morning we went to Temple of Haven and the hazy pollution is quite bad in Beijing so the visibility is not very far. Today it is not as hot as yesterday so we drink a bit less water. The traffic congestion is a prominent problem for Beijing despite having good highways. In the afternoon, we went to see Beijing Olympics Park where we see National Stadium--natural "Bird's Nest" and National Swimming Center "Water Cube" where Michael Phelps broke 8 records last year in Beijing 2008. We were heading back to the hotel at 3:00 PM to enjoy the cool weather in our room. ... read more
Circular Mound Altar
Imperial Vault of Heaven
Circular Mound Altar




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