Day Three: Temple of Heaven

Asia » China » Beijing
May 20th 2008

Published: May 20th 2008

From the jaws of defeat…

Today almost was a disaster. We had a lot of trouble getting in touch with someone who might help us navigate the city, and had basically given up all hope of another great day in Beijing when Vincent (in the clutch play of the day) tracked down Cecily’s cell number for us. We promised to immortalize the clutch play here:

When I say that the people are nicer here than anywhere else I’ve been, this is a really good example. Cecily got out of bed, negotiated a black cab for us, and took us to the sights that we had targeted for today. It was too late to make it out to the Great Wall and back without sacrificing all the other things we wanted to see in the city, so we focused on the Lama Temple, Temple of Heaven, and the Pearl Market. All told, that made for an absolutely amazing day.

The Lama Temple was a truly spiritual place unlike anything else I’ve seen. It was built in 1694 and is the largest temple of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhists in Beijing. As such, it has a style of architecture distinct from all the other temples we’ve seen. It’s basically a cluster of buildings on a tree-lined campus centered on courtyards that house large incense burners. We were told that it wasn’t sacrilegious and encouraged to participate, so we made offerings of incense with the pilgrims that had come to the temple for that purpose. Lighting the incense in the massive burners was really tough and also dangerous to the hair on the backs of my hands, so we settled for Girouard’s lighter. I hope that part wasn’t religiously problematic, but nobody seemed to mind.
Mark also couldn’t stop smiling the whole time, although he contends that he stopped short of giggling.

The buildings of the temple house a massive collection of Buddhas, each with a distinct meaning that Cecily explained to us. The most impressive of these is the world’s largest Buddha carved from a single block of sandalwood. It is about 60 feet tall and massive. I have no idea where you find a tree that size. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed of the Buddhas or inside the buildings, so you have to settle for architectural shots.

Following the Lama Temple, we went to Temple of Heaven Park, which I think we all agreed was the neatest architecture we’ve seen to date. That part didn’t go without a hiccup, though. Our cabs got separated, and the cab with our friends from Willamette ended up at the wrong gate to the park and we couldn’t get in touch with them. It all worked out, though, because they had a Chinese speaker with them, and decided to go back to the compound to do work for the tournament. We forged on alone into the park. The park is enormous, and is dotted with trees that are protected by the government because they have been cultivated for 500 years or more. The series of temples is arranged in ascending order up a hill overlooking Beijing, culminating in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. All the carvings are done on a dragon and phoenix motif with clouds and peony blossoms, representing the Yin and the Yang and the ascent into heaven. These are also the only round temples we saw. The Hall is in the background of thsis picture of us and Cecily.

On the path to the top we met a very friendly old man who was practicing his calligraphy on the stone pathway with water and a big brush. He wrote “welcome Americans” for us and we took our picture with him.

From the Temple of Heaven, we wanted to go to the Pearl Market, which is actually not a very long walk from the North gate, but we were getting really hungry by this point. Cecily led us on a tour of back streets in search of an auspicious place, which is exactly what we found. It was a place off a side street with no English signage that we would totally have missed without Cecily’s guidance, but it was packed, which we took for a good sign. The specialty of the house was noodles, which we definitely tried. In addition, we had a big pan of beef and onions, some fried pork in sauce, and vegetables of some sort (Mom should be proud). On top of that, it has been my mission since coming to Beijing to try some of the things Anthony Bordain did when he came here for No Reservations. This restaurant just happened to have big dishes of slivers of beef lungs to dip in peanut sauce and pepper oil. I liked them a lot and they tasted a bit like calamari to me, but Chris and Mark were not as impressed. The other sweet thing about this restaurant was that the food arrived almost as fast as you ordered it so it was on all accounts a great meal. In fact, we all reflected that we haven’t had a meal yet that we didn’t like, if you exclude the airplane food.

Over lunch we also had the opportunity to fill Cecily in on some of our insular slang. We taught her culturally valuable words like “clutch”, “poser”, “bro”, “heads-up”, and “man-down”. I’m sure they will serve her well in her academic career (she’s looking for a faculty position at BFS). I also learned important things from her, like how to order a big, frosty beer, which is my most impressive Chinese vocabulary to date.

After leaving the restaurant, we moved on to the Pearl Market for shopping. This place was a bit more exciting than the Silk Market for us, I think mainly because we are getting into the bargaining process a little more and these vendors seemed to have more of a sense of humor. Girouard turns out to be a master of this art, and Mark and I tend to stare in awe and bask in the glory while we pick up tips. I don’t want to give away too much in this section, because our main purpose was picking up souvenirs for family and friends, but we spent a couple hours shopping, and we will be going back later for more fun.

We headed back to the compound for a demonstration debate for the tournament, in which Cecily was going to participate. It turned out when we got back that another debater had gotten sick and Girouard was pressed into service, but not on the same side as Cecily. That was unfortunate on a couple levels. For one, we had planned to prep Cecily for the debate and then cheer for her while she dominated whomever her opponent was going to be. For another, Girouard never had a prayer. There was no way Mark and I would vote for anybody other than Cecily after the amazing time she showed us. So, predictably, Chris definitely lost. There was no balloting or judgment officially, but I just wanted to point out that Cecily schooled him on knowledge of the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Those had nothing to do directly with the debate on the Chinese space program, but everything to do with my vote. In this picture, you can see Girouard pleading for mercy. Much to his chagrin, there was none to be found.

The best part of the evening was hanging out with Cecily and her debate partner Susie as well as some of the Willamette folks at a small restaurant a couple blocks from the compound in Daxing. It doesn’t look like much during the day, but at night they open the doors and set up tables outside as well as small barbecues. We had a tremendous evening sitting out by the road, eating skewers of spiced mutton straight off the barbecue and trying a local specialty of boiled peanuts and beans. This is also the legendary place where large, frosty beers cost a quarter, and I got to fulfill another of my Anthony Bordain fantasies by sampling a kind of sorghum-based liquor he described as rocket fuel. I found it to be tasty, at least in the very small quantity I timidly drank. At the end of the night, for eight of us, the bill only came to 109 RMB, which is about 15 dollars. We will definitely be heading back, as this is a favorite haunt of the instructional staff from the tournament.

Overall, we had a really satisfying day of tourism, and we are all falling in love with Beijing, thanks largely to Cecily and our friends from BFS. To truly appreciate this place, I think you’d have to speak the language, but they are getting us as close as can be.

Day Three: Temple of Heaven

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