Great Hall of the People/Lammas Temple

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We landed in Beijing a little tired and groggy from our 8am flight. We rested a bit and unpacked before deciding to explore the area around the hotel a bit.

Crossing the streets in Beijing is a little bit like playing Frogger - except you really are the Frog. Somehow we got across the street by just following the lead of a few locals and managed to order lunch in a little dumpling restaurant. Luckily Uncle got to practice his Mandarin, and while we weren't exactly sure what was ordered - it was all very yummy. When the bill finally came, we were all pleasantly surprised to find that it only cost 50RMB per couple - works out to be $4/pp.

That night we went for Peking Duck (of course!). More Yummies! I have to say that it was very good and the wraps just seem to keep magically appearing on the table but I actually have had better at home.

We didn't get out to see the sights until the next day. We met Tour Guide Vicki on a very grey smoggy day. We went to Tiannamen Square and visited the Great Hall of the People and the Museum. We decided that we didn't want to spend very much time there because we could barely see from one end of the square to the other. We opted instead to go to Lammas Temple.

Buddhist Temples that seem to rise out of the mists seemed much more appropriate for a first visit to China and Lammas Temple didn't disappoint. There was even an abundance of monk on site. We weren't able to get into all the buildings because there was some sort of monkish examinations going on that day but it was still very exciting.

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Photos

Bunny at the Great Hall of the People
It really is a Great Big Hall but I think it should be for Bunnies as well as People.

Great Meeting Room
Great Big Meeting Room in the Great Hall of the People.

Model of the Temple of Heaven
Ironically the best view that we were to have of the Temple.

Grey View of Tiannamen Square
It was very smoggy and we couldn't see very far to appreciate the size of the square.

Bunny with Pandas
These were the only Pandas that we saw in China. We skipped the zoo.

Entry Gate to Lammas Temple
Check out that amazing bracketing. Discovery Channel had a 1 hour special on Chinese architecture that hubby happened to catch while others suffered from jetlag.

Temple Roof
How many auspicious animals can you count? The more animals, the more important the building. But the animals must always be an odd number.

Monk walking down the alley
Yes, there were monks walking down an alley. What more can I say?

Little old monk
He just looks like he's got something wise to say.