Beijing (day 4 and 5)

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Day 4

Today we started with a riksja-tour through the Hutongs, the old neigbourhoods. Two in each riksja cart. It was fun to get a tour like that. First stop was the Drum-tower. It was really big, but when the guide said the stairs we're good practice for the Great Wall, which we would visit the next day, everyone was a little bit concerned....

But about the drum-tower, we saw the drum-ceremony, which was ok. Nice to see it once. After that we had some free time to take pictures of the view and buy cards or souvenirs they sold there. After that we went to a small shopping street. I bought a wooden dragon there. Really pretty and very glad I bought it. The whole bargaining thing was getting better everytime I tried it. And we went to a fruitmarket where they sold all kinds of fruit, food, tea and spices.

Next we went into the riksja again, visited a kindergarten and after that we had lunch.
The first square of the temple. In the building (there were more) stood different Buddha's.

Then we went to the Lama-Temple, a Buddhist monastery. We couldn't take pictures of the Buddha's unfortunately...It was very impressive to see, especially the largest standing Buddha in the world. 28 metres high, 18 metres above ground, 8 metres below. After that we we're supposed to go to the Confucius-Temple, but it was closed for renovation. So we went to the Imperial Academy instead. It was a big building with a few smaller ones. It was nice to see how an old university looked like in that time.

And that was our day. At night we went to a famous show, 'The Legend of Kung-fu'. It was beautiful to see. It's about a little boy who will becomes enlightent, facing a lot of difficulties on the way. Hard to explain, but awesome to see. The story, colors, costumes. Anyone who goes to Beijing should see that show.

Day 5

A very warm day.
..the day we climbed The Great Wall. It was impressive to see and very difficult to climb. It took us about an hour to get to the top of the stairs...after that we had to walk for at least half an hour to get to the other end. And that went down, up and down again.

After the Wall, which took almost 2 hours total as we could find the exit...lmao...we went to the Ming Tombs. We saw the Tomb of Changling. Unfortunately we could only see the burialstone on top of the tomb, not the tomb itself. So it was a bit disappointing when we got there. (Later i read there were possibilities to go in to a tomb..but not there) We went to the Sacred Way as well, the way the Emperor came to the city was the same way he had to leave as well, being a son of heaven. So the people carried him all the way towrds his tomb, using the Sacred Way (also knows as Divine Road).

After the tombs we went back to Beijing again. That night we ate the famous Peking-duck...and yes it was as delicious as they say. That was a really good and special dinner 😊

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Photos

Inside the Llama Temple
People burned incense to take their prayers up to Heaven

The stairs of the Drum Tower
honestly, those steps were huge...

Scrolls with prayers
I don't know the right word for it, but if you swing the scroll your prayers will be sent to heaven without having to recite them all the time

Wishing Cards
people could buy cards and hang them there to make their prayers/wishes known to heaven.

The stairs
horrible >.<

The view was magnificent
just a bit foggy because of smog and it was so hot that day...

The Sacred Way blueprint
The way the people brought the Emperor back to heaven. In total there are 12 human and 24 animal figures.