China, Day 8: The Summer Palace and Lama Temple
A gathering of palaces.
After waking up feeling quite refreshed after a beautiful night's sleep, my train arrived into Beijing station just after 7:00 am. My initial plan was to head straight to the Summer Palace. However, discovering I had no money, I hopped into a taxi for what I was hoping would be a quick dash to the nearest ATM. Unfortunately, I got into the wrong cab, because over 30 minutes later we were clear across town...I had seen our car pass numerous Bank of China branches, but he ignored me. We were basically having a huge yelling match when he finally pulled into a bank parking lot. I got my money, threw him his 65 Yuan, and tried to figure out where I was.
A bridge leading to a (formerly) private island.
The beautiful facade of a building at the Summer Palace.
I realized I was near my hostel, so I went ahead and checked in before making my way to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built as a vacation home of sorts for the royal family to escape the summer heat of Beijing. It is a massive complex of temples, palaces, gardens, and gazebos located on a gigantic man-made lake. I had been wandering around for hours before I realized I had only explored a very small portion of it. As threatening lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder quickly descended on the palace, I made a quick escape onto a bus just as giant raindrops began to fall from the sky.
The main palace overlooking the lake.
My next destination, not to mention the final item on my Beijing list of "Places to See," was the Yonghe Lamasery, also known as the Lama Temple. This is one of the largest Buddhist temples in China, and it's purpose serves as a Tibetan Lamasery. The Dalai Lama has even visited on several occassions. While I thought that I was completely "Templed Out" after my time in Asia, I was quite impressed by the lamasery. The strong fumes of burning inscence were quite enticing, and the temple grounds were extensive. There were several buildings filled with Tibetan artifacts, many quite interesting. The largest building held a huge sandalwood Buddha standing almost three stories tall.
A small Buddha at the Lamasery.
Incense burning through Lama Temple.
From the lamasery, I headed back to my hostel, where I took a shower and met up with two girlfriends of mine from Pyeongchon who had just arrived today from Korea. Together we headed to the Chuoyang Acrobat Show and met up with two guys from my soccer team who had also just arrived. We all enjoyed the impressive show, complete with crazy balance maneuevers and "How many Chinese can we fit on one bicycle?" tricks.
After the show, we went to a nearby restaurant for my first experience with Peking Duck. It was absolutely amazing. The chef carved our duck right beside our table, and we wrapped the warm (but slightly greasy) meat in thin pancakes and an assortment of fillings, including vegetables, sauces, garlic, and sugar. It was a most scrumptious meal, and I could not stop eating!
After our filling dinner, we waddled out of the restaurant and hit the entertainment area in nearby Sanlitun known as "Bar Street." Unfortunately, at that point the rains had begun to fall again, so the combination of that and bad lounge singers made for a potentially boring evening. After the girls headed back to the hostel, my soccer buddies and I headed to another area and wound up having a fun-filled, story-filled night. I definitely ended my week in China with a bang...!
A bridge leading to a (formerly) private island.
The beautiful facade of a building at the Summer Palace.
I realized I was near my hostel, so I went ahead and checked in before making my way to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built as a vacation home of sorts for the royal family to escape the summer heat of Beijing. It is a massive complex of temples, palaces, gardens, and gazebos located on a gigantic man-made lake. I had been wandering around for hours before I realized I had only explored a very small portion of it. As threatening lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder quickly descended on the palace, I made a quick escape onto a bus just as giant raindrops began to fall from the sky.
The main palace overlooking the lake.
My next destination, not to mention the final item on my Beijing list of "Places to See," was the Yonghe Lamasery, also known as the Lama Temple. This is one of the largest Buddhist temples in China, and it's purpose serves as a Tibetan Lamasery. The Dalai Lama has even visited on several occassions. While I thought that I was completely "Templed Out" after my time in Asia, I was quite impressed by the lamasery. The strong fumes of burning inscence were quite enticing, and the temple grounds were extensive. There were several buildings filled with Tibetan artifacts, many quite interesting. The largest building held a huge sandalwood Buddha standing almost three stories tall.
A small Buddha at the Lamasery.
Incense burning through Lama Temple.
From the lamasery, I headed back to my hostel, where I took a shower and met up with two girlfriends of mine from Pyeongchon who had just arrived today from Korea. Together we headed to the Chuoyang Acrobat Show and met up with two guys from my soccer team who had also just arrived. We all enjoyed the impressive show, complete with crazy balance maneuevers and "How many Chinese can we fit on one bicycle?" tricks.
After the show, we went to a nearby restaurant for my first experience with Peking Duck. It was absolutely amazing. The chef carved our duck right beside our table, and we wrapped the warm (but slightly greasy) meat in thin pancakes and an assortment of fillings, including vegetables, sauces, garlic, and sugar. It was a most scrumptious meal, and I could not stop eating!
After our filling dinner, we waddled out of the restaurant and hit the entertainment area in nearby Sanlitun known as "Bar Street." Unfortunately, at that point the rains had begun to fall again, so the combination of that and bad lounge singers made for a potentially boring evening. After the girls headed back to the hostel, my soccer buddies and I headed to another area and wound up having a fun-filled, story-filled night. I definitely ended my week in China with a bang...!
posted by Tiffany Joiner @ 9:48 AM
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