Caseytaykc Blog: Day 6 – 3rd June 2009 – Front Gate, Heaven Street, Temple of Heavens and Shopping

Woke up early in the morning and had breakfast early. A big group just checked into the hotel we were staying and there weren’t many tables around. True enough, the place was pack and just a minute late, and we would be sitting on the floor. While we waited for the rest of the group to gather, I had a go at the Chinese yoyo. I have never tried one before and frankly, it was quite fun to play with. Great exercise for your flabby arms too. I had a hard time balancing the yoyo on the string. How those acrobatic performers perform stunts with them really amaze me.

Giving it a try.

I had a hard time balancing it on the string. Somehow it always tilt sideways.

The hotel which we stayed 4 nights in. Quite a good hotel to stay in, however it’s not walking distance to the town area.

On our way to the Front gate and Heaven Street, we pass a building that look like 3 incenses. Our tour guide describes it as Beijing’s Feng Shui building. China believes in Feng Shui a lot and most building is bound to have one or two Feng Shui ornaments or design.

Feng Shui Builing.

The largest KFC in Beijing. KFC is much more popular than Mcd in China. We made a stop to try their pork burger.

Our first visit for today was the Qianmen Street. The Chinese government rebuilt it to bring back the old history of the street. It was recently opened to the public during the Olympic. There are still constructions going on when I was there. This street used to be a commerce area during the past but was burned down to ashes during one of the revolution or wars, I think.

The place is filled with stores and shops, all sorts of them ranging from traditional one to modern ones.

Qianmen Street

Tram

Qianmen Street

The famous Peking duck is also here.

We proceed on to the Qianmen after that. They only allow a specific number of people to enter at a time. Now I know why. There was nothing much to see inside. We were brought into the gate, where a guide would take over. (ahemmm sales ahemmm person). She briefly describe the layout of Beijing, why was the Forbiden City built this way, what north south east and west means and a whole lot more. It was really interesting, listening to the Feng Shui talk and how it affects the prosperity of the emperor and the city. After that, we were lead straight upstairs to a room filled with jade and Feng Shui ornaments. In here, she gave another short talk on Feng Shui and how it affected us. I guess by now you should expect what’s coming up next. Yup, buy buy buy.

Front Gate (Qianmen)

Just some random policemen shots while walking to the bus. Lunch is all provided.

Police Man Having their lunch

Moving on to the Temple of Heavens. This is also another magnificent place to visit. With a build up of nearly 667 acres, it’s nearly 4 times the area of the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heavens was a place for the emperor to worship the heaven and pray for good harvest. You can see that the emperor respect the heaven a lot as they always put themselves second. The emperors think they are the son of the heavens. During the duration of the prayers, the emperor have to go on vegetarian, refrain from working and woman for 3 months. That must be really hard for them.

There are two temples here, the inner temple and the outer one, both surrounded by two high walls. The place is huge with so many building, but I guess the main ones are the Altar of Prayer area and the Circular Mound Altar, all within the central axis or straight line. As far as I remember, from the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven is located the central straight line. It’s another Feng Shui purpose.

Temple of Heaven entrance

Another entrance after the entrance

Stone Alter. If you look carefully, you can see 9 stone slabs surrounding the middle circle, doubling each time the circle gets bigger. The number 9 is a very powerful number.

Imperial Vault of Heaven where they place the tablet of God of Heaven.

If you stand on the first stone and shout or clap, you’ll here 1 echo, second stone 2 echoes and so on.

Coincidentally, the clouds from a dragon.

Another gate before reaching the main temple.

The main temple

You will be surprise that not only tourist flock this area, but the retirees as well.

On our way to the imitation shopping mall, we pass by two CCTV owned building, the new and the old.

The new CCTV building.

The old CCTV building. It was burned down during New Year and insurance company refuse to pay due to negligent of their staff.

I actually didn’t enjoy this part that much. The only good thing was, the free wifi from Starbuck which allows me to Skype my Lili.

Imitation shopping mall.

Looks like our Sungai Wang.

And the new original shopping mall. You’ll buy the real stuff here.

We left for our hotel after spending around two and a half hours there. I was pretty bored actually. We could get most of the stuff back in Malaysia. Of course there was dinner first as our hotel was located outskirt of Beijing. By the time we reach the hotel it was already late evening.

The place was like a resort, with a hot spring to relax in. However, there definition of hot spring wasn’t what I had in mind. Communication was a barrier for me. Getting them to tell me where the hot spring is was a really problem. They keep telling me that the hot spring was next to the swimming pool or I could enjoy it in my room. Huh? In my room?

I forego looking for the hot spring and jump into the swimming pool instead. I had to buy a swimming cap before I could jump in. The water was freezing cold. I didn’t swim long and proceed to the Jacuzzi area. And yes, that was the hot spring they were mentioning. No wonder I could enjoy it in my room. Its just spring water heated up conventionally. I thought it was a natural pond like hot spring area.

Anyway, it was still a very beautiful hotel. Romantic as well. Good for those on honeymoon.