On Saturday 6th February we decided to go for a medley of locations, quite sure by now that there would be few people around to mess up my photography. As with everywhere we go, we like to try out as many modes of transport as possible. We’d already been driven to the great wall by road and taken in some great scenery. Today we wanted to experience the underground system; we were yet to get 5 people in the back of a three wheeled suicide motorbike taxi (see up coming Xian blog). The Peking metro looks pretty much like the Hong Kong and Shanghai metros. However, when we tried to get on the train early on that Saturday morning, it suddenly dawned on us where everyone was! We squeezed in and typically just before the stop you want to get off comes up, everyone gets off and lets you breath. We alighted at the Temple of Heaven – I guess we should have chosen to float there..
Peking Metro system
Map of the Temple of Heaven Park
Brief Introduction to The Temple of Heaven
As with Shanghai - Dancing in the park to music
We had hired a French guide for the day
The park looked like Heaven decked out for New Year
Having had a full cooked breakfast at the hotel incl. cerial and pastries for desert, washed down with jasmin tea, we decided to visit The Fasting/Abstinence Palace first.
We entered through the large beer gut door
Yes another pagoda - The Abstinence Palace
The roofs are lined with an odd no. of animals for luck
The Beamless Hall summary
Aerial view of the Abstinence Palace
We then walked to the Circular Mound
The Circular Mound - you had to be there!
Approach to The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests over the Danbi Bridge
Sacrifice stalls for the cattle in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - I guess as a backup for poor harvests..
North Heaven Gate - yes there was also a South, East and West one, not sure if there was a 4th dimension one though...
Tian'an Men Square - foreground is The Monument to the People's Heroes erected in granite in 1958 and Mao's Mausoleum behind it
The Imperial Vault of Heaven - grand title!
Approach to The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests over the Danbi Bridge
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - I hope it worked!
As with all roofs the joinery and decoration was spectacular
Sacrifice stalls for the cattle in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - I guess as a backup for poor harvests..
From the Temple of Heaven we walked down Quian Men Dajie to Tiananmen Square.
Carlo and Stef urging the tram to come and run them down
Tiananmen Square in the distance down Quian Men Dajie (jie means street)
As happened a lot on our travels, 2 girls accosted us and wanted their photos taken - blonde hair is considered lucky in China (there's a lot of things considered lucky in China for eg. lots of money, a luxury mansion facing the sea, a Bugatti Veyron) and these two weren't going to miss a chance. I think with me it was just surprise at seeing a bald guy.
Quian Men Dajie tram approaching
The Arrow Tower or Jian Lou like Zhengyang Men, was 1st built in the Ming dynasty
Dazhalan street - hats off to old China
Traditional Department store
Traditional Tea shop
Traditional shops - that's more like it!
Tian'an Men Square - foreground is The Monument to the People's Heroes erected in granite in 1958 and Mao's Mausoleum behind it
The Arrow Tower
Zhengyang Men along with the Arrow Tower this tower formed a double gate known as the Qian Men. It now houses a museum on the history of Beijing
Zhengyang Men
Toffee apples for sale in Tian'an Men sq
Revolutionary statues flank Mao's Mausoleum
Mao's Mausoleum - the guard on RHS was telling me no pictures!
Monument to the People's Heroes - Tian'an Men Square is large!
Sunday was our final day in Peking and we decided to devote it to the Summer Palace which sounded a bit rich given the amount of snow and the frozen lake... Anyway it was a great send off and yet another really impressive location. We only really scratched the surface of Peking.
On either side of the East Palace Gate stand two bronze lions - a male and a female. The male lion has a ball under its paw, which means it's protecting the world, whereas the female lion has a lion cub under its paw which means the old are always with the young.
Stef and Carlo enter the Summer Palace East Gate
A Stag Dragon - don't you watch David Attenborough?
Imperial five-clawed dragon, 4 claws for noble men and 3 claws for rest
Rock, Wood, Leaf, Stone, Roof - the making of a new game
Bat motif for longevity
Summary of The Grand Stage
The back door of the Grand Stage - home to the paparazzi
The Grand Stage
Amazing roof and stairs on the Grand Stage
Before Aston Martin transport looked like this!
The Kunming Lake was completely frozen over - note the sign...but did that stop us and a few hundred others?!
Boats frozen to the lake - you couldn't fail to take great photos here..
Some explanation of the 'Long Corridor' (Chang Lang) built in 1750
The corridor is 728M long that's 2,388ft in old money!
Great some steps to climb to the Longevity Hill - let's hope they don't kill us, i guess they can't!
The Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha is 41M high
Spot the ball bird - prize for emailing us the type of bird - 3 free nights at Hotel Luk Tei Tong
Spot the tree - prize for emailing us the type of tree - 3 free nights at Hotel Luk Tei Tong
Gates of Dispelling Clouds - great name!
Steps up to The Tower of Fragrance - however, in the summer most people arrive at the Tower less fragrant
I took this picture last summer from my microlite flown from London on 1 tank of fuel
According to the map this tower has no name - I'll name it 'The Haunt of Celestial Beings' maybe it'll stick and i'll receive a prize..
This guy made animals out of bamboo reads for about £2 each, so we brought 4 - the crowd watching us in amazement thought 'flash Brits'! They're now back in HK, have dried out and are nicely collecting dust for us..
With our new bamboo leafed friends
Take it to the bridge!
Pleasure boats cruise the lake in warmer times
Carlo discovers a Qing dynasty piece of boat - OMG!
and yet this is called Seventeen-arch Bridge - someone got very tired the day they were naming everything..
The LHS of The Second Palace Gate
Take it to the bridge!
The Marble Boat - the superstructure is made of wood painted to look like marble
Pleasure boats cruise the lake in warmer times
Don't shoot the camera man!
Carlo discovers a Qing dynasty piece of boat - OMG!
The Hall of Embracing the Universe - another great name!
and yet this is called Seventeen-arch Bridge - someone got very tired the day they were naming everything..
Have you finished taking your photos yet?
Emperor Quianlong's throne
We finished our visit to Peking with some Peking Duck - hmm nice!
And that's it for Peking, given that it's a 3 hour flight from Hong Kong and Hong Kong Express Airways were impressive, we'll do it again, maybe even for a w/e when we're working; leave from work on a Friday evening and return on sunday night. I'd like to see more sections of the Great Wall, we didn't see the Drum and Bell towers, the underground city, various parks, temples churches and mosques and i think it will be a novelty being there in spring/summer when you don't require 4 layers of clothes and hat/gloves..
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