We had a free day, so off I trotted on my own to a place far away - the Summer Palace. It was about an hours travel from the centre of Beijing by Subway & taxi. And it was incredible impressive. This is where the Emperors came to live out the warm balmy summers, & the grounds were certainly suited to royalty. Lots of temples, gardens, a lovely lake, & mini city shopping mall (old style) - something for every Emperor really. Nowadays, there are enormous amounts of everyday Chinese flocking to the palace to enjoy the surrounds.
The next morning, I headed off on my own to see the Lama Temple. I considered myself quite adept now at using Beijing’s magnificent Subway system, so it was easy to jump on board & head out. The Lama Temple is the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet & holds one of the largest Buddha statues in the world carved out of one piece of Sandalwood trunk - must have been a bloody giant tree. I was a tad embarrassed at first to say my version of a Buddhist prayer with all the Chinese approaching theirs with such pomp & ceremony. But in the end, I did manage to arouse enough courage to have my one-on-one with Gautama. After giving my thanks, I then wandered around the local hutongs of the area which were very traditional.
Our first stop on the group tour that afternoon was the Huilin Arts Centre. Sponsored by Intrepid, they are a learning facility for intellectually handicapped individuals. They welcomed us with open arms & gave us a great performance, showing off their skills at dance, acting & singing. We even had a cup of jasmine tea offered to us. During the performance, we were asked to dance with them , which we all did with vigour & merriment.
After the performance, we were off to the Forbidden City. The size of it astounded me. So much space in the middle of the city for Emperors gone by, as well as the occasional Empress. I was amused to learn that an Emperor had up to 3000 concubines living within the city walls. Each male servant had to be a eunuch in order to work for the Emperor, just in case he was inclined to dip himself into one of the concubines - heaven forbid! Seemingly, there was once a plot to kill the Emperor crafted by several of his concubines. One of the concubines in on the plot became too scared & decided to tell the Empress. Well, wasn’t she pissed! The punishment dished out was meant to thwart any further thoughts about Emperor slaying that may be harboured amongst the mistresses. The flesh of the guilty concubines was carved slowly from their bodies over days until they died an agonising death. Lovely!
The Forbidden City flows down towards Tiananmen Square, our next stop on the tour. There were army people everywhere, & seemingly lots of bugs & spies planted about. Oh, so scary Big Brother. The square is pretty huge - I think it can fit a million people in it, or so they say. There are red & Chinese flags everywhere, a picture of Chairman Mao, & one of Sun Yat Sen too. We didn’t get to view Mao’s fortified body as it’s back in the fridge after 1pm. Shame really.
The next morning, I headed off on my own to see the Lama Temple. I considered myself quite adept now at using Beijing’s magnificent Subway system, so it was easy to jump on board & head out. The Lama Temple is the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet & holds one of the largest Buddha statues in the world carved out of one piece of Sandalwood trunk - must have been a bloody giant tree. I was a tad embarrassed at first to say my version of a Buddhist prayer with all the Chinese approaching theirs with such pomp & ceremony. But in the end, I did manage to arouse enough courage to have my one-on-one with Gautama. After giving my thanks, I then wandered around the local hutongs of the area which were very traditional.
Our first stop on the group tour that afternoon was the Huilin Arts Centre. Sponsored by Intrepid, they are a learning facility for intellectually handicapped individuals. They welcomed us with open arms & gave us a great performance, showing off their skills at dance, acting & singing. We even had a cup of jasmine tea offered to us. During the performance, we were asked to dance with them , which we all did with vigour & merriment.
After the performance, we were off to the Forbidden City. The size of it astounded me. So much space in the middle of the city for Emperors gone by, as well as the occasional Empress. I was amused to learn that an Emperor had up to 3000 concubines living within the city walls. Each male servant had to be a eunuch in order to work for the Emperor, just in case he was inclined to dip himself into one of the concubines - heaven forbid! Seemingly, there was once a plot to kill the Emperor crafted by several of his concubines. One of the concubines in on the plot became too scared & decided to tell the Empress. Well, wasn’t she pissed! The punishment dished out was meant to thwart any further thoughts about Emperor slaying that may be harboured amongst the mistresses. The flesh of the guilty concubines was carved slowly from their bodies over days until they died an agonising death. Lovely!
The Forbidden City flows down towards Tiananmen Square, our next stop on the tour. There were army people everywhere, & seemingly lots of bugs & spies planted about. Oh, so scary Big Brother. The square is pretty huge - I think it can fit a million people in it, or so they say. There are red & Chinese flags everywhere, a picture of Chairman Mao, & one of Sun Yat Sen too. We didn’t get to view Mao’s fortified body as it’s back in the fridge after 1pm. Shame really.
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