Temple of Heaven-Beijing Duck

On Sunday Brian and I took it a bit easier and headed to the Temple of Heaven. I haven't been there before so it was a great surprise for both of us. The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,’ Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.

We walked through the entrance and found a bunch of men writing Chinese calligraphy with water and a sponge-type brush. It was quite interesting.



The Calligraphers



Here we are getting ready to go through the first entrance. There were four different entrances we needed tickets for.



Here I am in front of one of the temples.



One of the gates.



A picture of the temple through a gate.



Another temple.



A picture of the roof inside the temple.



The interior of the temple.



Beautiful red doors! If you haven't noticed by now I have a fascination with these gorgeous Chinese-style doors.



We met some Buddhist monks from the Sichuan (the province where we live) area of Tibet. Brian was so excited to get his picture taken with the Lama.



We also had pictures taken with his monks.

After our trip to the Temple of Heaven we headed to the Hong Qiao Pearl Market for some retail therapy, or so we thought. We were greeted with " Hello Lady, wanna buy a (fill in the blank)" Brian was quite shocked by the aggressiveness of the sale people. Not only do they try to get you to look at their goods, but they will physically grab you and pull you over to their stalls. I have to say I actually enjoyed the expression on Brian's face when this was happening. Luckily no one was injured, Brian or the salespeople. We did do pretty well in the shopping department. We both were able to get new backpacks for a much reduced price. We also did quite a bit of jewelry shopping. I am just so impressed with the costume jewelry here in China. I guess that is why I never used to wear jewelry in the US because of how expensive they were.

After our very mentally strenuous shopping excursion we headed to have lunch at a place that specialized in Peking Duck. I absolutely love this very famous dish! They serve it with Chinese pancakes, cucumbers, a type of green onion and hoisen sauce. You make yourself a little Chinese taco and it is extremely delicious.

Here is our duck being cut for us!

After our fine lunch we headed to the hotel to relax before our evening out with the Chinese Acrobats!