Temple of Heaven

I've posted more pictures on flickr.com for your enjoyment... Lots of pictures from the Temple of Heaven (tian tan). This time I added brief captions on some of them. There are some attempts of capturing details, but I have a small and light camera suited for photography dummy (moi) and travel so there are limited things I can do.... ;p

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15506077@N03/

The park is the largest green space in the city. The Olympic green may be bigger, or at least comes close to it; but that's way out of the city while the Temple of Heaven Park is very much in the city. Ticket to get into the park is very cheap, equivalent to $2 CAD. Then it cost another $5CAD to see the main attractions: the temple, the museum, the actual spot where it is considered to be closest to heaven and therefore was where the emperors performed all the ceremonial rituals. I did not know how many steps there were in those rituals; they had to have a little museum to showcase the cumbersome procedure!

The most amazing part of the architecture was the details on each and every piece of building material; everything was hand painted (recently restored; renovation will be completed by Olympic time) and it's jaw-dropping to think how much work was involved in its making. Apparantly when the Ming Dynasty changed to the Qing Dynasty, the emperor ordered the color scheme changed completely to reflect their preferences and interpretation of color!

Check out my photo posting on flickr for more details...

I'm also impressed by the cleanliness of the public washrooms in the park. I dreaded going at first but was so shocked by how big and clean it was, considering it was a public washroom in a very busy park! Granted I was there on a slow day, weekdays during working hour; the place was spacious and smelled normal. There were toilet paper at the entrance and there were enough stalls with western style toilets! The floor was not wet and liquid soap was available from dispensers. All in all, it was not what I expect from public washroom in China. :)

I went with some friends to the Pearl market, which is just across the street from the East Gate of the park. I am so proud of myself: I didn't buy ANYTHING! :) Lara and Lindsay, however, were out of control and we literally could not get out of that place!! The sales ladies were downright aggressive, at times physically :P Lara had her arm pulled and one sales chased us to the elevator! They are absolutely relentless! When not participating in the bargaining, it's both amusing and tiring to watch it unfold. :P As a participant, I'm sure it's quite draining for Lara and Lindsay! but they were certainly happy with their purchases and both had huge smiles.... I suppose it was all worth it :) This place never cease to be entertaining.

I've had 2 days off and needed every minute of it to feel refreshed enough to go back to work again. Yesterday I went out late at night to get a foot massage and a whole body massage, and realized for about $25CAD I was pampered (in the painful but super effective Chinese massage way) for nearly 3 hours! I felt so much better after that, and even more so after sleeping in until lunch time! Took it easy today and just stayed in. Went to the Happy Hour at the Canadian Club in the Embassey and had a great time. Met lots of people who worked at the embassey and introduced myself, including a former colleague of mine from Industry Canada, who is now working for DFAIT as well and posted in Beijing! What a small world! :)

It's late now, I should hit the bed if I want to wake up in time for work...