Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan)

Temple of Heaven is one of the most beautiful place i've visited in Beijing. I went there in 23rd September 2009, when it was still sunny and warm in Beijing. Temple of Heaven located in Chongwen District, and you need to take subway line 5 to Tiantandongmen station.

You need to pay 35Y to get it, and too bad they don't have discount for foreign students. But it was worth it. Temple of Heaven is a really beautiful place, built in a really huge area, and well preserved. Also, it's one of the most important temple in Beijing, and was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.


I'll give you more scientific way to explain Temple of Heaven, taken from Wikipedia:

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. The Jiajing Emperor also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of Sun in the east (日坛), the Temple of Earth in the north (地坛), and the Temple of Moon in the west (月坛). The Temple of Heaven was renovated in the 18th century under the Qianlong Emperor.

In 1914, Yuan Shih-kai, then President of the Republic of China, performed a Ming prayer ceremony at the temple, as part of an effort to have himself declared Emperor of China.

The Temple grounds covers 2.73 km² of parkland, and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements:

• The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails.

• The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇) is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base. It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall, that can transmit sounds over large distances. The Imperial Vault is connected to the Hall of Prayer by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, a 360 meter long raised walkway that slowly ascends from the Vault to the Hall of Prayer.

• The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛) is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. It was built in 1530 by the Jiajing Emperor and rebuilt in 1740.

Ow yep, you're not allowed to get into the temples, because those considered sacred places. They put a barrier in front of the door of the temple and place some guards there. You can take picture from the opened door, and this is how it's inside the temple;


There are also some interesting things in the temple, such as;

• The 70 year old door. This door was built for Qian Long Emperor whose health was falling when he reached the age of 70 year old in 1779. The door was made to make him able to reach the ceremony hall easily. Qian Long ordered only his successor who has reached the age of 70 can use this door. But no Emperor after him reach the age.
  

• Firewood stove. They burned the firewood to worship the heaven during the ancient ceremony.

And many more! haha,, ;D

Seems like Temple of Heaven is a popular place for old people in Beijing. Because i saw a lot of them, did various activities here, like karaoke, play traditional music instrument, exercising, create calligraphy, etc.




You need the whole day to explore Temple of Heaven, and i suggest that you come in a really sunny day, since this temple will show it's most beauty that time. There was a huge area of park with old trees, and it's a really nice place to just sit and relax.


There were some souvenir shops inside the temple area, and i suggest not to buy the souvenirs there, because they're kinda overpriced. I will tell you in another post which places that you need to go to get good souvenirs.

So, i think, Temple of Heaven is a must-visited place. Make sure you go there if you visit Beijing! :D

Silk Market

Well, my most important advice is; Don't go here if you're not ready to bargain like crazy.

Silk Market probably the most famous shopping spot in Beijing- for tourists. Because, if you join a holiday trip to Beijing, Silk Market will be on the list of destinations. I concluded that since i found a lot of tourism bus in front of Silk Market. Most customer in Silk Market are foreigners, they really come from all over the world; you can hear various language spoken here.

(it kinda reminds me of Pasar Baru though,,)

To get here, we can take Subway Line 1 to Yong An Li Station. Take Exit C, then you will reach the basement of Silk Market. The basement was for bags and shoes. There was a lot of cute bags, and every seller in every store would try to approach you and say, "Hey, hey... beautiful lady, Gucci... Lois Vuitton... Dolce and Gabbana?" yep, this Silk Market was really a heaven for fake branded stuffs. I'm not into fake branded stuffs, so i wasn't put so much attention. But despite that, you can find a lot of cute bag with really good material here. The seller could speak English pretty well, so it would make everything easier for you.

If you're obviously a foreigner, the seller will give you riddiculously high price. Martyna tried to buy a bag (it was indeed really cute, the leather was genuine, the model was so fashion, and they had various colors and brands-yep brands, awesome huh? XD) and the seller tried to sell it for 400Y. That was insane! they seriously thought that foreigners always have a ton of money, maybe own an IT company, and so on. They should have considered a foreigner like me, huh.

So, we bargained like crazy. She gave the price unshamefully, so we bargained the same way. A little act will do; put a face like you really want it, but say that it's too expensive for you ("Tai gui"= too expensive) and tell the seller that you're just a student and you don't have that much money with you ("Wo shi xuesheng,, mei you hen duo qian"= i'm a student, i don't have a lot of money). Actually, it's much better if you bargain in Chinese; they will be happier and give you the real price more easily. If it's getting hard, pretend that you don't want it anymore and leave, because the seller will chase you and give you lower price. (Indonesian bargaining tactics are really successful here. I'm so happy that i live with Kings, BTC and Pasar Baru my whole life hahaha).

Well, finally we got the bag for 65Y. Ha-ha. Yep, we're good at it.

(Be persistent then you will get it :D)

The ground floor was for clothes. If i'm not mistaken, there were 4 floors in Silk Market. Actually, i think that many clothes in Silk Market are better than other shopping areas in Beijing, especially if you need to buy clothes for old ladies. I managed to find some sweaters and cardigans for my grannies and my mom. Still, just bargain like crazy. If they tell you "100% cashmeer,, blah blah" well, you just need to bargain for the price that makes sense for you. Don't start to bargain from 1/2 of the starting price, try from 1/6. You might have a little quarrel with the seller, but that's the art of bargaining, rite? i strongly suggest you to come here in the evening, because the seller are already pretty tired and they don't have that much energy to quarrel with you. Again, they were really tricky, they made a price tag in every clothes, showing a really high price in dollar. These price tags might intimidate you, but we paid 35Y for a sweater that had 89$ on the price tag.

So, just bargain like crazy.

They have various stuffs in Silk Market. Any kinds of cloth, bags, shoes, and souvenirs. My favorite souvenir here are notebook and glasses case with really chinese clothing. If you want something with fixed price, since bargaining can be mentally tiring sometimes, you can go to a underground area in front of Silk Market, which aligned with the Yong An Li Subway Exit A. They sell many kinds of souvenir for 10Y each.

They also have some cafes and import stores here in Yong An Li. It's a kind of tourist center in Beijing, beside Sanlitun and Guamao. So, you can guess that the stuffs were overpriced here.

(The cafes)

But after all, it's a pretty cool place; for a bargainholic, not shopaholic.

Tian'anmen Square

Actually, Tian'anmen Square is the first tourist destination that i visit in Beijing. I visited it the second day of my stay in Beijing. Well, i should've posted something about this special square earlier, but i had no intention to do it, until now,, heheheu,, i've told you that i'm an impulsive writer.

(front gate of Tian'anmen square. There's a picture of Chairman Mao)

But anyway, Tian'anmen Square is surely a must-visited place in Beijing, since a lot of important event happens here, the latest event was the celebration of 60th anniversary of Republic of China. To reach Tian'anmen Square, you got to take subway line 1. This square has two stations; Tian'anmen East and Tian'anmen West. There's no charge to get into Tian'anmen Square.

China government put extra attention to this square. They have a lot of soldier and security volunteer in this place. Don't try to take picture together with the soldiers eventough some of them might be cute >:D because they will not allow you to do that. But candid photo will do, though... hehehe.

(left-right: me, Carey, Nguyet, Putu and Ky)

Here are some words that can describe Tian'anmen square historically, i borrowed it from Mr. Wikipedia;

"The Tian’anmen Gate was first built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty. During the demise of the Ming Dynasty, heavy fighting between Li Zicheng and the early Qing emperors damaged (or perhaps destroyed) the gate. The Tian'anmen square was originally designed and built in Beijing in 1651. It was enlarged to its present size (four times its original size) and cemented over in 1958.

(some people say the design resembles to the Red Square in Russia)

British and French troops who invaded Beijing in 1860 pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning the gate and the entire Forbidden City down. They decided ultimately to spare the palace and to burn instead the emperor's Old Summer Palace. The Qing emperor eventually agreed to let the foreign powers establish headquarters in the area. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 the siege badly damaged the office complexes and several ministries were burnt down. In the conflict's denouement, the area became a space for foreign troops to assemble their armies and horses. It was cleared in due course to produce the beginning of what is now known as the Tiananmen Square."

Tian'anmen square is connected with other tourist destinations such as Beihai Park, also known as Sun Yat Sen Park (entrance 3Y, 1,5Y if you have student card) and also Forbidden City (entrance 60Y). If you plan to visit Tian'anmen square, be prepare for the crowd. A lot of domestic and foreign tourist gather here to see the historical square.

In my first time, i went to Tian'anmen square with Putu, Fany, Nguyet, Ky and Carey. Remember to save your friend's number because it's really easy for you to accidentally get separated here. There was something funny when we tried to buy water here. We told the seller that we want cold water, and she gave us... freezing water. Seriously, it was solid ice inside the bottle. Wkwkwk,, we could just wait until the ice melted and we could drink the water.

(It was really ice inside the bottle wkwk >.<)

Tian'anmen square consists of some squares devided by some gates. The whole area is really huge, placed right in the middle of Beijing.

There were also some pedicabs inside the square. I don't recommend this, since the driver would charge you really high if you're a foreigner. There was also a souvenir shop inside the square, but the stuffs were pretty overpriced.

There was a lot of Chinese people from another city. Some of them really interested to foreigners and would talk to you so friendly, in Chinese, for sure. Well, could be in English if you're lucky though.

(This beautiful lake is also part of the square)

If you come to Tian'anmen square early in the morning or at 5 in the evening, you can see the flag ceremony. In my second visit to Tian'anmen square, i saw the flag-lowering ceremony. The soldiers were strictly asked people to move from the center of the gate, so they had enough space to line up, create formation and move to the other side of the road to put off the flag. They even closed the road for this routine ceremony.

(the ceremony. it's also pretty famous)

That's all from me, make sure you visit Tian'anmen square if you come to Beijing. It's always worth to check! :D

Lama Temple

It was Tuesday, 2oth of October 2009 when i went to Lama Temple.
Lama Temple is located in Yonghegong Dajie, you can take Subway line 2 and stop in Yonghegong Lama Temple station. You can take EXIT C cause it'll be the most convenient to get into the temple.

Lama Temple is a Buddhist Temple with Tibetan influence. The monks are pretty different with Shaolin Monks, because they wear red cloak, and they don't practice the martial arts heheu. I'm not an expert on this matter, so i borrowed this definition of Tibetan Buddhist from Wikipedia;

"Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan and India (Arunachal, Pradesh, Ladakh, and Sikkim). It is also practiced in Mongolia and parts of Russia (Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva) and Northeast China"

On my way to Lama Temple, i passed a lot of store that sells incense, flowers, charms, and other stuffs that people usually use to pray in the temple. Well, i think incense can be pretty good for aroma therapy as well, so these Yonghegong Dajie stores are worth so check.

You need to pay 25Y to get into Lama Temple. It's for a ticket and one CD. Too bad that they don't have student discount there. But anyway, Lama Temple is a nice place for me.

(i'm sorry, but it was taken from the internet... hehe)

My visit to Lama Temple began with an accident. I was so gladly taking some pictures when suddenly my camera gave me a warning about "out of memory". That was strange, because i always remember to transfer the pictures from the MMC to my laptop. I checked it out, then i found out that i forgot to put the MMC inside the camera. Crappy shit.

(This lion is practically everywhere. People believe he brings good luck)

It was good that i have Martyna and she had a really good SLR with her. So, i took my time to go around Lama Temple. Actually, i managed to take pictures with some monks. I will upload it here as soon as i get a cable data.

(the bigger your wish, the more incense you need to use)

Ok, the first temple in Lama Temple is the Matreeya Temple. Matreeya is the Buddha of Future. He has a smiley face and big belly and always looks happy and optimistic. People burned incense in front of his temple and prayed for wealth, examination, happy marriage and that kind of stuff related with future. We're not allowed to burn incense inside his temple, nor to take pictures of him. The statue of Matreeya is guided by "Four Deffenders of Buddha", their statue were massive, they looked like warriors with scary faces.

Then, I found a statue with a lot of coin on it. I thought that we can make a wish on this statue, so i prepared a coin, and gave Martyna a coin as well. But then we found out that we're not allowed to throw coin on this. I don't understand why there was a lot of coin there. Maybe we can only throw coins in certain occations.

(don't throw coin on it, pals...)

There were many kinds of temple for many kinds of Buddhist Gods. There was also the temple of Kwan Im, the Goddess of Mercy. A Chinese girl told me that this is the most popular temple. I guess i know why,, heheh.

I think the most interesting part of Lama Temple is the massive statue of Matreeya, which is written in the Guiness Book of Record. The statue is 80 meters tall above the ground, and constructed about 8 meters deep under the ground. It was made from a single trunk of wood. It's so amazing, the statue is just beautiful. Actually, it's not allowed to take pictures inside the temple, but i managed to find a picture of Matreeya from the internet. I really want to show it to you.

(The Guinnes Book of Records written Matreeya)

I also went to the Jie Tai Art Exhibition Room. In this Exhibiton Room, there was a three-stories marble stage made in 6th century to welcome the Panchen Lama who came from Tibet. There were also some Buddhist God statues and explanations about Buddhism. These are few things that i learned in there;

• Guru is the way to call someone who create the doctrin of this Buddhism way
  
• Buddha means conciousness; the purpose is to get the full awareness of yourself. There are three kinds of Buddha; The Past Buddha, The Current Buddha and The Future Buddha
  
• Devi means wisdom; she appears in the form 16 years old girl maiden
  
• Sarmadani is the idea of controlling what you say, do, and think
• Bodhisattva means enlightment
  
• Dharmapala is the idea of protecting Dharma (the good deeds)
  

(Well, i don't have plan to change my belief, it's just for knowledge, u know ;p)
Too bad, we're not allowed to take pictures in this room either.

(candid pict of me taken by Martyna, i'll soon upload my pict with the monks)

I met a lot of foreigners here. I believe they also think that Lama Temple is a great tourist destination. I just hope they can provide a guide book/ broschure so we can learn about the history and art of Tibetan Buddhism more.