Katie at the entrance to the Lama Temple
Our tour guide Andy in front of the main point of offering to all the buddhas - the smell of insence was overwhelming
A typical building in the series of 10 or so buildings in along the main path of the Lama temple
The 26m tall Guinness Book of Records largest buddha carved from a single tree
The entrance to the Giant Panda's portion of the Beijing Zoo
Pandas at play
A few other pandas stuffing their faces
We were served several samples of hot tea at Dr. Tea's teahouse
Katie strikes a pose with her rickshaw driver
I'm off and going on my tour of Hutong
We enjoyed the best Chinese food at this lunch at a local's house
The alley of shops where I was first acosted for failing to make a purchase
Beijing Laoshe Teahouse
We were never quite sure what we were eating, and a lot of times we didn't like it, but we always tried everything
Five ring tea art show
Peking Opera (body contortionist)
This acrobat spun everything from a table to two girls spinning on a rod
The kung fu was my favorite!
The day started at the largest (Dahli) Lama Temple of Beijing - Yonghe Temple, a mysterious Tibet style Buddhism temple. We saw more buddhas than you could ever imagine including a separate buddha for each of three realms: mortal, immortal, and merits. We saw the Guinness Book of Records largest buddha carved from a single tree which stood 26m tall.
Our next sight was the Beijing Zoo, with an expeditious stop solely to see the giant pandas. We were lucky enough to see about 10 pandas - 3 outside and another 7 inside. They were rather lazy, mostly sleeping and eating. This is the day I became obsessed with popsicles. The first popsicle from the zoo demanded a do-over as it tasted of bean or some other disgusting flavor. Not being one to give up, I persisted. I had three in one day. It was hot.
The first bonus stop of today's tour was at Dr Tea's teahouse. I found it interesting that most of the tourist traps were government owned and run. We tried a variety of tea including puer tea (which really sounded like puberty when they said it), oolong tea, jasmine tea, and litchi (black) tea. Our favorite was the jasmine tea, which we drank all over Beijing and Hong Kong. We sat in the back of the room with our new friends Brazil (Hugo) and UK (Jimmy). We were the rowdy misbehaving bunch in the back who did not fall subject to the hard sell at the end. We had a rather international tour group with representatives of Switzerland, India, Canada, China, Germany, Brazil, the UK, Australia, and the US.
Next we were in for a treat and an insider's perspective as we headed to Hutong, a community of prime location being just north of the forbidden city along the central axis. The area appeared relatively poor and run-down but courtyard compounds (which typically house four families) sell for more than $20 million because of the feng shui blessing that comes with its location. We embarked on a rickshaw tour of Hutong en route to lunch at a local's house. The food was the best we had while in Beijing. Katie particularly enjoyed the garlic chicken which had huge long pieces of green garlic. We also refined our chopstick skills while loading up on spanish peanuts during the appetizer course of the meal - slippery suckers. And when you can't drink the water, why not drink beer? Non-beer drinking Katie actually like the local Tsing Tsao beer. We continued our rickshaw tour through the neighborhoods, where I was amused by small kid's attire. They wear pee pants that are not sewn together in the crotch region (appears as a huge gaping hole) such that when the kid squats, there's no need for derobing. These are worn not only at home but in public areas such as Tiananmen Square. The rickshaws lured us into another bonus porcelain tour. Again, we escaped without purchase.
Being the bold, brave, seasoned travelers that we are, Katie and I elected to be dropped off in an unfamiliar location. We were out for good shopping and ended up not finding the suggested shopping district. We did, however, stumble upon an Olympic Store called One World, One Vision where we each sprung for a Beijing Olympics t-shirt. We then headed down an alley of shops where I was acosted (fingers dug into my arm and then slapped while offering "good deal, good deal") for not purchasing something from a woman's stall, as if that would change my mind. We hailed a cab and made our first trip to glorious Silk Street, the shopping mecca of champions. I was still dazed and overwhelmed with the pushy sales tactics, but Katie delved right in. We were surrounded by beautiful purses, one after another. What is with baggage weight limits?! We were rushed and did not have sufficient time to peruse the goods, but our next excursion called.
Our evening activity was at the Beijing Laoshe Teahouse, which consisted of a myriad of performances indicative of Beijing culture while drinking a neverending cup of hot tea and eating strange unknown appetizers. I most enjoyed the toasted watermelon seeds. When we first arrived at the teahouse, we were directed to seats near the rear of the theater. Unimpressed, I requested seats closer to the stage. This was by far the most expensive tour in Beijing and accordingly I expected only the finest. While my request was initially declined, I persisted, and about half an hour later, we had seats front and center. Good thing, because it was a good show. We saw a five-ring tea art show, Peking Opera highlights (good thing we opted out of full evening of opera - and where is the singing?), oral mimicry (incredibly talented sounds of animals, vehicles, storms, etc), conjuring (the audience was overly impressed by what appeared to be a 5-year old's birthday party magician - the crowd exhibited a youthful exuberance with easy laughs), face-changing of Sichuan Opera (various mask changes with lightning speed), acrobatics (artist spun a jar, a table, and two girls on a beam from her feet), two-man comics (not nearly as entertaining when you don't understand the language), and my personal favorite kung fu (by far the most energetic and dynamic performance of the evening).
