After a much-needed day of rest, we headed out for another ambitious day of sight-seeing. We hopped on a public bus that would take us to the Temple of Heaven. The temple is located in a very quiet and peaceful park. The park is visited by many Beijing residents to find a quiet place to play music, sing, picnic or just catch a nap in the shade of a tree or under a small pagoda. We strolled around, really appreciating the atmosphere, as Beijing is so big, noisy, and crowded. When we finally came upon the temple, we found that it had recently been remodeled. It was also built in 1420, but it looked almost brand new. It is wonderful to preserve the old buildings for future generations, but it did not seem to retain nearly 600 years of character after the work crews had left. It was still a fascinating temple, and the other buildings in the vicinity were very beautiful as well.
After leaving the temple, we next wanted to see part of the city by pedi-cab. We had read that there is a neighborhood of narrow alleyways (hutongs) that is best seen from the back of a pedicab. On the way to the neighborhood, we stumbled upon Beihai Park. We had not necessarily planned on seeing the lake, but it was right on our way, and we had time. This park also had an entrance fee, so it was also devoid of all the periphery that makes most of Beijing so loud and dirty. It was so pleasant to walk together by the lakeside, just taking in the blossoming lotus flowers in the lake and the willow branches cascading down above our heads. It was such a peaceful enjoyable time together that we would have missed, if not by chance.
At the north end of the lake, just outside the exit of the park, we met a pedicab driver. We settled on a price and hopped in. I felt a bit bad for the guy, we are not the smallest tourists in the world; but were not the biggest either. Our peddler took us down several narrow alleyways, showing us several old buildings; some that have been family residences since the 15th century. Many of these hutongs have been destroyed, making room for modern buildings and for beautification for the 2008 Olympics. Yet, many still remain, even if not in there former glory. Some hutongs have been over run by touristy bars and restaurants, but this is a better fate than the alternative.
As if this was not enough for one day, we still had to visit the Beijing Train Station to buy tickets for Xi'an (home of the terracotta warriors). The train station is really intimidating and not at all foreigner friendly. We looked for a foreign ticket counter that we had read about, but only found ourselves in the bowels of the station, in some restricted area. We later found that the foreigner window had been closed two years prior. One nice lady told us that the salesperson at window 1 speaks English. Since many Chinese do not follow the same custom of lining up, we found a massive huddle around ticked window 1. We elbowed our way in, eventually getting to the window; only to find that the man did not speak English and apparently wanted to have nothing to do with us. Luckily, there was a foreigner behind us who could speak Mandarin. Unfortunately, the trains we needed were full, as were the ones on the next day. Feeling a bit down-trodden and lost, we gave up and set our course for home.
On the way home we passed by a theatre that features traditional Chinese opera. We wanted to buy tickets for the next night, but they did not have a showing on the next night. Despite feeling dirty, tired, and hungry, we did not want to miss the opera, so we bought tickets for the opera that started in 45 minutes. As if we had not already seen enough for the day, we got a quick bite to eat before sitting down for a taste of traditional Chinese theatre. The opera itself was more like a sample of the different operatic styles. We heard singing and saw beautiful costumes and acrobatics. It was a wonderful performance and we were glad that we did not miss it before leaving Beijing; but we were really ready for bed when it was over. Still not knowing how we were to get to Xi'an, we trudged back to the hostel and collapsed into bed.
