Well today was my last full day in Beijing, after the
last 3 days of very early starts, I decided to have a sleep in, it was amazing!
When I left (at 10!) it was a beautiful day, I haven’t seen a cloud all day and
the pollution has been low too, to the extent I’ve actually tanned a bit
Temple Of Heaven
First stop of the day was to see the temple of heaven.
It is called the temple of heaven, as the way it was built there were many
little acoustic “issues” which made people think the echoes were the words of
god, not an echo, and the name was then given.
The history, is varied in this please with its opening
in 1420, being the exclusive property of the emperors, until 1900 when the
British and French took control of it, as their base in the opium wars for one
year, then it was returned to China. The emperor was shamed for losing the war,
so he dd not enter his tablets into the temple.
The temple changed hands again in the war with the Japanese using sections of the temple to complete medical experiments. This history has now been deleted from the site.
The ground of the temple was surprising, it was 4 time bigger than the Forbidden City… they love making things huge in China, it’s a good job they had space!
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| Tradition says only got can walk in the centre line, hence why I am walking on it! ;) |
You can see how beautiful the temple of heaving is, and
it was confirmed by how many couples were having their wedding photos here, I saw
some in traditional dress, so I took a sneak pick to see what the Chinese wear
on a marriage.
Wander through the dodgy markets!
I thought I’d pay a visit to some of the dodgy markets,
aiming to get some clothes, unfortunately I ended up in the electrical one,
which was an experience.
I walked around and every stall pretty much had the same
stuff, except for the random sniper rifle sights stall. However everyone else
either sold (Fake) Samsung Galaxy S5s/S6s or (Fake) iPhone 6’s, (Fake) Beats
Headphones, (Fake) Go Pros and lots of other stuff of the same style.
I was having a walk around having a little laugh to
myself at how much they were trying to sell stuff for, so I thought I’d have a
look, the first stall, I picked up the fake iPhone 6, I have to say the case
and build quality was very very good, but you could see it was a fake when it
was switched on and it was running on Android! They asked for the equivalent for £150, I just laughed and walked away.
The next stall had a fake Galaxy S6, again the build
quality is amazing and it runs on Android (obviously), I was messing around
with it and it seemed alright, again they asked for £150 for the phone, I laughed
again and did a bit of haggling. They would not go below £50, I wasn’t paying
£50 for a fake phone.
Finally I went to my 3rd stall and took a
look at the Galaxy S5, again the build quality was amazing, the operating
system looks spot on, even deep in the settings it thinks it’s a real Galaxy.
She asked for £120 for the phone, as you guessed, I laughed again, then haggled
a bit. I got her down to £25, and to be honest even if the camera, is awful £25
is a good deal so I took it! I did check eBay when I got back and the only
other open example of a fake S5 from China was bidding at £151, so quids in!
Take a look for yourself at it!
After this I thought it was time for some food!
Peking Duck
You cannot go to Beijing (Peking) and not have Duck, so
I started walking though the local areas to find a duck restaurant that seemed
busy, after walking by literally hundreds, I saw one, which was extremely busy,
then I saw around the door it had numerous awards (but for all I know it could
be for how clean the toilet is, as it was all in mandarin!) but I thought what
the hell try it out.
I ended up ordering the full Peking Duck and a beer,
one word… heaven! The positive is that, it is exactly the same as how we eat it
back at home, so the food isn’t as different as everyone makes at home, just
that the ducks cooked differently, as it has a very different taste.
Wander through the shopping area
There are many links between old Beijing (below) and
new Beijing (further below), Its amazing that the old Beijing street is off the
new street but always a good experience to walk though them all and sample the
life.
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| Old Shopping Street |
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| Old Shopping Street |
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| New Shopping Street |
I have to also add this picture, the coolest Starbucks I
have seen, they should all look like this!
Tienanmen Square
Now dusk has set in, I can go back to Tienanmen Square
for some evening pictures of the sight lit up.
The best location to get the pictures is on the square
itself, but as the military were training and having parades on there, no
members of the public could get onto it.
I did however get some good snaps of the memorial to
fallen heroes and the mausoleum.
The great hall (the equivalent of the Chinese Parliament building)
The Forbidden Palace rose room.
You can just see the military parades below too.
After this, I headed back to the hotel time to pack
now, as tomorrow I’ll be taking the train, 5 hours which will be an experience
in itself, to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors!
Finally, a few people have asked me what a Chinese
toilet is actually like, as people have seen TV programs (an idiot abroad) so
were curious. I got a picture! A good ol squat toilet!
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