We arrive into Beijing and the station was huge and busy but not as busy as the previous night. Everyone was tired but pleased to get off. We gathered together and headed with luggage to the buses. Got half way up the elevator when it reversed and some of the group came all the way back down, while others walked the stairs and others waited for the next elevator to work. Finally reached the buses and quickly loaded up and headed to McDonalds for breakfast. Two new guides Amy and Oscar.
McDonalds breakfast was great and then back to the Ibis hotel for a little R&R. Was great to shower and freshen up before our afternoon excursion to a number of places.
Beijing was originally called Peking. Beijing meaning North capital. Peking’s name came from the interpretation of the accent by southern Chinese. We were given a lesson around the luckly number 9. We visited the Temple of Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is a site of pray and celebration. A sight where 9 was significant. The site is 274 hectares. It was built as the biggest heaven worship site in the world. It was built in the 18th century. It was a place where the people and emperor would pray for bumper harvest and rain and other things. Sacrifice was a big thing – in the old days they would sacrifice animals -today they burn paper animals. It has a history of 580 years. Ancient beliefs like circular sky square earth supernatural heaven, low earth and blue heaven and yellow earth are all exquisitely and ingeniously reflected here.
The sie had a number of significant areas. Each area was square representing the earth and inside were circular mounds which represented heaven. The main building was the Great Hall for Sacrificial Rituals and fasting place. One site we went to had the Echo wall. You could stand against the wall and talk and it echoed so someone else on the other side could here you.
An interesting site. We only saw a small part of this before we had to move on and continue with our jam packed itinerary.
Onto lunch then onto the Yashow clothing markets –more shopping. A great place to buy. Barter, barter, barter. The group really enjoyed spending here. They all compared their bargains and the manner in which they bargained. Also the young ones learnt more and got great buys. Clothing and cases etc was the main emphasis at this place. Right next door was the label shops. No bargaining here. Visited the Apple shop. It was full. Many people lined up buying i-pads and i-phones. Costs for these items are the same as in NZ. Apparently taxes are extreme here with imported things hence the reason why the costs are the same. A great afternoon of shopping.
Back on the bus and onto a Kasachstan restaurant. The dancing show was very eastern and looked very Turkish upper India style. It was different but enjoyable. As we went into the elevators we experienced the Asian push in front it was not well received by us. Janet always told us to stick together like sticky rice. Well we have done a good job but a local pushed and shoved Janet and she verbally got stuck into him for pushing and he retaliated. One of our parents intervened and tidied the incident up. Meal was once again good. On the bus and back to hotel. Once again very tired and sleep was needed.
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