China: Temple Hopping

After such a long day at the Temple of Heaven, we decided that Day 5 of our China trip would be an easy day. There were two temples just across the street from each other, a Confucian temple and a Tibetan Buddhist one. With thoughts of Seoul's Jongyesa Temple in our minds (a small but gorgeous little Buddhist temple smack in the middle of the city), we set off on the metro.

Luckily we were on the mend because it was still oppressively humid outside. The air looked and felt like pea soup. As we made our way through the entrance of Yonghe Gong Lama Temple, we remembered once again that we were in China, where everything is bigger. The little temple that we were expecting to visit in 15 minutes was an enormous palatial complex where we could easily spend three hours.


The architecture was so vibrant and colorful that exploring it was so much fun, even in the steamy weather. There were a few air-conditioned rooms that provided some relief, only to have the outdoors feel five times worse than it did before. We walked through scores of rooms with many different depictions and representations of Buddha and some weird freaky and grotesque gods. It was so much fun, and a welcome change from the European cathedrals, which had all started to blend into one. And just like the Forbidden Palace, each room grew more impressive and ornate as we got deeper into the temple.







Finally, we could go no further and got ready to enter the last building. Its roof was much higher than the others, and we were soon to see why. As we stepped inside, we were at first confused by what appeared to be only a large foot, only to have our jaws drop as we got closer. A 60-meter statue of Buddha stood before us, carved out of a single piece of sandalwood. It was simply awe-inspiring. When traveling, you always have to put up with so many inconveniences, large and small, from poisonous hot dogs to the Kafkaesque threat of government quarantine. One look at this stunning statue was all I needed to remind myself why I do. If it weren't for the terrible heat, I could easily have spent the afternoon gazing at the Buddha. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, and even though I saw others doing it, I wanted to respect the sanctity of the temple and restrained myself. The image will be burned in my mind forever, but that didn't stop me from googling it and posting it here for others to see.





















The Confucian Temple was also great fun and very interesting. It was the first place we had visited that wasn't completely mobbed with tourists. After another hour or so of looking around and exploring the picturesque grounds, our short stint had extended into a 5-hour trip. It was time to head back and rest up for another long day of sightseeing in China.

Here's some other fun pictures from the temples

China: The Temple of Heaven

These blogs about my summer vacations always take longer than I expect to write. So here is Part Two of ??? of our China Adventure.

After the first couple days of hot-dog-induced stomach ailments, we were finally able to stagger out of Robin's apartment again. It was hotter than hell with 800% humidity but we managed to make our way to the Temple of Heaven. As we exited the subway, we naturally chose the wrong way and ended up looping around the giant wall that surrounds the complex (the Chinese are quite fond of walls as it would appear). So we didn't get the greatest vantage point for our first view of the temple's backside but it was still simply beautiful.





As we made our way to the front side of the temple, it became even more stunning. The brightly colored facades and intricate decorations, all adorned with the dragon and phoenix motif were surrounded by a marble white gate. The biggest disappointment was that we weren't allowed inside!








You could only walk along the perimeter of the actual temple and peek inside an even more brilliantly colored and lavishly decorated interior. It was jaw-droppingly ornate. I had to fight the urge to jump inside to gaze at the ceiling (one of my favorite sightseeing activities as the art history nerd I am), but I think they can execute you for that in this country so I remained safely outside. And soon a mob of tourists descended on us, so it was time to make an escape anyways.









There were other things to check out besides the Temple of Heaven, but as we were just recently recovered from food poisoning - plus the unbearable humidity and smog - we made a quick pass through the rest. The line for the whispering gallery was simply ridiculous so we skipped it. There's just so much tourist shoving you can put up with in a day, so we had a "quick" outing of just 5-6 hours before heading back to the air-conditioned comfort of Robin's apartment.