Temple of Heaven
After yesterday’s early start, we opted for a leisurely breakfast at 0800 today, as we need to adapt ourselves to local time in preparation for a further 3h of time change as we fly to Pakistan tomorrow. We ordered a car around 0915 for the ride in peak traffic to the Temple of Heaven, reaching there around 1000.
The complex was built in 1420 so that the emperor could perform elaborate annual rituals to pray for good harvests and heavenly blessings.
Having attained the grand old age of 60 years, it was free for me to enter the site.
Entering the complex, we saw the concentric round platform and then a squat pagoda. At this stage, both Kim and I felt really messed up. I recalled the pagoda being much taller and he recalled the pagoda being on the platform.
We realised later that there was more to the complex and as we proceeded deeper into the site, we found the iconic three-tiered pagoda, situated on concentric white round base. Kim and I were both happy that our recollection hadn’t been wrong. Somehow, I had forgotten that the squat one also exists on the site.
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- We felt really messed up at first, thinking that our recollection of a multi-tiered pagoda was wrong.
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- The actual Temple of Heaven is multi-storey, as we had remembered.
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- Inside the Temple of Heaven.
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- At the Temple of Heaven.
Finishing up our visit at 1100, we decided that it would be too much to go straight to the Summer Palace. So, we decided to head back to the hotel and grab lunch nearby before resting.
The Sichuan place that I had found yesterday was closed, so we ended up at last night’s dinner outlet for a simple lunch of dumplings and a Chinese sandwich.
While Jo rested, I did our laundry. Kim and D went out for more tyre-kicking at another car dealer.
Summer Palace
At around 1540, Jo and I ordered a car to take us to the Summer Palace. The ride took nearly an hour in traffic. We got there a little before 1600 and met up with Kim and D soon after.
The Summer Palace was originally built in 1750 as an imperial garden retreat but destroyed during the Second Opium War in 1860. The Empress Dowager had it rebuilt in 1888. The site spans about 300 hectares, but much of the area includes Kunming Lake.
Again, the site was free to those 60 and above. But D found that ticket sales for all the separate points of interest finish at 1730. So, he rushed ahead while we visited the theatre and then took a leisurely stroll along the long corridor beside Kunming Lake.
We made it to the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which is a pagoda, just before they closed the entrance. We had time to climb up to the high base of the pagoda for a panoramic view and descend before their actual closing time.
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- Opera stage at the Summer Palace.
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- The Summer Palace’s Long Corridor
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- Rest stop at the Long Corridor
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- Summer Palace and Kunming Lake viewed from Tower of Buddhist Incense.
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- Kunming Lake viewed from Tower of Buddhist Incense.
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- Near the Tower of Buddhist Incense.
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- Tower of Buddhist Incense.
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- Tower of Buddhist Incense.
As it was getting dark, we didn’t make it to the iconic marble boat that normally shows up in photos of the Summer Palace.
We started to leave the site around 1800 and decided to eat nearby and hopped into a taxi for a short ride to the venue. The map point turned out to be the back side of the shopping area and we had to backtrack by foot in search of outlets of interest.
We decided on a bibimbap chain-restaurant and had a delicious and cheap feed before taking a longer ride to the Drum Tower near the city centre. After a brief wander, D left us to go drinking in a pretty riverside area while we took another ride back to the hotel.