Temple of Heaven in Beijing

I, of course have the pictures of the Temple of Heaven in the wrong order. But I'm sure you have all adjusted to that by now. I thought these were some of the best images I've taken in China. Maybe because I brought and used my tripod. I'm still not satisfied with the top of the TOH. I'm not sure I have one picture with the golden top in really good focus - has to do with depth of field. But I thought that the day was great for photography and the place was great as well. As usual, I was surprised by the number of people there (why that still surprises me I don't know -slow to learn I guess). It was fun wandering around the grounds. This is a huge park which I only saw a small portion of. I'm trying to talk Linda into going back to the Pearl Market (sorry no pictures of that) next time we go to Beijing so I can go back here and spend a lot more time.

This is where prayers were offered for a good harvest.

this young man was our waiter in this very busy restaurant (Zhajiang Noodle King) where we had lunch. It is very close to the Pearl Market and the Temple of Heaven. James had me wander about so he could get a picture of the place. I ate WAY too much.

I am including pictures of the skyline of Beijing taken from our taxi as we went back to the bus to return to Tianjin Saturday afternoon. Beijing is a fascinating city. The modern buildings are an endless source of fascination to me. I hope that I have a chance to wander the downtown photographing some day (I'm not holding my breath for this one).

My turn. By the way, he doesn't have to talk me into going to the Pearl Market again. The only difference is I'm not going alone this time.

I will start from the beginning. We went on a bus trip to Beijing organized by TICC (Tianjin International Community Club). Pat and Wes were going to go with us but Wes got a cold and decided to stay home. We took a taxi a short distance to the bus and it took us to Beijing which was really easy compared to other ways we have gone there. The bus parked by one of the 3 largest shopping areas in Beijing which we did not want to go to so we took a taxi another short distance to the Temple of Heaven. There were mostly German speaking people on the bus, 3 chinese people one of which was a nanny for 2 small children, 2 Africans and one lady who was probably Persian. We were able to talk to two German ladies who spoke very good English. They were friendly and open. Both of them had children less than 2 years of age and their husbands were working for the same engineering company in Tianjin. Both of them had worked there before having babies but have to take 3 years off after giving birth so could not work. One was learning patience living in China and the other was "going crazy" not working.

James and I arrived at the Pearl Market which he stayed at for about 3o minutes and we bargained for a few things which we probably paid too much for. We went to lunch and I came back and he went to the Temple of Heaven. The sales people are very assertive when they see a white person with lots of bags. There are small stores one after the other and as you pass each the sales person shouts "lady", do you want to buy a ................ As I went in and out looking they all seemed to say the same things. Is this for you or a gift? Which one do you like? I can give you a good price. There are no others in the whole store like this, etc. It was not too bad with James but by myself it got overwhelming. You don't just "window" shop here. There were purses and luggage, a few shoes, lots of Pashima shawls, some sweaters, shirts, and jeans, electronics and 2 huge floors of jewelry. That is why I want to go back, to look at the jewelry. I need Monkey to help me bargain, though. I think there are some good buys there with the right help. I needed the Temple of Heaven after that!

The day was sunny and cool. We got back on the bus at 4:45 and arrived home about 7:45. Nice day.