Yonghegong Temple and HouHai Lake

We were planning on going to Yonghegong Temple, but when we got there, it was closed, which was sad for me. Instead, we wandered around the neighborhood around the temple, which was full of shops selling religious paraphernalia. I have a close friend who is a devotee of Guan Yin, so I set out to find her a figurine I could bring back as a gift. I finally settled on this one:

She may look delicate, but she's solid brass and heavier than you'd think.

Dr. Z took me to explore around the city a bit. We ended up in a shopping district full of specialty boutiques, the buildings were old stone with grey tiled roofs, which presented an interesting contrast. As we passed one shop full of Hello Kitty products, Dr. Z informed me that initially he thought that was the sort of thing I'd be interested in. Has he met me?
We had dinner in a nice restaurant on the banks of HouHai Lake, a man-made lake. It was surrounded by lights and neon and bars and restaurants, and you could pick out at least nine different kinds of music being piped out from the buildings, or being played by buskers. My camera doesn't photograph well in the dark, but the effect of the light on the water reminded me of an Impressionist painting.

















































































































































Sometimes the translations on Chinese menus were hilarious, like the one above. I wonder what goes well with Stir-fried wikipedia?

The Summer Palace

Today, Yang Liangliang was nice enough to squire me around the old Summer Palace, which, like everything else I've seen here, is beautiful. It is situated on a very high hill that overlooks a big lake. I was astonished when Yang Liangliang told me that both the lake and the hill are man-made, but I suppose when you're the emperor, you can have whatever you want.















The first place we stopped inside the palace grounds is this river-street that's a bit like an ancient Chinese Venice. He told me that this area is used in films a lot. There are shops and things down there, but they charge you extra to check it out, so we just hung out on the bridge and looked for a while. I like that the river was still partially frozen over.















The ornament on the roof represents a spirit that is supposed to protect the building from lightening, which could set the whole palace on fire.
It was a very, very windy day, and as we climbed up to the top of the hill, we could hear the temple bells chime.






















The view from the top of the hill was spectacular, and would have taken my breath away if the climb itself hadn't already left me breathless.
















This building's facade was covered in small alcoves, within which rested figures of the Buddha. Originally, each of the figures had a unique head, but over time the building has been vandalized and people have smashed the heads off to take as souvenirs. Recently, conservation efforts have been made to restore the temple facade, and replacement heads have been given to the headless Buddhas. Unfortunately, they are mass-produced and all identical. The alcoves that are highest on the building and inaccessible to looters have retained their unique heads.















Mass-produced replacement head.















Desecrated Buddha.

I love round portals. They remind me of Hobbits.















It was a very cold day, despite being so sunny.



















In the center of the lake is an island, which houses several temples and from which the powerful Dowager Empress Cixi would observe the imperial Navy practicing.

The Imperial Promenade runs along the entire bank of the lake, because being Emperor means never having to walk in the sun if you don't want to.






























The ceiling of the promenade is painted with scenes from Chinese lore. This one depicts the heroes of the epic Journey To The West;
The Monkey King, Sun Wukong
The Tang-Dynasy Monk, Xuan Zang
A Pig Spirit, Zhu Baijie
The Revered Buddhist Monk, Sha Wujing
















A stone riverboat with stained-glass windows.





















A protecting dragon(Yang Liangliang gave me a funny look when I called it a Fu Dog, it is a dragon). They hurl fireballs at you. If you deserve it.



















































The statue behind me is of a Qinlin, sometimes referred to as a Chinese unicorn. It is a vegetarian creature that punishes the wicked through fire. I want one.











































































A statue in celebration of the Year of the Ox.






































































Each Dragon on this bridge is unique and individually crafted.



















Outside of the temple of the Dragon Emperor on the island. It was locked up, but I peeked through the window, and inside is an eight-foot statue of a fearsome dragons dressed in the robes of an emperor.
Another building on the island has become a museum full of pictures and artifacts belonging to the Dowager Empress Cixi and her family, including the last emperor of China.

















A blustery day, but unforgettable.

Return to The Beijing Zoo

I went back to the zoo, and spent the whole day there, or at least I was there until it closed. It's a very large zoo, as well as being home to the largest inland aquarium in the world. I could've spent another day there easily, but I lack the time.

I decided to focus on large mammals and the aquarium, bypassing the lizard house, the birds, and the deer, etc. There was also a Popular Science building I would have loved to check out. More and more I'm convinced I'll just have to come back to Beijing.

First stop was, of course, the panda house.

The pandas were very sleepy and boring, but I was patient and hung around for a while, and eventually one of them woke up in a playful mood:

I went inside for a bit, and this panda was sleeping, or at least attempting to while people tried to get it to move around by hammering the glass. How rude.

When I came outside, the playful panda had climbed a tree. Bummed I missed that. He was just hanging out up there, swinging his feet.

The lynx cage was sad. Many of the cages were sad. Don't even get me started on the elephant house. Tragic.

The tigers were lovely, and I think it's possible to go inside the mountain-shaped enclosure and see them up close through the glass, but I couldn't find the entrance.

When I saw the signs for an aquarium on my first visit to the zoo, I thought it would be a building full of tanks of fish, not the largest inland aquarium in the world.

The entrance gives way to a winding path that goes through a rainforest-like habitat.

I enjoyed the coral reef habitat. It had an escalator that took you up through the tank.

Clownfish and lionfish!

Eels are so weird looking. Seriously. Odd.

The rhinos and hippos were already in the indoor enclosures when I went around to them, and the hippos didn't feel like turning around. The end.

The penguins were adorable, they'd come right up to the glass and interact with you and pose behind you for pictures. Unfortunately, I was only able to take one picture before my camera died, though I do have several more pictures and videos of inferior quality on my phone. They were playing in the water and waddling up and down their hill. One even played with a pebble right up next to the glass. Such hams.