BEIJING, CHINA
Not feeling too ambitious, I didn't do a whole lot today until late in the afternoon, when I ventured out for a bit to see if I could navigate Beijing's subway system by myself. I immediately found out that my Mandarin pronunciation is pretty awful, as the ticket seller had no idea which station I was trying to get to. I kept saying "Yong He Gong," but I guess it's pronounced completely different to the way it looks. Repeating myself louder didn't help, either. Where's an automated ticket machine when you need one? Ah well.
But somehow I eventually got on the right track, so to speak, and found my way to Yong He Gong, or the Lama Temple--yes, that's right, yet another temple. This one was a little different, though, because it's a Tibetan Buddhist temple complex of ornate halls and courtyards, with big prayer wheels you can spin and lots of large statues of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The last hall features an absolutely gigantic (18-meter-high) statue of the Maitreya Buddha, carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood. It's in the Guiness Book of World Records, although I'm not exactly sure what for--largest statue of a Maitreya Buddha carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood, I guess.
Out of all the temples I've visited recently, this one seemed to get the most actual use, as there were dozens of worshippers there kneeling and praying at the altars, while monks in bright robes rushed around doing their duties. The air throughout the place was thick with incense smoke, which added to the atmosphere. Literally.
In the evening, Jin took us to another stop on his culinary tour of Beijing. This time it was a famous wonton restaurant--can't remember any of the names of these places, sorry--that indeed had some tasty soup, as well as individual dumplings with pork and vegetables. Nice.
We then walked past Beijing's Drum and Bell Towers and down one of the city's famous hutongs, or alleyways, to the Houhai district, a busy cluster of shops, restaurants and bars alongside a small lake. We drank mojitos at a bar called No Name while watching people paddling around the lake in small boats and setting off fireworks. It was a really cool vibe. Afterward, we visited a bar called Bed (doesn't every city have one of these?) that had been converted from an ancient hutong courtyard dwelling. Interesting.
On our way back to Jin's place, he announced he was still hungry, so we pulled over on the side of the road where some street vendors were cooking food over a small charcoal fire, right on the sidewalk! They gave us tiny plastic stools to sit on while they roasted the food he ordered on skewers. This included two frightening items: lamb ligament, which was as chewy and tasteless as a rubber band, and caterpillars--or more accurately, chrysalises with pupae inside, waiting to hatch into butterflies. I was further horrified to see that these were skewered ALIVE, and wriggled mightily as they roasted. Surprisingly, Karine really liked them (she ate seven!), and said they tasted like "peanuts and cheese." So I tried one. I guess it was "a little nutty," as Austin Powers would say, but the main thing I remember was the squish. One was more than enough for me. Happily, the roadside roasters also featured some mighty fine lamb kebabs, and some really tasty skewered chives, that made up for the nasties. It was definitely a unique experience--sitting on the sidewalk with the locals really made me feel like a genuine Beijingren.
Not feeling too ambitious, I didn't do a whole lot today until late in the afternoon, when I ventured out for a bit to see if I could navigate Beijing's subway system by myself. I immediately found out that my Mandarin pronunciation is pretty awful, as the ticket seller had no idea which station I was trying to get to. I kept saying "Yong He Gong," but I guess it's pronounced completely different to the way it looks. Repeating myself louder didn't help, either. Where's an automated ticket machine when you need one? Ah well.
But somehow I eventually got on the right track, so to speak, and found my way to Yong He Gong, or the Lama Temple--yes, that's right, yet another temple. This one was a little different, though, because it's a Tibetan Buddhist temple complex of ornate halls and courtyards, with big prayer wheels you can spin and lots of large statues of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The last hall features an absolutely gigantic (18-meter-high) statue of the Maitreya Buddha, carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood. It's in the Guiness Book of World Records, although I'm not exactly sure what for--largest statue of a Maitreya Buddha carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood, I guess.
Out of all the temples I've visited recently, this one seemed to get the most actual use, as there were dozens of worshippers there kneeling and praying at the altars, while monks in bright robes rushed around doing their duties. The air throughout the place was thick with incense smoke, which added to the atmosphere. Literally.
In the evening, Jin took us to another stop on his culinary tour of Beijing. This time it was a famous wonton restaurant--can't remember any of the names of these places, sorry--that indeed had some tasty soup, as well as individual dumplings with pork and vegetables. Nice.
We then walked past Beijing's Drum and Bell Towers and down one of the city's famous hutongs, or alleyways, to the Houhai district, a busy cluster of shops, restaurants and bars alongside a small lake. We drank mojitos at a bar called No Name while watching people paddling around the lake in small boats and setting off fireworks. It was a really cool vibe. Afterward, we visited a bar called Bed (doesn't every city have one of these?) that had been converted from an ancient hutong courtyard dwelling. Interesting.
On our way back to Jin's place, he announced he was still hungry, so we pulled over on the side of the road where some street vendors were cooking food over a small charcoal fire, right on the sidewalk! They gave us tiny plastic stools to sit on while they roasted the food he ordered on skewers. This included two frightening items: lamb ligament, which was as chewy and tasteless as a rubber band, and caterpillars--or more accurately, chrysalises with pupae inside, waiting to hatch into butterflies. I was further horrified to see that these were skewered ALIVE, and wriggled mightily as they roasted. Surprisingly, Karine really liked them (she ate seven!), and said they tasted like "peanuts and cheese." So I tried one. I guess it was "a little nutty," as Austin Powers would say, but the main thing I remember was the squish. One was more than enough for me. Happily, the roadside roasters also featured some mighty fine lamb kebabs, and some really tasty skewered chives, that made up for the nasties. It was definitely a unique experience--sitting on the sidewalk with the locals really made me feel like a genuine Beijingren.
posted by John Kuge at 11:23 PM
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