First we continued on foot north around Jingshan Park to a pub in a trendy canal shopping district. FC lets out where there are no subways or city buses (as if it weren’t inconvenient enough) meaning you have to walk at length through the oversized city. We paused for a quick, late, light lunch - simple beers with a few dumplings. The menu advertised “braised sheep .” 
Khanh went his own next, taking the subway north to see the 2008 Olympic venues. I took the subway east to the Lama Temple. Martin originally just wanted to return to the hotel area early, but since the metro system totally confused him (he’s basically a 19th century bootlegger deposited in modern times), Martin wound up tagging along with me.
Lama Temple is a Buddhist site where the newly-appointed Dalai Lama makes a pilgrimage and stays overnight once he’s anointed. At all other times it is for tourists.
The layout and architecture are similar to Forbidden City - outer protective walls, then a series of courtyards and temples along a central north-south axis. Lama Temple is by far the more enchanting setting thanks to its intimate scale and many quaint details. It’s less crowded and it feels more sincere. The complex is an active religious site. Worshippers kneel and pray within every successive temple. They burn incense at various decorative fire pits. The whole campus wafts with spiced incense smoke and the occasional bell gong. It’s all very transportive, peaceful and serene.
Lama Temple proved to be a final underhyped delight before leaving Beijing. At this point, Buddhist temples are becoming a common sight, and it’s hard to appreciate or distinguish one over another. A greater sense of place elevated Lama Temple despite a little fatigue with the Buddhist look.
It had a awesome final treasure as well, one I’m sure many visitors miss: set inside the ultimate temple in the far back, towering high into the tiered painted rafters, is a statue of the Buddha standing a massive 120 feet tall! Everything in the complex radiates from this figure. Smoke poured in through windows as the sun lowered behind lush leaves, perfectly framing this holy discovery. I could soak this moment in for hours...
Too bad we had to rush back south via metro to rejoin our group for dinner!
We (Martin and I) were the last to arrive back at King’s Joy Hotel, reaching the hotel two minutes late just as everyone else was setting out towards the night’s restaurant. (They weren’t abandoning me; I’d already eaten at this place before the tour began so I knew the location.) No matter, we rejoined the group and headed to the Peking duck restaurant.
Chinese restaurants are a lot more fun with a group since you get to split a wider variety of tasty treats. They’re even more fun with a local host doing all the ordering, carefully creating a unique and authentic meal every time.
Over a feast of Peking duck and approximately 10 other familiar-and-yummy Chinese dishes, we discussed the evening’s intinerary: Train travel! We’re taking an overnight train form Beijing to Xi’an, China’s original capitol city deep in the nation’s interior.
We were all assigned bunk beds. Very cramped space, six people packed into a room roughly 10x10x12 (feet). No privacy, no meals, no showers, merely traditional squat toilets. Especially for those of us with little train experience (me) there was a bit of planning pre-boarding needed just to figure out what items were necessary for minimum comfort. And there’s nothing to do on these trains - I’m actually writing this now from another train bunk, presently prepping for a night journey from Xi’an to Shanghai.
Oh! The train just started moving! And these trains have only 3 electrical outlets for every 36 people, so I’ll be signing off soon to preserve my battery through tomorrow!
Anyway, I didn’t do much on the first train. I was the first among our group to fall asleep. I tried staying awake reading my Kindle in the bunk, but that just made me sleepier: I was out by 9:30, and for the most part I slept through the nightexceotbforb
***
Over an hour later, I’m returning from sudden erupting train chaos to complete this recap. This new Shanghai-bound train is far more exciting than the one from Beijing. But that’s for a future recap...
So I slept well out from Beijing, except the train blanket was too warm and I removed it after a few hours. Some others in our group barely slept at all. We arrived at Xi’an around 8 AM, in the middle of a pounding rainstorm. I knew basically nothing about Xi’an before yesterday, but it proved to be a vibrant and modern city with a population the same size as L.A. County (10 million). But that’s a recap for another time. Battery and WiFi is fading...
Khanh went his own next, taking the subway north to see the 2008 Olympic venues. I took the subway east to the Lama Temple. Martin originally just wanted to return to the hotel area early, but since the metro system totally confused him (he’s basically a 19th century bootlegger deposited in modern times), Martin wound up tagging along with me.
Lama Temple is a Buddhist site where the newly-appointed Dalai Lama makes a pilgrimage and stays overnight once he’s anointed. At all other times it is for tourists.
The layout and architecture are similar to Forbidden City - outer protective walls, then a series of courtyards and temples along a central north-south axis. Lama Temple is by far the more enchanting setting thanks to its intimate scale and many quaint details. It’s less crowded and it feels more sincere. The complex is an active religious site. Worshippers kneel and pray within every successive temple. They burn incense at various decorative fire pits. The whole campus wafts with spiced incense smoke and the occasional bell gong. It’s all very transportive, peaceful and serene.
Lama Temple proved to be a final underhyped delight before leaving Beijing. At this point, Buddhist temples are becoming a common sight, and it’s hard to appreciate or distinguish one over another. A greater sense of place elevated Lama Temple despite a little fatigue with the Buddhist look.
It had a awesome final treasure as well, one I’m sure many visitors miss: set inside the ultimate temple in the far back, towering high into the tiered painted rafters, is a statue of the Buddha standing a massive 120 feet tall! Everything in the complex radiates from this figure. Smoke poured in through windows as the sun lowered behind lush leaves, perfectly framing this holy discovery. I could soak this moment in for hours...
Too bad we had to rush back south via metro to rejoin our group for dinner!
We (Martin and I) were the last to arrive back at King’s Joy Hotel, reaching the hotel two minutes late just as everyone else was setting out towards the night’s restaurant. (They weren’t abandoning me; I’d already eaten at this place before the tour began so I knew the location.) No matter, we rejoined the group and headed to the Peking duck restaurant.
Chinese restaurants are a lot more fun with a group since you get to split a wider variety of tasty treats. They’re even more fun with a local host doing all the ordering, carefully creating a unique and authentic meal every time.
Over a feast of Peking duck and approximately 10 other familiar-and-yummy Chinese dishes, we discussed the evening’s intinerary: Train travel! We’re taking an overnight train form Beijing to Xi’an, China’s original capitol city deep in the nation’s interior.
We were all assigned bunk beds. Very cramped space, six people packed into a room roughly 10x10x12 (feet). No privacy, no meals, no showers, merely traditional squat toilets. Especially for those of us with little train experience (me) there was a bit of planning pre-boarding needed just to figure out what items were necessary for minimum comfort. And there’s nothing to do on these trains - I’m actually writing this now from another train bunk, presently prepping for a night journey from Xi’an to Shanghai.
Oh! The train just started moving! And these trains have only 3 electrical outlets for every 36 people, so I’ll be signing off soon to preserve my battery through tomorrow!
Anyway, I didn’t do much on the first train. I was the first among our group to fall asleep. I tried staying awake reading my Kindle in the bunk, but that just made me sleepier: I was out by 9:30, and for the most part I slept through the nightexceotbforb
***
Over an hour later, I’m returning from sudden erupting train chaos to complete this recap. This new Shanghai-bound train is far more exciting than the one from Beijing. But that’s for a future recap...
So I slept well out from Beijing, except the train blanket was too warm and I removed it after a few hours. Some others in our group barely slept at all. We arrived at Xi’an around 8 AM, in the middle of a pounding rainstorm. I knew basically nothing about Xi’an before yesterday, but it proved to be a vibrant and modern city with a population the same size as L.A. County (10 million). But that’s a recap for another time. Battery and WiFi is fading...
which guards the emperor from vandals and provides him with a glorious afterlife.)
Though we have each other’s emails and whatnot now, I’m gonna miss her way off in London. We both knew such a brief vacation fling couldn’t last beyond the week, and its fleeting nature made moments like this all the more bittersweet.