With the “wisdom” gained from the previous day, the next day went quite smoothly. There was a breeze which blew away the smog and clouds, and I woke to a clear blue sky. After a breakfast of bao and fried noodles, I took the right train back to the Forbidden Palace, bought the right ticket, went in the right gate and even got the audio guide, although I had to abandon that after it went crazy.
The audio guide was actually quite impressive--a small box that held nearly an hour of audio in 40 languages, plus a map on the back with LED lights that showed your current location, plus all the places you hadn't visited yet. When you walked into a section, it automatically started playing. Unfortunately, when you walked out of an area, it automatically stopped playing as well, and as I wasn’t patient enough to stand around waiting, I didn’t hear the end of most of the sections. Plus it was fine going through the big areas, but when you got into the smaller sections, one mis-step and it would stop the audio for one section and start playing a different section. (Step back and it would start the first section at the beginning!) Then halfway through it gave up all pretence of sanity and started playing random areas, so I had to remember it all until I got to that place. Finally it just started playing static and I took it off.
Nevertheless, the palace was quite interesting, and it took me four hours to take it all in. Following Emperor Puyi, when he was forced to abdicate in 1912, I went out the north gate, crossed the street and climbed to the top of Jingshan hill. *Not* following Emperor Chongzhen, when he was forced to abdicate in 1644, I did not hang myself. Created from land dug out for the moat around the Imperial Palace. Jingshan hill is 48 meters (157.5 feet) and the highest point in Beijing. Historically it was also the “centre” of Beijing, and all city planning was done around it. There are five pavilions on the hill, and each contained a large copper Buddha. Unfortunately most of these were looted by the western powers after the Boxer Rebellion. The largest is still there, but there was a sign that said “no photos” (although I think I was the only one that honoured it).
Leaving through the east gate, I headed for the subway station a mile away. A rickshaw driver offered me a ride for 3 yuan—about 50 cents—but I declined. About 8 times. When I got to Lama Temple station, there were no signs for the temple—it wasn’t even on the map! I went left out of the exit but when that didn’t look promising, I turned around and went the other way. I could actually see the temple on the other side of a high wall, but I couldn’t figure out how to get in! In the end, I walked all the way around the temple, only to find the entrance not far from where I turned around before.
All this goes to explain why I arrived at 4:02pm, when they stopped admission at 4pm. I was gutted, but I was actually a little relieved—I could now go get some food. And to my eternal shame, I went across the street to a Costa Coffee—a popular chain in the UK—and got a cup of English breakfast tea and a muffin.
They also had free wifi and so--once I was finished playing a game of chess with my brother--I started looking for dinner, only to find there was a good vegetarian restaurant *right next door*! In fact, the more I looked, the more I found – 10 vegetarian restaurants within 1.5 miles! I couldn’t believe it. But then I realised that Lama Temple was Buddhist, and Buddhists are vegetarian, so of course they would be near the temple. Good to know for my future travels.
And there will be future travels; I barely scratched the surface of Beijing, never mind the rest of the Orient. However, for now I’ll set my sights on more domestic options. After two major trips in as many months, it will be a while before I go travelling again. (Except to Dublin, which is next weekend.)
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