HK&C: Day 10: Beijing: Towers, Temples, Tiananmen

Kiely is the tallest person in this Hutong.

Today we had a decadent sleep in until nearly nine before kicking of another day in Dongcheng to visit the Bell Tower and Drum Tower plus the local Hutongs, which are neighborhoods of narrow alleys. These neighborhoods are less common, as many have been demolished to allow for new construction..

The Bell Tower

The Bell Tower and Drum Tower both functioned as timekeepers, and according to Wikipedia, these towers functioned as the official time piece of China and the Government until 1924, when the last emperor left the Forbidden City.

The Drums of the Drum Tower

Both towers include a steep set of stairs and nice, breezy views of the city.  Neither tower's tourist information indicates how they actually got that 63 ton bell up there, but I'd be keen to know. It remains the largest ancient bell in China.

Part of the Lama Temple

After wrapping up, we decided to visit the Lama Temple, a few kilometers walk away. This former monastery is one of the most popular temples for worship in Beijing. The Temple grounds are large, and there are a number of different temples for different purposes. We picked up the Audio Guide, but found it not particularly helpful, as we didn't listen carefully at the beginning and ended up disoriented. I think we were just suffering from audio guide overdose. The Temple's Garden's were an excellent spot to relax and people watch.

After a quick lunch right near the Lama Temple, we headed back to our hotel as I had a massage scheduled. Woe is me.

Kiely at the Tianning Temple

All stretched out, we headed over to a temple near our hotel called the Tianning Temple, which Kiely had spotted from our window. This 12th century structure is completely solid, and has no stairwells inside. We learned that it is open only two days a month, based on the lunar calendar date. The date we visited was not one of those days.

Then we hopped in another taxi to head to Tiananmen Square.

Kiely's height was key in taking this

En route, we had yet another interesting taxi ride. We've seen a number of near accidents, but today's was by far the worst, in which we nearly struck a cyclist who was playing a bit of frogger across the ten lane highway. Despite being trapped in our lane, our driver did not brake until it was absolutely necessary- I had already worked through my entire catalog of expletives by the time he stopped.

We arrived at Tiananmen Square in time to see the lowering of the flag. This is of interest because of the ceremony, which happens daily at sunset, is timed such that the flag is carried under Tiananmen gate at the same time the sun sets.

Video Art!

There was also an interesting video art installation, but no explanation as to what was for or for how long it would be set up.
The square was full of people, many of whom didn't seem to be tourists, as they lacked cameras and other easy indicators of tourism. It seems many Chinese travel in tour groups exclusively, so perhaps these were locals enjoying the weather... under lots of surveillance.

From Tiannamen, we went in search of the temple or museum we could not find and ultimately hopped in anther taxi to head to Gui Jie's  (Ghost Street's) Hua Jia Yi Yuan for dinner.

Yet another delicious duck on Gui Jie

We found this venue in our guidebook, and we really enjoyed the food, opting for more Beijing Duck, a cabbage dish, and these meat rolls.  Throughout the trip, the dish was referred to as Beijing Duck, but googling around, it is still often referred to as Peking duck. I don't know if it matters which name you use- if you know, please comment and tell me. 

We are a monster truck.

Duck #2

Our next stop was the Donghuamen Night Market. The few kilometers walk was a welcome one, as we were chock full of duck. Kiely's GPS was of great help in getting us from point A to point B.

We even passed St. Joseph's Cathedral (Dong Tang), a beautiful Gothic structure built in 1655. I managed to snap a picture before they turned all the lights off at 23:00.

St. Joseph's at Night

As for the Market, Unfortunately, I misread the guidebook, believing the market closed at 2330 when it actually closed at 2230.

The cab drivers milling around tried to convince us that they had to charge a much higher rate after hours, offering to take us home for 150-200 RMB, but we weren't buying it. (The guide book stated that there's a 20% surcharge after 23:00) A few blocks later, we picked up a taxi home for 18RMB and promptly crashed.