Temple of Heaven park

My parents came to visit, and we spent some hours in the Temple of Heaven park. The actual temple is so-so, but in the surrounding park are many things to see and do.



The Temple of Heaven was built 600 years ago and was a place for the emperor to bring offers to the gods.



Spring has come to Beijing, and there are many flowers and blossoms

Young and old observing a music performance





The park is a nice place to take a rest on a Sunday afternoon



Later, in a hutong near the park, we saw these two dogs



Some people played traditional music and sang songs







This cleaner is well protected against the sun, dust and tourists with cameras

These kids were fascinated by the little bicycle that rides by itself



On a local market were everything is sold; from used coffee cups to herbs and tea

Another walk through a Beijing hutong/slum

Near the subway station of Da Zhong Si (大钟寺) in North West Beijing is a hutong that doesn't look like all the others. It seems to belong to a different place, time and culture. We had spotted the area from the elevated line 13 subway on our way to Wudaokou (五道口), a popular student area with many coffee bars and cheap restaurants, and decided to have a look.

After a walk of about 20 minutes through an industrial area and passing huge sky scrapers that were only half finished, we came upon this curious place.

The small houses are connected by their walls like in other hutongs, and thus forming long walls and a maze of small alleys. The walls of this hutong were all painted in attractive ochre. The people that live there are not used to seeing foreigners, as they all stared at me and called their friends: "Hey hey, a foreigner! Look!" and pointed at me. Other parts of Beijing are so saturated with foreigners that nobody looks up anymore.

The area is full of garbage, and looks more like a slum than like a normal neighborhood in some places. Inside many houses I saw piles of recycled paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles. The people walk around the city, collecting these things so they can sell it (for around 10 cents per kilo). This is China's efficient garbage recycling system and works remarkably well. The streets are clean (well, not really, but they are a lot cleaner thanks to these people who collect paper and bottles)

Railroad tracks run straight through the hutong, and some locals told us that sometimes even trains pass by. As usual, surrounding the hutong are huge sky scrapers, but the shacks on ground level are built from wooden boards and old bricks. Cooking pots are standing outside on the ground, and the laundry is hanging out to dry next to it.

Remember the Olympics? The figure on the plastic screen is "Huang Huang", one of the five cartoon mascottes. This piece of plastic once probably hung proudly along the route of the torch relay last year, but has now found its way to better use: preventing the rain from pouring in.

A lot of activity was going on: people selling vegetables, luring big bags filled with plastic bottles around, and kids playing everywhere. Old men were playing Chinese Chess on the street, and dogs and cats were sleeping in the gutter.

School had just gone out (around 4.30 PM) and kids with colorful hats and school bags were swarming around the place.

An old man collecting paper and card boards
The characters on the fence (中国) mean China

Two funny kids playing with their masks

Some discarded traffic signs and a pile of garbage

This bicycle taxi is for sale.

A big contrast between the wide and long avenues of modern Beijing. These little alleyways were small, dark and quiet. I wish I knew more about the background of this place, but perhaps it is better to leave it as a mystery.

A sunny weekend in Beijing

SATURDAY

This weekend the weather was fine, and so it was time to go out! On Saturday we discovered that Tiantan ('the temple of heaven') is actually just around the corner from our house. It is surrounded by tourist markets where mostly fake designer clothes and jewelry is sold. A line of tour buses stood outside the park, waiting.

Outside one of the markets (called Pearl Market)

Around the temple and park are hutongs, which are always a lot of fun. This one still was traditional and full of activity: old men playing cards and Mahjong, markets and little shops.

These goldfish cost 1 Yuan each (0,10 Euros) so we bought a bunch.
We also bought a big fish to eat (2.3 Euros per kilo) It was more than fresh; the vendor hit it on the head a couple of times with a blunt stick and then cleaned it in front of us.

In the Hutong.


Also in the hutong


For some reason hutongs are always full of cats.


Some more dead than alive ;)




Hutongs are like a real-life museum

SUNDAY

Another Sunday afternoon. Another trip to '798 Art District' to make more photos. *sigh* The weather was good; warm and sunny, and so we decided to take a bus there from our house. By subway it would take approximately 1 hour, but by bus nearly 2 hours! It was nice to see some of the city from above the ground though, for a change.

Some 'interesting' signs along the way
(it's more funny in Dutch)


Inside the 798 area, there are lots of old things laying around. The place used to be an industrial area, and at some places there are still pipes that spit out clouds of steam, piles of coal and old machines and materials are everywhere.



...such as this abandoned room with 1 chair in it.


These buildings are famous and only just finished. They stand on 'xizhimen', a busy business intersection. This picture was taken from the bus window. We boarded a doubledecker bus and stayed there for two hours, as we circled the entire city of Beijing (cost 0,04 Euro).


The Beijing Sunday traffic & a lovely old lady playing the violin on the street


Roadside ping-pong place;
anything to keep you busy on a Sunday afternoon...


A sneak peek through the window of one of the empty factory halls in 798, the works of art are either stored here, or an exhibition is being prepared. There was no one around.


Strange modern art using strange modern photography techniques


When we got tired of walking, we took a rest in an Italian restaurant called Saizeriya. It's a Japanese-owned place that sells cheap and decent Italian food and even real Italian wine! Dinner for 2, including pizza, a bottle of wine, starters and ice cream for desert, cost a mere 8 Euros.