Beijing - Part 1

Hi everyone!! How have you been? I trust you are all keeping safe and well :) If you hadn't guessed already, we'd all gone on a little trip! Yes -- my first in about four years lol! We'd actually intended to go on this holiday a year ago, but guess who got pregnant haha.. Well, the two grandmothers got together to help look after Jake while we were away -- thank you Mom and Ma! -- and we had an awesome time in Beijing, China!

One of the first places we visited was Yonghe Lamasery, or the Lama Temple. This is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism. Work on the temple began in 1694; it originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs, before being converted into the court of Prince Yong. In 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, while the other half remained an imperial palace.

There are five main halls separated by courtyards, with lovely names like The Hall of Harmony and Peace, and The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses, which contains a 26m tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of white sandalwood. Photography is not allowed within any of these places of worship.

The whole temple was heavy with the smoke and smell of incense -- there were many people praying there. Here, Becky is standing in front of one of the many prayer wheels; meditatively spinning the wheel would be equivalent to saying the inscribed prayer aloud.

We saw many beautiful sculptures there, but couldn't take pictures of many of them. Animals from Chinese mythology were plentiful of course; here, the kids are posing with two dragon turtles, representations of such positive traits as courage, longevity, success and fertility.

The temple is huge and after exploring it, the kids were tired out and hungry. On the way back to our hotel, I saw this painting being sold on the street. The Chinese word on the bottom is ye, but I'm not sure what that thing above it is.

This is how tired Becky was by the time we found some place to eat.

And this is what we ate. Next to the noodles are some extremely boiled vegetables, which they seem to serve as an accompaniment to almost everything, even breakfast. It was interesting, but the kids were decidedly not fond of it.

The next day we walked through Tiananmen Square on our way to the National Museum of China. The weather was gorgeous the whole time -- hovering between a lovely 0 to -7°C.

Ro was proving to be an avid photographer the entire trip.

Security was quite tight, probably because of the recent terrorist attack on Tiananmen Square, and every now and then we had to have our bags checked and go through metal detectors.

But the kids enjoyed every minute of it.

Miss Too-Cool-For-School.

The museum is huge and very impressive, with a permanent collection of over a million rare artifacts covering Chinese history from the Yuanmou Man of 1.7 million years ago to the end of the Qing Dynasty (the last imperial dynasty).

Painted terracotta infantry and cavalry from 202 BC. The artistry and sheer ancientness of these things were amazing.

A jade shroud fastened with gold threads from the same period. Jade shrouds were burial clothing for Han dynasty emperors and nobility; this one was made for Liu Xiu, king of Zhongshan state.

A bronze lamp in the shape of a goose carrying a fish from the same period. This device was brilliantly designed -- the bodies of the goose and fish are hollow to contain smoke and soot; the lamp plate and shade rotate for desired lighting or to control draughts; and all the parts are detachable for easy cleaning.

Rhinoceros-shaped wine vessel with gold and silver inlaid cloud design from the same period.

A glazed roof ridge ornament from 1038.

Roro posing with a bronze model for acupuncture and moxibustion from 1443. If you went close, you'd see that the figure was marked with meridians and acupoints from head to toe. In the imperial medical academy's exams, such figures were coated with beeswax and filled with water for students to identify the correct acupoints.

Like I'd said, the place was massive. There was lots to see, but even I was getting a little tired after awhile.

Security was really tight.

Walking home afterward, we went through Wangfujing Street, a busy, 700-year-old thoroughfare full of shops and restaurants and street vendors, with lots of crowded side streets as well which the kids were just too tired to get into.

A street vendor selling wind-up birds.

Which we bought.

Street sculpture.

A serene close to the day. More in a bit!