Temple of Heaven and last day of gymnastics

The recreated 1920s-30s style Qianmen Street

Waiting for the subway at Chongwenmen station--note that the platform is separated from the tracks by a barrier as Singapore and Hong Kong do.

This morning we got a move on early so that we would have time to take in the Temple of Heaven and return to the hostel in time for Jade's last scheduled gymnastics training schedule. We walked down our hutong then crossed the main street (Meishijie) and walked through the beautifully renovated section of our hutong to Qianmen Street--also beautifully renovated but a much wider boulevard with tram tracks running through it. All of the shops on Qianmen St were empty. I believe this is the touristy hutong which was being built for the 2008 Olympics but which wasn't finished in time. It seems to be all ready to go except for having empty shops. I found this article about it on the web:



http://www.tour-beijing.com/include/showtravelnews.php?news_id=2125



We took the subway to a stop at the southern side of the Temple of Heaven park only it was a bit too far south. We had to walk for about 20 mins or so to get to the park. Once inside we walked straight through along the central axis and admired the buildings. I think they all have been restored. One which was done in 2006 is starting to have some of its paint flaking off already.

Entrance to the Temple of Heaven

The Circular Mound Altar

Standing on the Circular Mound Altar--when you say anything here your voice resonates

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests--the main building in the complex

We took about two hours to see the whole complex then tried to get a taxi back to our hostel. This time it only took two refusals before we found someone who would take us. Thank goodness! We ate lunch and then got ready to go out again. Jarrah had decided to stay back in the room so only Jade, Paul and I went with our guide Cecelia and driver Mr. Li to the sports school. I took Jade in and paid for her training (Y100/hour) then met Paul outside again and we walked next door to Hou Hai Lake where many people were ice and chair skating. Many of the schools are out now for Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) so there are lots of kids around. I planned to find a coffee shop and read while Jade trained. Cue Starbucks situated immediately between the school and the lake--perfect! Paul went for a walk. I had a lovely time to myself--probably my first on the trip--and sipped a cappacino and read my book. I'm reading Barack Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope, and really enjoying it. When Jade's time was up I went back to the school to pick her up. Paul met us there with fairy floss/cotton candy for Jade and we climbed into the van for our ride back to the hostel.

The sports school viewed from across the street

That was it really. A pretty simple day. We are now just about done with our major activities for Beijing and starting to think of our next stop Harbin. So far our travel agency has been unable to obtain our train tickets for this leg of our trip. It seems many students are travelling home for the Spring Festival and the trains are booked out. So even though we booked months ago--about last May--the local students get priority over us. We are very hopeful that we will be able to take the train but won't know until Friday--the day before we travel. If we can't get the train then we'll have to fly.