Charlie said I should call this one "Insert Pithy Quip Here"

Today Charlie and I ventured out alone again.  We caught a taxi from our home base and were driven through one of the coolest neighborhoods I have seen in Beijing so far.  There was an absolute absence of the high-rises that seem to be everywhere else.  The store fronts were decorated by rows of red lanterns, strung from the buildings to the trees along the edge of the sidewalk, creating a sort of canopy over anyone walking by.

Our destinations today were the Lama Temple, followed by the Confucius Temple, in the Dongcheng District in the northeastern part of Beijing.   The Lama Temple, also known as Yonghe Temple, the "Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple" or the "Yonghe Lamasery", is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism and is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. (Thanks, Wikipedia)

Did I mention I LOVE Buddhist temples?  Well, I do, and this one was no exception, being one of the most beautiful that I have seen. The architecture was astounding and the statues were either moving or terrifying, many being in the style of Thangka. Here are some shots of the exterior of the temple halls:

Worshipers line up to make incense offerings to the Buddha figure inside.

That's him.

There were gorgeous trees everywhere.

This one came with a warning.  What I think they mean to say is that if you see lightning you probably shouldn't stand under the tree.

The sign says, "Do not throw incenses or coins," which is exactly what these people are doing.

Spinning the prayer wheel.

I have no idea what this figure is actually called, so I just referred to it as "the big kitty". People stroked his big snout and stuffed money into his mouth and nose.

As we made our way through the temple complex we could hear drumming and loud horns playing in one of the central halls.  It was closed off to the public, as it appeared the lamas were doing some kind of religious ceremony.  At one point several worshipers seemed to have taken it upon themselves to enter the hall anyway, so we managed to peek in while two security guards attempted to hold the crowd back while the people inside took their time to exit.  All I could really see were rows of monks sitting on the floor but I couldn't really tell what they were doing.

The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses contains an 18m tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of White Sandalwood.

If this was carved of a single piece of wood, that was a damn big tree!

Charlie getting his daily dose of enlightenment.

This big kitty (lion) is serious about guarding his ball of yarn.

After leaving the Lama Temple, we strolled through the neighborhood just hoping we were going the right direction.  We knew the Confucius Temple was somewhere nearby and luckily took the correct street to get to it. The thing that surprised me most about this temple was that it was nearly empty.  The only other people we saw were a couple of what appeared to be student tourist groups wandering around and taking pictures like us.  I only saw one worshiper offering incense at the main altar.  It made me a little sad that no one seemed to care about this temple, but at the same time I really enjoyed the peacefulness of it.

The temple entrance

Pathway leading into the main hall.  Notice there is only one dude in sight.

Dragon carvings on the stairway

The entrance to the main hall.  Only two dudes in sight... and I think the one in green works there.

The altar

Surrounding the altar in the main hall were several types of old musical instruments, including zithers, drums, bells, and a sort of xylophone - slabs of stone suspended from ropes tied to a free-standing rack.

We continued around the grounds, pausing to use the cleanest public toilets we have seen so far, and then happened upon this gigantic warehouse full of stone tablets that were being restored.  Some were obviously much older than others, the Chinese writing carved into them barely readable.  We were lucky enough to catch a couple of guys in the middle of restoration work as well.

Tablets galore

Carving detail

Next we happened upon what I think was some kind of "school of Confucius" attached to the temple grounds.  We found the largest crowd at the whole site here at the front gate.

Close-up

We then approached what was referred to as a lecture hall, surrounded by this giant moat.

Hall interior

We then found our way out of the large temple complex and headed out into the neighborhood in search of food.  There were restaurants everywhere, but we were hesitant to go into any of them, knowing that an utterly awkward experience awaited us there.  After some wandering, we settled on a humbow joint.  If you are unfamiliar with humbow, they are fluffy white steamed buns filled with meat or vegetable mixtures such as barbecue pork.  Much to our delight, the man at the counter spoke beautiful English, gave us an English menu, helped us select a few things, and showed us where to load up on condiments.  We ordered a dozen of them and it only cost something like $4.

Satisfied with our successful lunch, we headed back home to wait for Tony, with whom we were to go explore one of the nearby hutongs and have dinner in the neighborhood.  Hutongs are lovely - they are old neighborhoods that used to be largely residential but many have been restored and now contain little trinket shops and restaurants. It was a bit touristy, but picturesque nonetheless. If you peek down into the narrow alleys and open doorways you can catch a glimpse of the how the average Beijing resident once lived and in some cases, still does.

We stopped into a few shops along the way and I picked up a handsome new tote for my computer:

It says "Serve the People" in Mao's handwriting.

We were also lucky enough to happen upon a silk shop where silk was actually being processed and textiles were being made on site.  This woman is separating the silk from the silkworms (little pile of brown bean-like things in the lower right corner).

We found our way into a little restaurant nearby for dinner that advertised hotpot on the exterior.  We came to find out that it wasn't actually hotpot, but a kind of Mongolian barbecue style cuisine where you select various ingredients and they throw them together for you in a wok.  It was spicy and wonderful.  

Just as we were finishing our meal, I began to hear Chinese music on some kind of stringed instrument outside.  Through the dirty window I watched this blind musician pass by, playing sweetly, with a bucket hanging around his neck for donations.  Behind him was a woman with her hand on his shoulder, guiding him along down the narrow street.

After dinner, my feet were absolutely killing me so we returned home for some R&R. Later that evening I asked Tony why the Confucius Temple should be so empty.  He said that Confucianism is more of a philosophy than a religion and that people tend to worship there on special days only, like his birthday or other national holidays, or two make offerings when they are about to do something related to studies or knowledge, such as taking a test.

And thus, Wednesday was done.