Ni Hao

I don't know wheher we had a lie in till 10.30 this morning because it was Sunday or the fact that we didn't go to bed till 2am the night before.I was going to get a haircut (1st in 6 months!!) but decided to do it tomorrow!!!

Had a great brunch at Grandma's Kitchen then took the subway to the Temple of Heaven.Although the subway is a great way to get around you seem to spend half your time underground,like a mole!!!!

Once we surfaced we entered through the North Gate and started our walk into the park,the whole area is where the emperors from the ming and Qing (Ching) dynasties would come to pray for good harvests and observe abstinence for 3 days each year as well.

The first stop was the impressive "Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest " with it's blue tiled roof it looked spectacular in the bright Beijing sunshine.It is made totally from wood with no nails holding it together at all.You then took a long walk along a huge bridge to the "Imperial Vault of Heaven" or Echo Wall where you can whisper at one end and hear at the other due to it's perfect acoustic qualities but with the amount of people yelling at the top of their voices it was hard to prove!!!!

At the South end of the park stands the "Round Altar" which is on 3 levels to signify Man,Earth and Heaven at the top.There is one raised marble stone which if you stand on and talk it is said that the sound generated meant you could talk to the gods directly from here.

By now the park had got really busy with locals playing games and drawing as well as singing and dancing although some of the singing was not too good,one lady sounded so bad no one was sat within 30 metres of her!!!!

The park is so big and has less tourists than the Forbidden City but is just as important in Chinese history and we enjoyed our visit,after 3 hours we walked along the "Long Corridor" and out through the East Gate to drop underground again.

Then came the more boring tasks of shopping and stocking up on toiletries unavailable in India before returning to the hostel via the weird street market again selling all the things you would not eat.

Must go as our steamed dumplings will be here very shortly.

Lots of Love

M & M

xx