Beijing,
China
Friday, August 15, 2008
I count myself lucky to have been in Beijing for 3 of the handful of sunny days Beijing gets all year. And on these glorious sunny, blue sky days, I made the short trip from Qianmen to the Temple of Heaven Park, still within the old Ming City. I wasn't so much interested in the temples and sights, they were just as nice from the outside so I didn't pay the extra 5 bucks to get the complete entry ticket. Instead, I wandered into the less-traveled sections. There I found a wide selection of young and old locals similarly just hanging, enjoying the weather and doing those things Beijingers are famous for - Taichi, outdoor gyms that look like playgrounds, singing Beijing opera, playing chess, old people playing hacke sack (!), and just plain sitting. It was excellent, as peaceful an atmosphere as you canever hope for on a day like this. I sat down as well and spent the afternoon drawing and doing a bit of wandering through the beautiful old manicured woods, around the less popular buildings.
Finally the sun set, and I saw my first real sunset in Beijing. Great. And as the sun set, a full moon rose on he opposite side of the park. Now, more and more locals flocked in, did their thing, hung out, flew kites, etc. O and that picture of the Temple of Good Harvests - it's reflecting the setting sun to the west and the full moon the east. pretty cool right? Really proof that the Olympics didn't rip the whole soul out of the Olympics. A day well spent doing nothing..
Old people and hacke sack?
