(I wrote this post just before I was told "you have to go to Perth for a week and work" so me not being too busy is no longer entirely accurate!)
Sorry, I've been really slack in my posting lately! I haven't even been all that busy, just not doing very interesting things!
Last weekend we went to the Yonghegong Lama Temple, which in itself is pretty slack cause it's a really nice place that's about 30 minutes walk (or one train stop) from the house. I have to say, along with the wall, this has been my favourite place to go in China so far. The temple itself is pretty similar to all the other touristy type places we've been (summer palace, forbidden city etc) but I guess the difference for me is that this is still a practicing temple with worshippers, monks, incense and all that stuff. The other places just didn't seem alive to me, it everything was there for the tourists who (like me to an extent I guess) didn't really appreciate it. However, as I said, I really enjoyed the Lama temple, it had a great feeling and people were there for the purpose of either worshipping or just quietly looking.
Please note in the background of the photo above, the monk on the mobile phone :)
It probably also helped that it wasn't too cold that day, the sun was out, no pollution just a gentle breeze.
We were just sort of wandering through the temple and happened to be in the main temple building when all the monks filed in and started (what I assume to be) their daily service. The place was pretty full of people and they just filed in and started chanting, it was really nice. We weren't allowed to take photos in there and normally I don't. But I could resist so I tried to do it without disturbing anyone.
After leaving the temple, we went around the corner to our (so far) favourite normal hot pot place called Little Sheep. We then proceeded to eat for about 90 minutes solid, beef and mushrooms and veges (but mostly been and mushrooms of varying types). So good!
More photos at
https://picasaweb.google.com/david.mutton/YonghegongLamaTemple?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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