Enchanting China (Beijing, Xian and Chengdu) : Day 3 – Temple of Heaven

Today was our last day at Beijing… sob..sob, but still there were few places we planned to visit before our train to Xian at 4.30pm. Remember my last post where we skipped Temple of Heaven due to "Tragedy November" incident 😅, so today we would like to “Qada” back our visit, so that was our first destination of the day. As it is advisable to be at the train station 2hours before departure, so we started our day early at 8pm. We will make each visit a really quick one since we planned to check-out from our hotel around 12.30pm.


i) Temple of Heaven (Tiantan)

The Temple of Heaven Park is located in the Dongcheng District, southeastern part of central Beijing. It is the largest and most representative existing masterpiece among China's ancient sacrificial buildings. Originally, the Temple of Heaven was the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasty held the annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest. First built in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, the Temple of Heaven was enlarged and rebuilt during the reigns of the Ming emperor Jiajing and the Qing emperor Qianlong. In 1988, it was opened to the public as a park, showing ancient philosophy, history and religion. Its grand architectural style and profound cultural connotation give an insight into the practices of the ancient Eastern civilization.

Address:
1 Tiantan E Rd, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100061.

Direction:
- Via East Gate: Take Subway Line 5 and get off at Tiantan Dongmen Stn. Leave from Exit A.
- Via North Gate: Take Subway Line 7 to Qiaowan and leave from Exit C.

Entrance Fee:
Main Entrance Fee: RMB 10
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Circular Mound Altar & Echo Wall: RMB 20
Combo Ticket (including the entrance fee & above attractions):RMB 28
Divine Music Administration: RMB 10

Operating Hour:
6am–9pm (Apr.–Oct)
6:30am–9pm (Nov.–Mar)


As usual from Dangshikou Station, we took the below route:
Dengshikou Stn (Line 5) ==> Tiantandongmen (Line 5)


The total area of Temple of Heaven Park is about 2.73 km2 (1.05 sq mi). That's a similar size to Central Park in New York or twice the size of Hyde Park. Clearly Chinese always have enough land and like it big! Temple of Heaven is divided by two encircling walls into an inner part and outer part. The main buildings lie at the south and north ends of the middle axis of the inner part. The most magnificent buildings are the Circular Mound Altar (Huanqiutan), the Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north.

Temple of Heaven is known for its rigorous symbolic layout, peculiar structure, and magnificent decoration.

The design of the Temple of Heaven complex, true to its sacred purpose, reflects the mystical cosmological laws believed to be central to the workings of the universe.

The design of the main buildings is a combination of circles and squares, which symbolize the belief that Heaven is round and Earth square.

The most striking building of the Temple of Heaven is the tall, circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, in the north of the park. In the south of the park lie the Imperial Vault of Heaven and Circular Mound Altar.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was built in 1420, which makes it the earliest building of the Temple of Heaven complex. It is one of the world’s largest medieval wooden structures: 38 meters (125 ft) tall and 36 meters (118 ft) wide, built completely without nails.

Its original name was ‘The Hall of Great Sacrifice’. The Hall of Great Sacrifice was rectangular initially, when the early emperors of the Ming Dynasty worshiped Heaven and Earth there. In 1545, the Hall of Great Sacrifice was remodeled to be a circular, wooden hall, standing on a square yard, which represented the philosophy of ancient China’s key elements: roundness representing Heaven, and squareness representing Earth. In 1751, (during the reign of Qianlong), the color of the three-tiered roof was changed to blue (blue means the blue of the sky or Heaven). It was also renamed ‘The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests’, as then it was dedicated to praying for good harvests alone.

The Circular Mound Altar

The Circular Mound Altar was built in 1530 by the Jiajing Emperor. The Altar is a three-layered altar made of marble, it was enclosed by two sets of walls that are square outside and round inside. In ancient China, nine was considered to be the most powerful number (representing eternity), so the slabs forming the Circular Mound Altar were laid in multiples of nine.

The center of the altar is a round slate called the Heart of Heaven, where the Emperor prayed for good weather. There is an interesting fact about the Heart of Heaven: due to the special design of the Altar, when you shout at the Heart of Heaven, there is a significant echo from the round wall around you, just like hundreds responding to a single call.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven

The Imperial Vault of Heaven was dedicated to housing ‘God’s Tablets’ — stone tablets used in the harvest prayer ceremony. It is located between the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Circular Mound Altar. Thanks to its excellent design, the Imperial Vault of Heaven is a wooden structure that didn’t need any nails. There are no beams inside the hall. The vast dome is supported by 16 wooden pillars and numerous brackets.

This Imperial Vault of Heaven is surrounded by a circular wall (the Echo Wall). Due to its smooth surface, sound can travel (reflect) large distances along the wall.

We had enough exploring the temple of heaven, so it’s time to the next destination……………
Continued to the next post………

Enchanting China (Beijing, Xian and Chengdu) : Day 2 – Xiushui Street (Silk Market) & Wangfujing Street

After an amazing moment at the Great Wall, we continued our journey back to the city of Beijing. As per our itinerary, we supposed to visit Temple of Heaven next after Great Wall, however after the incident in the morning, we were a bit out of time so we decided to skip that and proceeded to the next place which is Silk Market. It was nearly 4.00pm, we were hungry and if we go to the Temple of Heaven, we needed to spent at least around 2hrs there. Dengan lapar… sejuk and penat after hiking the Great Wall, we can’t afford for another long walk, so that’s why we changed our plan to the Silk Market instead so that we could filled our tummy.

We arrived at Dongzhimen Stn around 6pm, and from there, we took subway to Silk Market as per below route:
Dongzhimen Station (Line 2) ==> Jianguomen (Exchange Line 1) ==> Yong’anli (Line 1)

Dongzhimen Station.

Joining the crowd with locals.

The Yong'anli Stn. is connected with the Silk Market.

Entrance to the Silk Market from the subway station.

ii) Xiushui Street (Silk Market )

Xiushui Street (Silk Market) is a popular shopping market in Beijing that it is important as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.

Address:
No.8, East Xiushi Street, Chaoyang District.

Direction:
Take Subway Line 1 and get off at Yong'anli.


We arrived here around 6pm, flattern... starving... so first kita terjah food court dulu ok. There are total 6th floor in this Silk Market building

Adoi food court tingkat atas sekali la plak... bertabahla nak makan 😅😅.

But before that, we went to the loo... sejuk beb mmg asik nak terkucil.

Toilet was clean.

Ok settled, we continued to the food court located at the top most level of the building.

Muka ada senyum bila nmpak food court.. 🤤🤤

We saw this banner, an Indian/Pakistan restaurant which served Halal cuisane. Afterall we did made a research earlier so we knew that there's Halal restaurant at Silk Market.

Amboi model dia. Kami tak terngiur tgk model dia, tp lebih terngiur tgk makanan dia.

Lets order...

Straight to the counter.

Nor ordered the Chicken Tandoori.

Served with Chapati and for drink, she ordered Hot Milk Tea.

Me ordered Briani Chicken & Manggo lassi.

Once filled, we got our energy back so it's time to check what Silk Market got to offer.

This is really nice market with fake of lot of good brands like Gucci, Chanel, LV, YSL and many more. The copy is really nice looks almost like original. They bargain a lot so you should be good to get a hard bargain then you can get stuff at really cheap price. If you don't like bartering than this isn't the place for you.

This is also the place where you can get many types of souvenirs...... for the fridge magnet, you can get 3pieces at RMB10!

Lots of souvenir here.

Chinese culinaries.

Souvenir plates with historical places in Beijing / China.

Red vases and plates. Unique and looks oriental.

Fridge magnets for collection.

Chinese Opera fridge magnets. Cute....

Other local snacks like candies, pickles, biscuits, cakes etc also available here...

Sejuk2 ni idok la nak makan aiskrim...

We went outside and strolled along the Xiushui Street. It's already dark but the city still crowded and happening...

Silk Market Building from outside view.

Layan view lagi...

After spending about an hour here, we decided to call it a day and back home.

Back to subway.

Ticketing machine.

Security check is a must everytime you entering the subway.

Inside the train. Quite full, luckily only few stops to Dengshikou.

To Dengshikou Stn. from Silk Market, the route as per below route:
Yong’anli (Line 1) ==> Dongdan (Exchange Line 5) ==> Dengshikou (Line 5)

Along the way walking back to hostel, we noticed that the Wanfujing Street was just nearby our route. Since it's still early (around 9pm), we decided to go for second visit. It was our last night at Beijing so why not kan..... somemore lots of shop already closed when we visited yeasterday, so lets check again today.



iii) Wangfujing Street

Not much here as I already posted about it in previous post, so layan je la gambar ok...

We just strolled along the Wangfujing street, than after about half an hour, decided to go back to hostel. We needed to pack back our luggage as tomorrow we will check out to another city, Xi'an.

Read last day Beijing in next post.

Enchanting China (Beijing, Xin and Chengdu) : Day 2 - Great Wall of China, Mutianyu (The Memories)

Continued from last post, after few hiccups ealy in our journey, finally we made it to Mutianyu Great Wall around 1.30pm... 🤲🏻🤲🏻
We bought the tickets at RMB 160 (COMBO Entrance Fee+Chairlift to the Great Wall+Toboggan back). As both of us never had experience with Chairlift (open air concept) before, so thats why we chosed the Chairlift instead of Cable Car.

Our tickets.

On the right side of the Tourist Service Building is the Exhibition Hall for Great Wall Culture, a brief introduction to the Great Wall of China and Mutianyu Great Wall in particular. We however didn't have much time to explore the Exhibition Hall so just proceed to the Wall.

In front of the Exhibition Hall for Great Wall Culture.

Finally baru bole berbangga dgn rakyat setempat.

Ok, we already passed the first stage of journey to the Great Wall... but don't you ever think that it was done already. We were still not yet arrived. Like to the Forbidden City where you will need to enter multiple gates... here also you will need to go for few more "steps" before you officially set foot to Great Wall. 😰😰


i) Taking a ferry Shuttle Bus (2.5km) to the Starting Points for the Mutianyu Great Wall.
OK, at the ticketing box office, we were required to buy a RMB15 ferry shuttle bus. So from the tourist service center, we needed to walk about 200 meters to get to the shuttle bus terminal.

The road leading to the Shuttle Bus Terminal is lined with restaurants and vendor stalls on the left and right sides.

Weather was good, not so hot The view at this point already beautifull with mountain scenery.

There are plenty of places to buy water, snacks, and souvenirs alongn the way to the Shuttle Bus Station. You have the choices of Burger King, Pizza, Chinese food and more. Bottled water on the vendor stalls here is much cheaper than that sold up on the Wall.. There are restrooms both at the parking lot and along the Wall.

Souvenir shops were in abudance.

Panda, mascot of China. We will meet the real of you soon.

Pathetic looking Olaf.

The 5-minute free shuttle ride brings you to the area close to the starting points for Visiting Mutianyu Great Wall..

Berjemaah to the Shuttle Bus Station.

Shuttle bus station. You can see the operating hour there.

Ok bus already awaited us here.

3. Three Ways to go up to Mutianyu Great Wall
1) Taking a Chairlift to the Great Wall – to the 6th Watch Tower (or take a Toboggan down).
2) Walking up the Great Wall along the stone steps (like a mountain hike) – to the 10th or 8th Watch Tower
3) Taking a Cable Car up to the Great Wall – to the 14th Watch Tower

Walking up to the Wall from the base will take around 40-60 minutes. Unless you are super energetic and have enough time to spend at the Wall, it is recommended to take the cable car/chairlift up to the Wall and save your time and energy for the Wall itself.

Walking once more.

When you get off the ferry shuttle bus, you need to walk along an accessible stone path (600 meters long) leading up 1st to the entrance area for Chairlift (or Toboggan down), 2nd to the walking path up to the Wall and last to the area for Cable Car up to the Wall respectively.

Another ticketing counter who missed to buy a ticket earlier at the main building.

Lets go... you can see the starting point of hiking...

Finally arrived at the Chairlift Cable Car station and queued.

Not so many passengers. The chairlift approaching. We were so nervous as it was the first experience for both of us!!

Menjerit2 ko waktu mula embarked from the station. Our feet just pressed down on the air, feeling unsecured for few moments but after that we started to enjoy the view.

Fabulous views will be given to you undoubtedly.

We could see the Toboggan slide on the way up, next to the chairlift. Berdebar juga nak turun nanti, but hey lets think about that later ok... 😰😰

Look at the slope... we almost reached the 6th tower.

Looks fun but reading this warning.... ok jgn fikir dulu. Later2.. 🥶🥶

Ok finally reached 6th tower and time to disembark....

See, finally around 2pm baru betul2 smpai Great Wall!

Lets explore!

Layan view beginning of our exploration...

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall was originally constructed in the mid-6th century and was rebuilt in its current form during the Ming Dynasty in 1569. The Mutianyu section spans over a mile and contains a total of 23 watchtowers, making it the longest fully restored Great Wall section open to tourists.

The structure of the Wall.

The Wall live version.

You can see from here one of the Watchtower, the battlement wall, parapet, crenel and the loop hole at my back.

Step by step...

Tower 4, also known as Zheng Guan Terrace, Mutianyuguan, or Three Buildings, built in the Ming Yongle 2nd year (AD 1404).The three watchtowers are lined up together, two layers. The one in the middle is relatively big and the ones on the side are small. Each floor of the three watchtowers is connected, forming the style of the main hall in the centre and the rooms are on the side, which is very rare in the entire construction of the Great Wall. This section definitely shouldn't be missed when you visited here.

We went to the right (east) to get to Tower 4, where the Zheng Guan Tai located.

Zheng Guan Tai closer.

Visitors catched their breath after hiking up & down the stairs.

Inside the Hall.

Zheng Guan Tai from another side.

If you want to aim higher and challenge yourself to a tougher climb, you can climb to Tower 1 or Tower 23 but definitely requires one whole day. The climb is steep but both towers afford great panoramic views of the whole length of Mutianyu Great Wall. Further beyond these towers are unrestored parts which are not open to tourists but you can still enter and have a glimpse of the beauty of the wild Great Wall.

If you wonder how steep are the stairs.... almost 90deg inclination!! 😱😱

As it was early winter, the steps were covered by snow so it's quite slippery also.

Super steep way up along Mutianyu Great Wall

The warm and humid climate helps keep an abundant vegetation coverage, so the part of the Great Wall is nestled in the green mountains and rivers.

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and get ready for some walking and climbing. If you are visiting in the summer, the weather may be very hot and humid, so make sure to drink plenty of water. Except inside the watchtowers, there is no shade once you are on the Wall, so be sure to apply sunscreen and/or wear a hat.

Talking about watchtower, here are some photos inside the tower...

And infront of the tower...

Random pics...

Don't attempt to try this act.. quite dangerous to be honest.

Eh jumpa jodoh lak kat sini...  😅😅 Jgn la tenung lama2, malu I.

Ok we're done exploring the Wall, the weather getting colder and darker, so we returned back to tower 6 to get the toboggan slide down. The toboggan is a pretty long and thrilling ride but don't worry, it's perfectly safe and you can control how fast it goes.

Last glimpse of Great Wall with it's majestic tower before bid goodbye.

Alamak jodoh tunggula plak kat sini before went down the hill back.. 😜😜

It was not our luck (or should I be relieved) as the Toboggan slide was closed that day due to snow so it's was quite slippery and dangerous. Since I also not very keen for the ride earlier so I got nothing to comment... just proceed with the chairlift to go down the hill. 😅

Made it in piece down the hill... siap kena sambut lagi :D

Photo with warrior uncles 😆

OMG, who had been thinking that after all the hiccups we encountered early journey, we managed to arrive and spent wonderfull time at the Great Wall. Such a unforgetfull moment and experince. So after about 2.5hours there, we started to move to the next destination.

Beautifull golden Ginkgo tree:D

Walking back to the main tourist centre.. cute couple panda.

This time we made sure that we took the correct transportation back to the city. We supposed to take bus H23 to Huairou Station, however during that time (around 4pm), there's no bus on sight and we saw a taxi by chance, so we took it right away. The taxi also had another local passenger, a lady to the same destination like us so we felt a bit secured and safe.

Taxi to Huairou North Street. The local chinese passenger sat at the front seat.

After about 1/2hr we reached the bus station. OMG, ini rupanya Huairou North Street… the station we should been in our early journey to the Great Wall.

The real station with correct bus number: 916.

Bus 916 to Dongzhimen Station.

So we continue our next visit in next post ok.