M-whY

What's worse is when I do nothing, either because of weather or laziness, and have nothing to report. To avoid just this problem, I scrapped the idea of holing up for another day and picked out some of Beijing's smaller sites to visit. Hopefully, they wouldn't be as crowded. I could always see the Forbidden City later when the holiday commotion died down a bit.

The hostel rented bikes, and even though it was the most basic of contraptions, with no gears and springs, the city's flat terrain made getting around rather effortless. Classical architecture and round doorways were everywhere in the quiet hutongs. Once comprising most of the city, I can see why Beijing was sometimes referred to as a metropolitan village. Elderly men walked around smoking their pipes, mothers cradled their babies while chatting with their neighbors, small groups huddled around a game of cards. It's a bit unfortunate this setting was slowly being replaced by modern offices and apartment buildings.

I arrived at Yonghe Lamasery, recommended by guidebooks as a temple well worth seeking out. Originally used as a residence for Emperor Yong Zheng, it became a Tibetan lamasery during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, a strong supporter of the Tibetan doctrine. There were plenty of tour groups here, but the numbers were bearable and expected for a place like this. Plenty of cultural relics were on display, like the Stele with Four Languages (Manchu, Han, Tibetan, Mongolian). People paid their respects to the numerous Buddhas housed in the beautifully restored buildings. I'm suffering from Buddha overdose, having seen too many to count, but the Maitreya Buddha, standing 18m high and certified by the Guinness Book of World Records to have been carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood, deserved a long stare.

Smelling of incense, I made my way over to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower, two colossal structures that served as a time-keeping center in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties (late 13th century to early 20th century). Both had been repeatedly burnt down and rebuit, the extant Drum Tower having been constructed around 1420. At the top were 25 replica clock drums and drummers put on a performance every half hour. Across the way, present Bell Tower was only about 250 years old, and was home to China's biggest bell. Standing 7.02m, with a diameter of 3.4m, and weighing a mind boggling 63 tons... "I wonder how they got it up here," someone wondered. A very valid question.

Wandering around the network of hutongs nearby got me hopelessly disoriented, and I ended up on the wrong side of town before realizing I should be pedaling away from the sunset. Back at the hostel, I bummed around in my budget accomodations for a bit, then sauntered down the street to the ritzy Beijing International Hotel, where a friend and I had agreed upon as a meeting place. I'm always open to travel companions, and as long as I'm given enough notice, I can be flexible enough to make things work. After several weeks of correspondence, a former coworker of mine (and a regular reader of M-whY) had taken up my offer and was flying to China to backpack with me for two or three weeks.

"Jon! Over here!" I called out when he walked in the front door.

"Hey! Good to see you! How are you?"

I had refrained from mentioning any of this earlier, since he hadn't told anyone at work that he was coming. We thought it'd be great fun if all of the sudden, the guys back in Pittsburgh saw a random picture of him on my blog.

"I dropped a couple hints, but I didn't say anything outright. I was thinking, since I'm born in the year of the dragon, you could title your entry 'Enter the Dragon' or something," suggested Jon. Not a bad idea. It'd sure save me the trouble of finding something in common between big Buddhas, bells, and drums!

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!