Tanzhe Temple
CEAIE organised a little excursion for us to visit one of the oldest temples in Beijing. Tanzhe Temple is over 1,700 years old and is said to have been established before Beijing was known as a city.
Abuzz with tourists and locals, we were let loose to explore the temple grounds. Some of its main attractions included an emperor and empress tree over 1000 years old, a big bronze pot used by monks to cook with and a beautiful golden prayer wheel we decided to get involved with.
Of course, no cultural excursion would be complete without creating unforgettable memories. For us, the trip to Tanzhe Temple was made unforgettable by walking through a stone gate (pictured below) and embarking on what can only be described as the path with no end...
Dave, our English speaking tour guide, made no mention of this never-ending mountain climb during his speech about the unmissable attractions at the temple. Perhaps this should have been our first clue not to embark upon this journey. The walk began with a gentle stroll, but soon became a steep upward struggle up a mountain. I have to admit - I am in no way, shape or form a sporty person. It seemed we walked forever under the belief that the end must be close by. We were mistaken.
There was a local Chinese man who appeared to blitz his way up the pathway, stopping at particular intervals to scream at the top of his lungs in a monkey-like/ Tarzan manner. It was pretty hilarious to begin with, but eventually his screams became quieter and quieter. This meant only one thing - we must have a long way to go. We wondered whether we'd make it up alive. 'It can't be much further', we told ourselves. We were determined...ish.
It didn't take long for us all to agree none of us quite had it in us to try and get to the top. I guess the only good thing is that we managed to see a nice panoramic shot of a nearby town. The descent back to the main temple site was made with the overarching feeling that we'd wasted our time and energy, but at least my legs got a bit of a work out. I considered it a form of training for The Great Wall of China, which we'd tackle a few days later.
The coach ride to the supermarket was a sleepy one, but admittedly, our excitement at the prospect of browsing food aisles could not be contained. To give more context, the meals we ate during teacher training left much to be desired. We ate three square meals a day, served buffet style and catered to "western" ideas of what Chinese food should be. It was hard to pick out many differences between meals (noodles for breakfast, anyone?), so I can't emphasise enough how good it was to be able to buy snacks to break the monotony of our food eating routine. Hooray for Oreos and crisps! I also snuck some sweets in to my shopping basket to give out as prizes to my class in the last few days of teaching. Clearly, I was vying for teacher of the year already!
When it was time to head back to camp, our timing and luck could not be worse. We left the shopping mall and were met with what can only be described as an actual tsunami. Dave said we had to leave immediately, otherwise the roads back through the mountains could become too dangerous to drive through. We had no choice but to make a run for it to the coach.
As we ran, sheets of rain soaked us completely. Puddles became rivers but we waded on through. It was a soggy journey home. My converse went from white to an interesting shade of yellow-y beige. Needless to say, our first day off was pretty memorable.
(Rocking the drowned rat look, thanks Chinese rain storm!)
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