Sunday in the Park

Sunday morning, Jessica and I spent a few hours browsing and negotiating at the Dirt Market, a place where art, jewelry, coins, junk, and more are sold to the visitors. It's largely filled with Westerners looking for authentic souvenirs. The most fun I had was when I expressed interest in an authentic Chinese musical instrument. It was stringed like a violin, with a bow, but played on one's lap. The stall proprietor sat me down and wrapped his arms around me to teach me how to play a scale: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do, all of which he sang with me at the same time. Jessica took some good photos, and we all had a good laugh, as did the proprietors of the 5 stalls surrounding us!

I spent the afternoon at Tian Tan, or the Temple of Heaven. Just as I found at Jingshan Park, there were families and groups practicing Tai Chi or music, or exercising. I put on my iPod and leisurely strolled through the Cypress orchard, in and around the various temple buildings, through the 100 Flower Garden, just admiring the beauty and the architecture. Tian Tan has some of the most beautiful buildings in Beijing, and the park is hundreds (if not thousands) of acres of beautiful grounds! The Temple of Heaven was used by the Emperors to make sacrifices, and as I read some of the history, I was struck by how similar the ceremonies and grounds were to those of the Old Testament Temple, used by the Israelites to make sacrifices. I enjoyed the time to myself, relaxing in the nearly-sunny warm weather. 

Joey and Ema returned from the Great Wall, and brought Michael C. with us to dinner. We went for an Arabian dinner at 1001 Nights, where the skewers and baklava put us all into food coma. It is still amazing to me that such excellent food can be had here for about half of what it would cost in the US. After dinner we walked over to check out the new Apple store opened in the Sanlitun area. I picked up some adapters for my macbook so I can plug in in any country! I hope I'll get to use some for traveling after the Games!