We spent our last two days in Beijing touring some of the less famous sites (especially compared to the Great Wall and Forbidden City trips of last week). On Friday we trudged through the Beijing Zoo, mainly to see the pandas. They have a few there, and the students really enjoyed getting to see them up close. The rest of the zoo is pretty depressing, though. I remember seeing an entry in a guidebook four years ago that said, "All zoos are prisons for animals, but the Beijing Zoo is like Death Row!" I'll spare you the pictures of lions and tigers in prison-like cells and solitary bears stomping around concrete jungles. After that we went to the Lama Temple to see the world's largest wooden carved Buddha, at least according to the Guinness plaque outside of the building. We finished the day by switching up our shopping schedule and went to the Pearl Market (instead of the Silk Market as usual) to finish off our shopping lists.
On Saturday we started at the Temple of Heaven, the place where the emperor would come to worship. The complex is huge, and many locals come to the large parks surrounding the temple to practice Tai Chi each morning. We got a short introduction from a (short) Tai Chi master about some of the major poses. After that we went into a Hutong (neighborhood alley) on rickshaws to have lunch in a family's home. We all agreed that it was one of the best meals that we've had in Beijing. In the afternoon we visited the Olympic Park including the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube aquatic center before heading to our farewell dinner with the students from Beijing Jiaotong University at a revolving-top restaurant.
We are all packing now to head to the airport around noon today. Next stop: USA! We hope you enjoyed following our Chinese trip of a lifetime!
Best,
Professor Drake
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