The Lama Temple

1/09/13 

Here we are, in Beijing and it’s September! Sorry to all the family members who bet I’d be home within a week – we’ve pretty much managed a month which I am taking as a great personal victory! We’ve also been paid which is pretty great – who knew that having a “job” and doing “work” in exchange for “money” was something I could actually do! Not that we’ve done much work but it’s still nice getting a big wad of cash (there was a problem with our bank accounts so this won’t be a monthly thing but it did look pretty cool).

 

 

As it was our day off we decided to actually do something other than sit in the apartment planning lessons. We headed to the Lama Temple which is apparently the most impressive Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. We were surprised at how big it was and it was a really nice way to spend the morning. Once we had taken numerous sneaky pictures of Chinese people worshiping we took a trip through some hutongs. I’m really fond of these little ancient streets, there’s always a lot going on and it’s nice just walking in the shade and having a nosey. 

 

 

Spot the tourist!

A sneaky picture of a huge statue

We managed to find a Mexican restaurant that was recommended on Trip Advisor and I’m so glad we did. The food was unreal and it was made even better by where we were sitting – on a roof terrace, overlooking the hutong! But wait, the day gets better!

Rooftop dining in the hutong

A quiet hutong

Dusty hutong roof

When we eventually headed home we make a trip to Carrefour where, after some serious deliberation, we bought an oven! I feel like an American child with my easy bake oven but people in China just don’t use them, hence the little electric ovens. We also invested in some brownie mix from the imported section and after scouring the shop I found a stainless steel bowl thing which was described as a “seasoning bowl” but I have repurposed as a “brownie pan”. I’m really looking forward to cooking some stuff in an oven and not in a wok! Any easy recipes are appreciated – I’m talking to you Esther! With our brownies fresh out of the oven we settled down and watched a movie which Rory bought at our local electronics market for 50p so all in all it’s been a pretty great day!