Beijing - Hutongs & Temples

Today a tour of the hutongs was on the agenda. Our hotel is also located in a hutong, but there are significant differences. Some hutongs have been renovated, while others did not survive Beijing's redevelopment era (until 1990, these houses were extensively destroyed).

Afterwards, a short visit to the Drum and Bell Tower.

We took longer for the tour than planned, so the Temple of Heaven Park was postponed to another time.

Instead, we visited the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple. Absolutely worth seeing! A Lama Temple in China surprised me a bit, as it is a Tibetan temple. But a walk through the various exhibitions on Tibet and China and the very short English translations put everything back into the familiar light. A lot of people come to the temple to pray - one must be aware of this. You don't necessarily crowd the temple halls with tourists, but rather with the worshippers.

Afterwards, a visit to the serene Confucius Temple. Really beautiful temple, with old trees. The exhibitions are long-winded, but the temple complex more than makes up for it. I was not previously aware of the importance of Confucius to the Chinese, and still is: people come here to worship Confucius. In fact, he is almost deified.

After the long walks, we had to strengthen ourselves in the evening - with nothing other than Peking Duck! Simply delicious! I will never be able to eat in Chinese restaurants in Switzerland again, after getting to know the true taste of the various regions of China here....