Our first and only Sunday in Beijing was set to be a free day, however, we quickly filled it up with plans to visit the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market! We took the subway to get to our destination and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The Beijing subway is one of the nicest metro systems I have ever been on. It was cheap, very clean, and high tech as I expected most of Beijing to be.
The temple is a huge enclosed area filled with dancing and singing natives, too many tourist vendors, and beautiful walking grounds. The temple itself had the characteristic three tiered roof in blue, symbolizing heaven where the emperor would go to pray for a good harvest. I enjoyed the echo wall the most. A person can supposedly stand at any point on the circular wall and talk and be heard from any other position. We tried it out a few times and it really did seem to work.
After the temple, we made our way to the Pearl Market which was a market similar to the one we visited after the Beijing Zoo. However, on the top floor of this market are several pearl jewelers giving the market its name. I purchased a nice pearl ring for my mother there and a few things for myself. I would definitely recommend learning some phrases to barter with the merchants there such as ‘how much?’, ‘too expensive’, and ‘no thank you.’
Our last stop for the night was a traditional Chinese acrobatic show. The show was really amazing. The acts included balancing and juggling, flips so high that they could land on the shoulders of a two man totem pole, and a bicycle ride which held at least a dozen girls. The show was very impressive and I was glad to have seen it. We again took the subway back home and it rained for the first night yet in Beijing.