The Forbidden City- China Tour XV

Jai Gurudev !!

 

 

 

 

When we visited the Tinnanmen Square in the late afternoon of one weekend , we just roamed around the  place and happened to see a typical Chinese Architecture opposite to the Square , with Red colour flag posts installed in the front  .Then there was a picture of a leader hanged in the front wall , which I came to know later asthe Mao Leader , Chairman Mao .We could see his photo embossed in calendars, wall hangings , Chinese paper fans and other articles too , while shopping. T

his architecture , I just thought , an official building , something similar to the Vidhan Soudha at Bangalore . And we returned back after taking a trip at Tinnanmen Square not showing much interest to visit this architecture . One thing caught my attention was , huge flocks of people were seen moving to this place , which induced interest in that architecture.

The next weekend , we planned  to visit another famous tourist spot at Beijing  , that is "The Forbidden City "  . When we searched for the train route , it indicated the same spot , "The Tinnanmen Square" .

The Entrance to the Forbidden City is nothing but that  same old architecture hosting the  Mao leader's photo ,which came as little surprise indeed !!

 

  We never thought , Forbidden City would be such a Big place , which we have ever seen in our life. In fact it is a Chinese Palace , which comprises of many palatial buildings in series . We need to walk and walk  to just have a quick glimpse of it. If we want to see the things in detail , then a full day is not sufficient to appreciate it's significance , I guess.

People both Chinese and foreigners come in huge crowds to visit this place. The entrance is really attractive  with colurful flowers welcoming us. We need to pay a lumpsum entry ticket fee of about Rs.500 in Indian currency .

At the entrance, before the ticket counter , on the way , a wall size mirror fixed on the building attracted us , where we can see our own picture in the photograph we take.

 

There are several palatial buildings lined up one after another in series , with lengthy space in between , named as Palace of Tranquil Longevity , Palace of Supreme Tranquility , Palace of Heavenly Purity , Hall of Supreme Harmony , Hall of Preserving Harmony etc. There were also shrines seen among the bulidings . The emperors seemed to have lived in those buildings. I wonder , how many people are required maintain that place.

 

The thrones , the courts , the giant sized Urns , used for cooking purpose or boiling water was also spotted . There was an attractive Lion statue with the Chinese get up ,guarding one of the buildings inside .

 

By the time , we moved from the entrance to exit , we got exhausted, our energy level drained , partly because of the bright sunny weather too  . At the exit side  , we could see a huge water body surrouding the palace , perhaps constructed for safety reasons of the emperors.

In fact ,we covered only a part of the Forbidden City , another part , with terrace garden stuffs , we omitted for obvious reasons of time insufficiency .

 

The name - Forbidden is very apt , we have to call it a city , indeed  !!

Love & smiles...

 

Church at Beijing - China Tour XIV

Jai Gurudev !!

There are not much Churches that we can spot in Beijing. My colleage , in fact had to seek the help of the internet to locate a church in Beijing and gathered  the necessary details like place & route to visit the Church . He was very eager to visit the Church and offer his prayers there.

Hence one Sunday , we went to the Lama Temple and from there , we planned to go to the Church.
Since , my other friend was not feeling well, we had to pause in the midway and took rest in a Mobile shop , when my colleague visited the Church and returned. Hence , we diid not get the opportunity to go to the Church there.
But from his words, we could make out that , that's a wonderful place.And not much of the Chinese were seen around . Once again , only foreigners could be spotted there in the Church. And the time, he went , there was a wedding ceremony going on in the Church , he said.
He prayed and captured a lovely photograph of the Church and returned with a filled heart of having visited the Jesus in Beijing too...
As far as the Chinese marriage is concerned, it will  not take place in a religious hall  , but in hotels or some halls. Secondly , the Chinese follow the strict practise of "One Man- One Woman policy " , after marriage .
As long as the discipline is maintained, is there a need for a religion ?!

Love & smiles...

 

Xiu-Tsui Market - China Tour XIII

Jai Gurudev !!

1. 

Going all the way to China , our mind naturally thinks of doing shopping of the world famous , " Cheap & Best " China articles - especially electronic gadgets , though we were aware that we would be landing up buying fake items .

We started enquiring about the famous shopping place in Beijing and identified that " Xiu Tshui" market is one such place.

After gathering information about the way to Xiu Tshui market , we took the subway train and reached there , after visiting the Lama temple , only to find that that is something similar to Burma Bazaar of our place .

Xiu Tsui Market st Beijing



HandBags Shop at Xiu Tsui



Xiu Tshui market , as the name implictaes is not a market sort of place, but resembles the mall culture. It is a 9 floor building. Each floor equips many shops of items of one particular sorts , say 4 th floor is exculsively for electronic items like Mobiles, Laptops etc. Another foor  is for leather articles, handbags & suitcases. In the nineth floor, there is a hotel . All the shops look alike and we miss out the way quite often due to this .



The shops look as glossy as the glittering items present in it. Decorative and bright lightings illuminate the whole place inside the building co. Added to this is the fascinating looks of the chinese sales girls , who dress themselves up so attractively and stand at the entrance of each shop and welcome the customers by calling out to them  . They speak good English compartively to the other chinese . I remember one most commonly word used by all of them , that is,  " Friend-a " in their conversation . Their complexion and the shiny and  polished looks is something to be really admired at.

Xiu Tshui market is exclusively for all the foreign consumers , I think , because , hardly any chinese customers were seen there. Those young sales girls easily recognise us Indians and do not entertain us as much as the other foreigners. Their general opinion is that , we , Indians bargain to the lowest price. 

In general , we could see 90 percent of the shop keepers were only ladies , some were found pregnant , some with kids , yet they do the business with so much zeal and interest .

In the beginning of our shopping , we were shocked to hear the price of the items , marketed there. Later , we realised , the price tag shows about 10 times the actual price of the item. And one needs to do extensive bargaining with those girls, to shop effectively  . I feel it was something like a game sort , very funny.

Much of the shopping time gets wasted due to this bargaining game.And we get exhausted totally due to this bargaining . All the electronic gadgets sold were fake ones. People from Hyderabad had come in huge numbers to buy these items exclusively in lots. The handbags were very pretty and the prices were even prettierI mean costlier .

The toy items and gift articles were so tempting to buy , even we managed to bargain and picked few.We also purchased few fake mobiles like Samsung Galaxy II , watches , handbags etc..

And when we left the Xiu Tshui market , we felt that the shopping experience was not regular and common  , but a different  one altogether ... 

Love & smiles...

The Lama of Guinness Records - China Tour XII

Jai Gurudev !!





Lama Temple at Beijing - Entrance

We had the eagerness to visit the Lama Temple in Beijing and found out the way to reach there by the Subway train . Our Chinese friends helped us by providing the route map of subway train and guided us to go on our own .



On one lovely weekend , the Lama of Beijing gave us the wonderful opportunity of having a glimpse of Him. Budhdha is referred to as the Lama .The Lama temple station is the place , where we need to reach and it's just about 5 minutes walk to the temple. I was slightly surprised at the ladies selling the Incence stick bundles on the way and picked one , as we have the habit of carrying some offerings to God always. 

  

The place where Incense sticks are burnt and offered
, soon after the entrance of the temple.

 The entrance was quite attractive and inviting. It's a Big temple , covering a vast area.

Once we entered , another pleasant surprise was waiting for us. People burn the incense sticks in an exclusive place allocated for that in front of the main building and they do the offering there  , standing in queue , something similar to our local temples.



 

 This place looks exactly like our Indian temples, where the Ellu Deepam is lit . We also burnt the incense sticks - 3 numbers each and offered to the Lama God. 3 numbers is mentioned specifically there on boards.

  

Laughing Budhdha sitting gigantically and
giving a welcome smile to one & all

After which we moved to the inside of the temple. One more surprise awaited rather invited. Guess who ? None other than our famous " Laughing Buddha " in gigantic size .  A God in Lama temple has find His way as an Art piece or show piece in the Drawing room of our Indian homes , one can really wonder about !! Then on either side of that hall , we can see two huge statues , resembling the Dwara Balakas of our temples.  

The building which houses the 18 Ft tall Lama

  



Looking similar to the Dwara Balakas of our temple.
A Security Guard for Lama ?

The building structure inside is a typical Chinese structure and looked like a palace.The people who had come there were all looking very devoted . 

Lama in Meditating posture

Spot best suited for photography ?

Budhdha & His disciples

Moving further inside, it's opening out into a courtyard kind of construction , an open space in the middle and buildings all around it . The Lama in different forms or get ups was there and people offer incense sticks in front of the Gods .

Lama in yet another pose

The Lama idols in various attires and different decorations and  

in meditating  and standing postures could be seen.

Lama as Nataraj ?!





 

This particular standing posture of Lama just resembled our Nataraj statue of our temples. 



Rotating Cylinder - A spiritual practise similar to ringing bell 

One more interesting thing , we noticed was a cylinder sort of structure on either side of the main Lama statue , on which some scriptures are engraved . And the monks stand near that and keep rotating for some time, though the significance of that act is unknown. This , we can relate to our Bell structure and our act of ringing the bells as a practise.

  

An artwork like Sri Chakra at Lama Temple

A drawing , similar to the Sri Chakra of our place was also seen on the floor , though the spiritual significance of it is unknown.
We feel as though , Hinduism is modified and carried forward in Budhdhism .

Scary Gigantic Lion Idol

A Scary  Giant Lion stone idol caught our attention and we kept our eyes unblinked for few moments before we moved on .  We see Lion & Elephant Idols in our South Indian temples . 

  

Now comes the ultimate attraction of the temple. As you can guess , nothing other than the Great Lama Himself  taking His Avatar in the form of the Huge - 18 Feet Tall Idol . It looked a real Vishwaroopam of Lord Vishnu to me , indeed !! The Shanku , Chakra and a couple of other divine  instruments were also seen in front of him. A Budhdhist monk was standing beside and was doing the continous chanting , which again resembled our "OM " sound. I stood astonished gazing at the Big Lama for some time and  moved into a state of prostration automatically , as we can do nothing but only surrender to the Greatness !!
For a moment ,it comes in our mind, is it Lord Vishnu in Vishwaroopam posture ?
My friend exclaimed , " Budhdha is one of the avatar in Dasavataarm " !!
Is it so ?



18 Ft tall Lama Idol in Beijing Lama Temple

The wordings on the board placed at the exit way caught our eyes instantly  -   One more reason to astonish about this attractive and gigantic Lama statue . The 18 Feet tall idol or statue was carved out of a  single Big Sandalwood tree and has found a place in the Guinness Book of world records !! 

 No doubt the Big Lama would not fail to leave a deep impression in one's heart !!

  

After that we sat in the benches placed at the entrance of the temple for some time , which once again reminded us of our temple practise.

Overall , the Lama Temple visit is something to be cherished forever in our hearts !! 

Budhdham Saranam Gachchami !!

Dharmam Saranam Gachchami !!
Sangham Saranam Gachchami !!



Beijing Lama - When wil u call me again ?! 

Love & smiles...



A Beijing Beauty on the way .... - China Tour XI

Jai Gurudev !!

We were returning back to hotel after the local site visit in the Subway trains .

Actually we ought to pass through a couple of subway stations on the way to reach the destination , as there are about 3 different subway lines /routes.

When we waiting for the next train in the station , we happened to see this girl , who had dressed in an attractive attire  . Suddenly , we captured her in our camera.

The girls carry themselves very modern with western outfits . The main thing I liked was their stylish & expensive overcoats , available in various patterns . Second is that their shoes . And third is their handbags . Their outfits are designed to suit the cold and chilly weather .

And we frequently can spot the youngsters carrying a giant size mobile in their hand , playing the games for the time pass in the subway trains.

Love & smiles..

Chestnut - China Tour X

Jai Gurudev !!

What is that , they are roasting in that large pan ?


Roasted Chestnuts



Is it groundnuts as in our place ?

No..it's Chestnut !

Yes, a nut , which are sold  in many places on roads and some shops in Beijing. It is brown in colour . The thick skin breaks open on roasting it. The nut inside is soft . In shops, we saw that , they are not roasted but  boiled and sold.

We tried tasting the chestnuts .The taste resembles like the Jack fruit nut and our mind says, " Not Bad !!"

The roasted nuts taste better than the boiled nuts ..

Love & smiles...

Masala Dosa in Beijing - China Tour IX

Jai Gurudev !!

That was a piercing chill evening . We were walking back to the Hotel from office .

We were all feeling hungry after the day long work , with no proper lunch to munch on .

All of a sudden our eyes grabbed a wonderful scene at the road side corner  . Guess what ?

A middle aged woman was making Dosas in a moving cart . How skillfully she was making it with such a great speed. ?!

That too , she is making some stuffed Dosas something similar to our masala Dosas.kind .

We just stood there for a moment and observed that art . My friend even captured the video of it . Also we wanted to confirm if it’s a vegetarian or a non vegetarian item.

People just would stop for a moment , and grab one on their way , paying the yuans( 5 yuans per Dosa). Infact they order different combinations of the inside stuffs .

Even we enquired a person about the name of the item and one said "Just a kind of Pancake !"

How is it made ?

Basically , she applies the batter  made out of Maida flour on the pan and uses a special instrument to make it round and flat . Next , she breaks open two eggs and puts on the Dosa . Once the Dosa is done , she smears about three types of  liquid masalas in different colours as red , green and brown on top , one by one . Then she sprinkles some finely chopped onions & coriander leaves . Finally she places a crispy rectangular wafer on the Dosa and folds it neatly . And while packing , she cuts the Dosa into two halves ,

As a custom made order , she cuts open a packet , where in some prawn pieces , I guess is also added in that inside stuff .

And I ordered one without the egg . To make her understand that special order , I had to do multiple actions .

Do you want to know how it tasted ?

Splendid ..Awesome ...

Because , eating something hot, spicy ,soft ouside - cispy inside  and tasty food in that chill weather , that too in times of  real hunger , should be obviously tasty. Is it not ?

And my colleague , who tasted the Egg Dosa , exclaimed , " No Chance ( Nothing can match this taste )!!

What next ? I tried it once again ,before returning back from Beijing.

Only thing is that , the name of that Chinese item is still not known ...

Love & smiles...

Lo !! Beijing Auto !! - China Tour VIII

Jai Gurudev !!

 

Beijing Auto

 

Can you guess what this vehicle is ?

A vehicle to carry loads something similar to our local Indian Auto ?

 

If you guess so , then you are partially right !!

Because the purpose it serves is only to carry the passengers not the load. It's purely a passenger auto , which can be seen plying in Beijing roads. But , these autos are not seen many in number. Only here and there , in very less numbers .

 

The mode of transportation for common people in Beijing is mainly Subway trains . Taxis are available though not much in numbers . People still use Bicycles to move around. Two wheelers strength is also not much on roads. And the most interesting aspect here there is no pollution from the bikes , as they run on batteries or Gas.  We see buses powered by electric lines .

And we had to walk , walk & walk wherever we go to catch subway trains or other places , since these autos are rarely spotted .

 

These silvery autos can accomodate only two people  . And this auto does not emit hazardous CO , as our Indian autos. Infact these autos look so elegant on Beijing clean roads.

Had we got a chance to travel in those autos , would we have been able to appreciate them more, perhaps !!

 

Love & smiles...