I was awake at about 630 but chose to lie around until about 800 when Ben knocked at my door to see what I was up to. He had been up at 600 so he had already eaten. I went in to his room with a mug and got a cup of coffee which was very good (OMG - I'm drinking coffee, Mom). It was the first coffee that I had had for a long while. After that I went down to the kitchen and made breakfast. I went carb heavy as I was having some digestive troubles again. I had a single fried egg with three pieces of toast. It was so good. I used butter instead of oil to grease my pan, and that was a special treat. There was a little Vietnamese kid and his mother who were in there making breakfast, and the kid really wanted the butter, so I gave him some buttered toast.
After breakfast I came back up to the room and got my stuff ready to go the the Temple of Heaven. I grabbed my hard drive cause Ben has some stuff on his drive that he said he would share with me. I got the movie, "Good Morning Vietnam", a radio show called "The Unbelievable Truth" and a historical comedy show called "Black Adder". I listened to a little of "The Unbelievable Truth" and it sounds promising. It is a British show. After that exchange, we headed out to go to the temple.
We took the subway and arrived at the temple at 1040 and grabbed some bread at the bakery that is close by. I still have some baguette that was better today than the one I had previously. We went through the Temple. It was a large area, of course, so we walked around for 3 hours or so. It was very beautiful. There were some Chinese doing traditional dances when we first walked in. It was rather strange as the men were in normal clothes while the women were in the traditional garb. There were also people playing some instruments on the way. We walked the opposite way through the Temple. The blue and green tiles on the buildings were stunning. The blue was especially beautiful. Walking around was quite enjoyable because the area was basically a huge park. We saw the Echo wall and the marble plinth. It was very cool and unusual. While walking through one of the gates, there were some hawkers yelling out their respective wares. They sounded like seagulls. There were also many round holes for doors. We were joking about hobbits living there. When we saw that all of the emperors in the paintings looked rather pudgy, we realized that the doors were made that way to accommodate the actual shape of the emperors! After seeing the main section, we started walking around the grounds which were immaculately groomed. We came to a restroom facility. It seems they use a star system as a rating for the restrooms. This was a three star restroom, and it had American style toilets instead of the Chinese squatters. For only three stars (I have no idea how many more stars a toilet can be), it was very nice.
We took the subway and arrived at the temple at 1040 and grabbed some bread at the bakery that is close by. I still have some baguette that was better today than the one I had previously. We went through the Temple. It was a large area, of course, so we walked around for 3 hours or so. It was very beautiful. There were some Chinese doing traditional dances when we first walked in. It was rather strange as the men were in normal clothes while the women were in the traditional garb. There were also people playing some instruments on the way. We walked the opposite way through the Temple. The blue and green tiles on the buildings were stunning. The blue was especially beautiful. Walking around was quite enjoyable because the area was basically a huge park. We saw the Echo wall and the marble plinth. It was very cool and unusual. While walking through one of the gates, there were some hawkers yelling out their respective wares. They sounded like seagulls. There were also many round holes for doors. We were joking about hobbits living there. When we saw that all of the emperors in the paintings looked rather pudgy, we realized that the doors were made that way to accommodate the actual shape of the emperors! After seeing the main section, we started walking around the grounds which were immaculately groomed. We came to a restroom facility. It seems they use a star system as a rating for the restrooms. This was a three star restroom, and it had American style toilets instead of the Chinese squatters. For only three stars (I have no idea how many more stars a toilet can be), it was very nice.
We walked from there to the other side of the parks to the fasting palace. There was absolutely nobody at that area - a definite bonus in my book. I was able to take some good photos, photos without anyone in them for the first time - though they are on Ben's phone as my phone blitzed out for a few minutes before restarting. It is all good though. After the fasting palace we headed out and went to the pearl market to look at the products. The people are very aggressive about selling. I had one lady grab my arm to try to sell me a bag. I just kept on walking. As we went up the successive floors, the places got nicer. I need to do some serious research on buying pearls so I can spot a fake before I try to buy anything there.
After that diversion, we went to the bakery again and had lunch, a late one. I had a mango drink which was pretty good. I was also able to purchase a non-sweet bread - it was a bacon bread and totally satisfying. We then headed back to the dorms by route of the subway.
After getting back to the dorms we split. I went to my room and did abs and some working out. I really hope that I am not losing all my strength and getting flabby. I haven't been doing my usual regimen of pull-ups and need to go down to the basketball court and do a few sets. I will go swim on Monday as I do not know when the Renmin Pool is open tomorrow.
I started listening to The Unbelievable Truth and am enjoying it. I went to dinner at the Sesh Wan place and had the soybeans, peanuts and a tofu soup. After that, I came back to the dorm, and Ben knocked on my door and wondered it I wanted to go sit and wait for Young to get done in the lab. I sat with him and we talked about some stuff. I should have brought my ukulele down to the BBQ place as that would have been absolutely perfect. We had been sitting at the BBQ place for more than an hour before Young finally showed up. We were about ready to head back in by that time. And it was starting to rain, so we made a mad dash back to the dorms. I grabbed another bottle of orange juice on the way in as well.
One thing that I forgot to mention about the area that The Temple was in was that it contained a large number of foreigners. Seeing the diversity was rather nice. I helped a Canadian guy find the pearl markets.
After typing all of this, my electricity went out! I had again run out of power; rather strange as I had already bought 100 kilowatt hours in the last week and 1/2. There is no way that I am using that much electricity. I am very confused about it. I also hate the fact the the people downstairs ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BUILDING WHO DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH. That is greatly annoying. I don't understand why in a building that houses foreigners who mainly speak English that its employees cannot communicate with the "customers". In order to be housed in this building, one has to speak English but they don't...frustrating to the nth degree.
After typing all of this, my electricity went out! I had again run out of power; rather strange as I had already bought 100 kilowatt hours in the last week and 1/2. There is no way that I am using that much electricity. I am very confused about it. I also hate the fact the the people downstairs ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BUILDING WHO DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH. That is greatly annoying. I don't understand why in a building that houses foreigners who mainly speak English that its employees cannot communicate with the "customers". In order to be housed in this building, one has to speak English but they don't...frustrating to the nth degree.
Going in -Temple is down the way 
The inner wall
Inside the inner wall
The dancing
The music
The eight rocks to signify unity
Wonderful to see some trees
Walk way
Going toward temple
Closer
Just before the Temple
It's me again
Looking up at it
The painting and tile work was exquisite.
Southern side of the tower looking down on the out building; this was a storage building
Closer look at the paintings
Inside the storage building. It held religious pieces.
Looking back to the north towards the Temple from the out building
to the north from the temple, the gateway
looking to the southern regions, that is, the front of the temple
The cuaseway type thing - we were walking away from it to the north
Tiles
The echo wall, just through the gate at the end of the causeway
Inside of the wall seen in the previously shown photo
I made Ben pose for a photo, looking south
Head out of the gates of the echo palace to the north, and there is a marble plinth-like thing that is rather large
this is on the top of the plinth, this is looking down the staircase facing what would be on the left of the previous photo
that is the entrance we came in, the echo palace thing is the first building and the temple is way in the distance
walking around the grounds; this is on the west side, the divine kitchen buildings
the hobbit holes
going south , offset from the main ways, this was the way to get to the fasting temple
real toilets
the is facing northwest. behind me is the fasting palace. This was a place where they used to raise cattle for sacrifices; it was a palace of its own.
Into the fasting palace. There was a rather large bell in one of the buildings outside the inner wall
where the emperor stayed while he fasted 
the "camo" tree
heading out 
Guess I needed some sunscreen - sunburn!
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