A Final Day in Beijing

The final day of the tournament saw an early morning contest between the North and South Koreans. We got up early and went over to the rink to pack the equipment bus for the trek home. The girls were bussed to the shopping center for a day of shopping. Tim and I went back to the hotel after the game, checked out and headed to the train station. We found a locker for our stuff in the International Soft Berth Waiting Lounge and for a mere $3 we stored our travel bags for the 9 hours until the train left.

Next we decided on a walk to the Temple of Heaven, just a few kilometers south of the train station. It was a great sunny day of about 65 degrees. We walked by the ancient remains of the city wall that dates to the Ming Dynasty and past many construction sites. We stopped for some pizza on the way and finally found our way to the east gate of the temple. For 10 Yuan, we were in! The temple’s main area is the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.” It is a huge area bigger than the Forbidden City as the Chinese thought a temple of heaven should be larger than where they resided. We saw the long corridor (which leads to the Good Harvest Hall), we saw a “nine-dragon” cypress tree over 500 years old. There were many people in the corridor just hanging out and playing cards or music or dancing and singing. There was a group of mostly women chanting and doing what appeared to be a physical exercise and spiritual ritual.


You can see all my pictures from the Day in Beijing on my photo website.

It was a great day and a great walk. We headed back out the North gate and back to the train station. At the station, we found a room with reclined chairs and paid 5 Yuan for a one-hour nap in the room. We gathered our stuff from the locker, grabbed some food in the food court and headed for the mass of humanity boarding our train.

At 9:05 p.m. our train pulled out of the station and in just a mere 12 hours we were back in Harbin.

For those looking for more visual stimulation, I have also put up some photos of the Asian Women’s Hockey Tournament on my photo site.

So, greetings again from Harbin!