Global 2: you decide your own: Beijing

Temple of Heaven this morning. I knew we'd come to see this, and I'd been waiting for this one for awhile. Why? No reason really, I thought it just looked cool.

So we arrive, and then I realise - the Temple of Heaven isn't just one building, it's like, a huge park divided into three main sections. The most famous part of the Temple of Heaven, the big round building that looks like a squat pagoda is actually the final part of the Temple of Heaven, and not the Temple of Heaven itself.

Today was to be a day of ice-blocks. Started out with a nice, milk flavoured ice-block. It was pretty hot today as well, so they were devoured quickly before they melted. Sirui had this weird, weird ice-block. Orange flavoured on the outside, icecream in the middle. But it was shaped like, an Asian pudding. Yea, hard to describe. Hold on, found a photo.

Anyway, like outside the Scholar's Temple in Guangzhou, locals were kicking shuttlecocks around. And like inside the Summer Palace in Beijing, people were practising Chinese calligraphy with huge brushes and 'water'.

The first part of the Temple of Heaven was a huge platform like thing. Maybe a mini-pyramid, or a mound of some sort. Essentially a construction of ascending concentric circles descending in size. In the middle of the highest platform was a stone rest where the emperor would pray for a good weather for that year.

Yes, it was hot that day. So hot we had to squint. No, we're not retarded.

Oh, and before I forget, one of the best, if not the best, photo to come out of CSP. Rivaled only by the 14-people-in-a-4-bunk-train-cabin photo, and (in my opinion) the circle photo in Xian (where we were worried about people stealing the camera as soon as I put it on the ground), I present: the Kung Fu Kick.

Enough said.

The second part of the Temple of Heaven was what I thought to be the actual Temple of Heaven building I was looking forward to seeing. It looked a lot smaller than I thought it did.

Thankfully it wasn't actually the building I'd been hoping to see. This building apparently has peculiar property with sound. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but Wikipedia says it has an 'echo wall' which allows sounds to be transmitted over long distances.

The third and final part of the Temple of Heaven was this.

I tried.

This is where the emperor would pray for a good harvest for the year. This is what I'd come to see. I mean it's pretty cool, but honestly not much to say about it. The interior of both halls isn't overly interesting.

Oh, random story. Kristina has never had bubble tea (milk tea with pearls) before. Discovered this fact in Hong Kong, when we were having dinner at Causeway Bay. Unluckily on that day, a little shop in the food court where we were eating which had something like mango sago, didn't have bubble tea. So we vowed that Kristina would have her bubble tea before the trip was over. And now was our chance. Apart from selling a peach ice-block that every CSPer was enjoying that day (except me, dammit!), they also had bubble tea, although at an extortionate (for Chinese standards at least) price - it was around the ball park of 20-30 yuan (4 - 5 AUD/USD). But the chance had to be taken. So Kristina got her bubble tea. Hooray!

Yes, the obligatory 'crazed fool in the background' was present. And of course, she liked it. Who doesn't like bubble tea?

More drinks were to be had at our next stop. After lunch, we visited the JDB corporate building. JDB is the company that makes Wang Lo Kat (王老吉), a herbal drink that is supposed to reduce the hot air in your body.

This was truly an example of how successful and fast growing Chinese companies can be. Really, it was quite a reception. How better to flatter someone than by asking them to make their mark?

Yea, I really couldn't think of anything else, and I didn't feel Asian enough to write my Chinese name. I have no doubts the board would be replaced as soon as we left the building, but it was still a nice touch. Their lecture hall looked more like a ballroom.

This is how all lectures should be. From left: gift of chopsticks bearing the JDB brand, complimentary Wang Lo Kat drink with tea cup to drink out of if you so desire, a scribbling pad for keeping boredom awy, a company information booklet, and the coolest thing of all, a BOSCH interpreting device.

Close-up.

How it works is: you turn it on, and select either the English or Chinese channel. Place the earpiece over your ear, and listen to an interpreter interpreting as the speaker speaks. That is luxury. Felt like a UN delegate or something. Unforunately, interpreting on the fly is, I presume, rather difficult, and as such, the translation doesn't flow as normal speech, as the interpreter has to process and then speak. So instead of listening we all resorted to mucking around. Amanda was trying to teach me how to spin a pen around my thumb. I wasn't very good. Monica was drawing...genitalia, and Sirui was trying to turn it into something G-rated. Others kept tapping the complimentary supply of Wang Lo Kat while most of the girls were making use of the gorgeous toilets they had there. For the traveller, seated toilets are a luxury in China.

We then took a tour of a JDB factory and watched how it was packed. All I remember was climbing up a long flight of stairs.

The last event of the day, but undoubtedly the most important, was a surprise party for the 'cutest' person in the group, Derek.

People getting ready for the surprise.