Princess of All Things Orange: May 1, 2008

So, today we went to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling, 'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven. If you are interested in reading more about the Temple of Heaven, you may visit the site listed under "Other Sites I Like". Here are some pictures I took today of the Temple.

Another interesting and famous place is called Echo Wall. This wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you and your friend stand at the east and the west roots of the wall respectively and you whisper a word, then your friend will hear clearly what you say. Isn't it interesting? The phenomenon utilizes the theory of sound wave. Here is a picture of the Echo Wall.

At the Temple, we also visited the Art School within the park and bought some beautiful Chinese art.

After our visit to the Temple of Heaven, we took the van back to the hotel. Deanna and Cackie took a nap, Michael ran to the store, and I went to a shopping mall across the street. They had every big name designer you could think of...Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Dior...you name it. Although things there were WAY out of my price range, it was nice to get out & walk around. Here's some pictures of the street around our hotel...

Crossing the street was quite interesting...you have to pay close attention and walk fast to avoid getting hit by a car!

After everyone woke up from naps, we went for a walk around the block. There is a strip, somewhat like Beale Street in Memphis, where the actual road is closed off to cars. This strip is all shops and restaurants as opposed to bars. Cackie enjoyed all of the bright lights. As we came back to the hotel we visited a Tea Culture Shop next door to our hotel, where we bought different flavors of tea. Here is me & Cackie beside the tea kettle water fountain outside.