Duck? What duck?

Day 16 - Today we took a walk around Lotus lane which had a string of bars and restaurants (for tourists) alongside the lake. Got accosted by lots of rickshaw pullers for rides around the nearby hutongs. We continued to the Drum Tower (very steep climb up the tower) and watched a brief show of drum beating at the top. Nothing special really so we decide to give the Bell Tower situated opposite, a miss.
Bell Tower

Inside Drum Tower

Me with terracotta warrior outside Drum Tower

An hours' walk later, we reach the Yonghe Gong Lama temple. You can tell this one was a real money earner from their ultra sophisticated ticketing system (the 40 yuan ticket is a mini-cd which gets scanned at the entrance). The temple apparently used to be a palace converted to a temple by one of the Qing dynasty emperors. Some buildings are now living quarters for resident monks. This is by far the most expensive temple we've visited...religion does not come cheap these days.

Yonghe Gong Lama temple...


We watch people light joss sticks and pray. The cleaner throws a heap of old joss sticks into the bronze joss stick holder (I forget what these huge bronze vat things are called) causing a mini bonfire. We sit on some steps and watch people attempt to stand their joss sticks in the blaze (chuckle).

After that we walk from one temple to the other via various courtyards and walkways. The buildings are beautiful, very intricate and rich in reds, blues and golds. There are quite a few apparently valuable buddhist artifacts and thangkas housed here as well. The place seems to be quite significant to buddhists and we notice many Tibetan monks visiting. There is also a large statue of Matreya in the main temple (quite impressive). Everywhere there are suited 'men-in-black' watching the visitors' every move and there are cctv cameras in every temple building.


After the lamasery, we decide to give the subway a try - it's very good! Very easy to use (the AA guide however has coloured the various tube lines differently thus causing us a little confusion at first. It cost us 3 yuan per person per single. The trains are clean and there are holographic adverts in the tunnels as the train moves(very cool). Each stop is announced in mandarin and in english. We get off at YongAn'li to go to the Friendship Store. This is equivalent to the state department store - everything is fixed price and it's a fairly good way to get an idea of prices before one tackles the famous silk market (that's where everyone goes to get fake stuff, cashmere and gore-tex). After a Baskin Robbins (same price after conversion), we look for the Silk Market next but cannot find it. We decide to go to the nearby Roast King duck restaurant to try the famous Peking duck. Half a duck cost 98 yuan and comes with pancakes, spring onions, cucumber (you know the drill) and some mashed garlic. The menu stated three ways to eat the duck - the chef first cut a few measely slices of the duck (they do this in front of you) and you eat this the typical way i.e. rolled in a pancake. Then they wheel the duck away in the trolley and a few minutes later a plate of what I can only describe as bits of duck meat in a heap of rice crispies (like the ones in bhel puris) is served with two sesame buns. JD is asking me where the duck is. Finally a bowl of duck soup (with no duck) is served. We had also ordered a dish of pak choy (cooked with meaty mushrooms - v tasty), skewered pork and rice. We didn't realise the duck dishes were sufficient portion-wise and so had to 'ta pau' (doggy bag) these. For the price we paid, we could have had proper roast duck in Queensway, London. Roast King, you have been named and shamed. On our way out, a little street urchin approaches us for money. We give him our ta pau .. at least he got to eat the better dishes from Roast King. Tomorrow we walk the Great Wall...