Badachu

After my adventure at Fang Shan, I had an intense week of work and evening get-togethers.  This last weekend was also filled to the brim with packing and activities.  I had met a girl named Audrey through Lara when she lived with me back in October, and we have kept in touch, ocasionally meeting for dinner or a show.  I wanted to see her before I left, and I also wanted to see a park in western Beijing called 'Badachu' that Lara had recommended, so we combined the two this past Saturday.  Mind-blowingly, Badachu, while still in Beijing, took me 2 hours to reach from my apartment, even taking the metro for a large stretch of it - Beijing is so big!  I will not miss the huge distances or long travel times next year.

Once we arrived, we were greeted with a corridor of lanterns and a lovely park based on a hill/(they call it a mountain) with 8 different temples/monasteries on the way up.  Many of the temples were similar to other Buddhist temples I have seen, but more integrated into the surrounding hillside, so they were less huge and overwhelming.  

There also many people outside the temples holding up plastic water bottles and looking it it towards the sun.  This was quite a stunning picture when many people were doing it at once.  We asked what they were doing and someone pointed at the sun's reflection on the bottle, but that still doesn't make much sense to me - bizarre!

There was a cool dragon sculpture at one temple...which turned out to be styrofoam!  oh China!

Lighting incense outside a temple

Cool flower candles

From the top, there were views of the surrounding suburbs and far in the distance, the Beijing skyline.  This picture should give you an idea of the smog that has been a regular fixture for the past week or so in the city.

On the way down, we took the lift to save our tired legs, and gave us ample time to take in the view.  It was great to see Audrey again before leaving, and she is one of the people I will miss when I return.