Things have been pretty mellow for us the past few days. The weather has not cooperated very well. Just when mother nature seemed to be bringing warm spring weather, we learned it was just a tease. The temperatures have been hovering around 11-12C (about 52-54F), however not too many days back we saw temps reach 18-19C (64-66F). We decided not to let the weather ruin this week's free Tuesday (our work day ends at 10:30am every Tuesday) and go to the Beijing Capitol Museum. Supposedly, this destination houses some 200,000 exhibit pieces and is the government's new crown jewel for paying tribute to bygone Chinese eras.We took the subway to get there (nothing new). It was about a 45 minute ride. It was at the Muxidi station that we got off. This site just like our last trip, was within half a block from the subway station. We loved it! As we approached the museum, it seemed that a barricade was blocking off the entire perimeter of the site. Of course no signs or information was visibly present, so we kept walking until we reached two women stationed near the vehicle entrance to the museum. They knew no English so with our limited Chinese we were able to learn that we could not enter without reservations.
Finding this out did not make much sense, and because we don't yet fully trust our Chinese skills, we walked until we found an English speaking employee. Sure enough, they told us that the museum was open to the public by reservations only and admission was free on top of that. It really made no sense to us why they would turn us away, but we later found out that several ministry departments in the government were wanting to promote the museum so they had just begun a few days prior offering free admission. To keep the museum free from chaos, we assumed that the museum administration added "structure" to keep things organized.It was a bummer to find this out since we traveled so far. We saw a shopping complex kitty corner from the Capital Museum so we decided to go get something to eat instead. While we ate we decided to pull out our guide book to check and see if any other tourist attractions might have been nearby. As it turned out Baiyun Guan, White Clouds Temple, appeared to be within two city blocks from our location. We decided to take off and see if we could find it. By this time it was close to 2:00pm and most historical sites close at 4:00pm so we left in a hurry.
As we passed buildings and businesses, we continued to check our guide map to make sure we were on course. It appeared that we were on the right track until we came to a street that was not the same as our guide map. We decided to go with our gut and follow the unfamiliar street anyways. Then as we were about to pass a hutong (alleyway), Pazi noticed a triple gated archway to an unknown site. At the same time that she saw it, Adán happened to be crossing a road. Not paying attention to the cars, more focused on the hutong, Adán nearly got hit. Luckily, Pazi yelled from him to get out of the way and he snapped back into reality.Walking down this common looking alley, we reached what indeed was the White Clouds Temple! What a coincidence that we would find this place when it was in such an obscure location, but we did. As we entered the main gate we had roughly an hour and a half to view the temple. It ended up being just the right amount of time needed to see everything. This particular location is home to the Chinese Taoist Association dating back to AD 739. It is Beijing's largest Taoist shrine.
We visited several halls to honor various Taoist saints. Several statues, carvings, and paintings filled the entire temple. There was also shrine halls dedicated to both male and female deities. We even were able to witness part of a worship service in one of the worship halls. Inside, Taoist priests were performing a traditional ceremony complete with instrumental music and chants.We enjoyed this visit because unlike several of our other tours in Beijing we had no frustrating crowds to worry about. It was very tranquil and calm as we leisurely strolled the temple grounds from one end to the other. As we left we commented once again on how lucky we were to find the temple when it was hidden so well.
