Beihai Park and First Days in Beijing

It is 5am. I just got off the overnight train from Tunxi with George and Stewart.
The morning cold pierces my exposed face as we navigate through the train station. Our shadows are not present. The full moon shines as night has not turned into day. We find some quick breakfast and head for the subway. We are heading for our hostel north of the Forbidden Palace.

After some deliberation we decide to change trains and get off south of the Forbidden Palace. The map makes it seem as if we can walk just ten minutes to the hostel from the subway stop. After about thirty minutes of walking, we are two thirds of the way to the hostel. Our 45 pound backpacks and our day trip bags weigh heavy on our shoulders. The Forbidden Palace compound is massive. It is much larger than the map led us to believe. Twenty foot high walls and Chinese army guards every 200 yards leaves us with a strong impression that this is what we always assumed. A place of the utmost national significance for the Chinese people. We make a left onto a dirt road about the width of one automobile. The dirt ground crumbles with each step we make on the small road. The right has a playground used by adults to stay fit. We navigate the maze of small roads that carry hundreds of years of history.

Our hostel is in a courtyard that is over one hundred years old. Everything in Beijing carries with it the history of the Chinese people. Chinese culture is the oldest continuous human culture in the history of the human species. No other culture in existence today can claim such a rich deep history. On numerous streets one can find plaques stating the historical significance of the building or street. After moving to another hostel the following day, we walk past one such building dating back to the 15th century.

Stewart and I walk into what we think is just Beijing's equivalent of New York's Central Park. The weather is a warm 17 degrees Celsius, perfect for doing something outside. After buying our tickets we walk over to a plaque with the name of the park, Beihai. The park is over 1000 years old. It is one of the oldest maintained parks in the world. There is an island in the middle of the lake with a white temple complex (White Dagoba Temple) created in light of a suggestion from a Tibetan monk in 1279. The history goes that after Kublai Khan invaded China and established the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan wanted to secure the loyalty of the Tibetans in the southwest. He commissioned a famous Nepalese architect to create the Lamaist Buddhist Temple.

Everything in China reeks of history and culture. After walking around the outside portion of the lake, we decide to take a boat to the island temple complex. The park has expanded considerably in its over 1000 year history. We walk up the old stone steps and reach the lower platform. I notice a wood sign for 'Ancient Caves on Jade Islet.' After paying the 5RMB I walk down the extensive steps to enter the cave. Immediately I am greeted by colored stone Terracotta-esque statues that flank the path. The cave complex is extensive. Built in 1166, these caves apparently run all over the island.

We spend hours in the park. I walk home thinking about the rich history found even in a simple park in the middle of the city.