religious and cultural

My laptop is driving me insane. It switches the backlight off every few seconds. I'm praying very hard it doesn't die on me in this foreign land. Anyway, here are some updates for the past weekend.

First up, always pictured snow as white and everything right? Well, how about this for a change? Its a snow covered road alright, just that its black; sesame flavor? Its the pollution that has actually turned the white into black. Believe it. It happened overnight.
Ok, enought of nonsense. So we headed out during the weekend. 2 locations that were within walking distances of each other. Lama Temple and Imperial College.

Lama Temple aka Yonghe Gong （雍和宫）


Its HUGE. We were walking along the streets outside the temple where there were plenty of stalls selling joss sticks in huge packets and we were wondering why people actually needed so much. We then realised after we stepped in. The people there stop to pray at every small temple within the Lama Temple. A conservative estimate would be 15 small temples and mulitply that by 3 joss sticks per temple and you get a huge serving of joss sticks. Oh, if you want to get the joss sticks, please buy before you head in. The prices inside are totally exorbiant. For the same pack of joss stick, its going for $2 outside while its 10x that inside; $20.

It will be the only time you can see order in China. Haha. People actually queue up in a line to give their offerings. The place is so huge, you need at least an hour to just touch and go at the different mini temples. There's also a museum inside at the last wing which showcases the development and history which is actually quite interesting.

There was suppose to be an exorcisim ritual rehearsal at around 2pm when we finished touring around the whole place (we thought we were quite lucky since it coincided with our end of tour) but we were kept waiting for quite some time before we decided to give it a miss. Apparently, it involved drums and some dance by the monks. I wonder how it went.

Cofuscius Temple （孔庙） and Imperial College (国子监）


So these 2 places actually belong to the same thing. They are linked and are can be entered using the same ticket (half-price, 10RMB after Junwei showed his matric card). This place is all about Confuscius, his life, teachings and the extent of his influence. They even had his tomb inside(or at least it was his tablet) when you walk straight in all the way. Spooky. Apparently, they even have ceremonies conducted in his name. How about a temple? The red tags sold at the temple which can make you a scholar cost 100RMB. WOW! Now, that's the price of becoming a scholar. I want to be one too. Haha. I'm sure they are laughing all the way to the bank as you stand outside admiring the tens of rows and columns of tags that they have sold. Haha.

The 2nd part of this was visiting the imperial college. The museums inside document the life of a scholar and the 4 paths that they can choose to take up. It shows you the living conditions and various examinations that they had to overcome back in those days. Martial arts, poetry, blah blah blah.. Makes me feel ashamed of myself just trying to fulfil my duty as a student, just me and my beloved notes. Maybe anyone who has trouble mtivating themselves to study should take on this trip and who knows, it might inspire them? Haha.

Ok, i actually have alot more to blog but my screen is pissing me off right now. I can't finish typing more than 3 words before the backlight goes off and i can't see a thing. I hope it doesn't die on me seriously. Its only week 4 and i still have my reports to type for the remainder of the trip. I hope it will be fine tomorrow. Hopefully...