Even though I would say Beijing is pretty flat, but the city is just next to mountains, small hills of Taihang Mountain chain touch the suburb of Beijing in the north and west direction, they are visible in the clear days, beyond the mountains in the north (where are famous for the Great Wall), there stretches the Inner Mongolia Plateau, in very hot summer days, just drive alone with the Jing-Zhang Express Way, 3 hours you can feel the cool breeze from grassland.
The Temple of the Reclining Buddha is located in the Western Hills at the southern foot of Jubao (also called Shou’an) Mountain, about 20 kilometers from Beijing downtown. It is inside the Beijing Botanical Garden, so if you want to visit this temple, you have to pay the garden ticket first.
Temple of Azure Clouds is inside the Fragrant Hill Park, it is close to the north gate, after paying the park ticket, another temple ticket (10 yuan) will be needed.
This temple was initially built during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and was reconstructed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The interior buildings almost retain the style of the Ming.
Today, 1st Nov., here comes the first snow of 2009, and the snow is a heavy one, it just come without much expectation. I didn’t see such a heavy snow for some time I think, the sky is so generous this year.
In balance to the Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth was built in 1530 in the Ming Dynasty, it was subsequently renovated in compliance with an imperial decree of Emperor Qianlong in 1749 in the period of Qing Dynasty, after the Cultural Revolution, in 1981 it was restored.
Almost of all Chinese know a famous phrase by Francis Bacon “Knowledge is power”. Though today the conception of knowledge changes in some ways, while the source of getting knowledge changes a lot, internet plays a very important role in that aspect. But the books printed in paper is still very convenient, book prices are much internationlized in China recently, so they are no longer cheap in China, most people including me like to buy books online, they give you 20% or 30% off.
Dear Guest,
I’m happy to introduce our new personal tour “To Be a Beijinger for a Day”. This 1 day tour focuses on the axis of Beijing. The tour will guide you through the various periods of Beijing’s history, from the 1400’s to present day.
Badachu Park is at the foot of the west hill of Beijing. Normally people come here for visiting the 8 temples scatter around the hill. In autumn days, it is also good for seeing the leaves of the trees that are coming to be coloured.
Temple of Heaven, or “Tiantan”, “the Altar of Heaven” in Chinese, was built in 1420, same time as the Forbidden City. It was opened to public in 1918, after 1945, during the civil war of China, the wall at the south part of the park was destroyed to setup a small airport.
Today I get my book from the amazon.cn, I ordered it some 3 days ago. The name of the book is “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu”, very beautiful name isn’t it? Its English translation is “In Search of Lost Time”, the author is Marcel Proust, I like the book very much, firstly because it is very thick, and secondly, I borrow this book last month from library, and I like to read it, and to be frank, it is very effetive for my sleeping 
, and I have another pretext, I know it is a little ambitious, for picking up my French.
The book is in Chinese, but I got the French version online from Gutenberg, no problem, you can download it if you want to pick up your French. And if you want the English version, it is also avaible from here. I hope it will be good for your sleeping as well.
