Beijing was a warm 4°C this morning as we headed out to the Llama temple. The Llama Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple where locals and tourists can explore and learn about the ideology. The temple is home to a 26 meter tall Buddha as well as other spiritual figures including the ancient entombed body of an abbot. We were assigned three challenges, firstly to discover where the abbot was entombed, secondly to find out what was behind the curtains and how the giant wooden Buddha was transported to the temple. It was interesting to investigate the temple and it’s fascinating history. As for the answers you will have to ask us when we get home!
We then travelled to the Hong Chao- an indoor market and for many, the most highly anticipated part of our trip. We spent 4 hours shopping, buying everything from Louis Vuitton to Rolex as well as some extremely real beats headphones and some definitely cotton Polo Ralph Lauren.
After dinner we said some emotional thank yous’ to the teachers, and the much loved tour guide Xiao Feng (AKA- Stony). We reflected on the amazing time we have had in China, learning about their language and culture as well as learning to work as a group. We only have half a day left- time has gone by so fast. We are looking forward to the 34 hours of travelling we have to get back home!
Izzy and Ryan
