Wutai Si

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated the blog....and even longer since I've actually put up a remotely interesting blog entry, come to think of it. However, for the moment I've gotten my coursework under control long enough for me to take some time out here in the TBC library to relate to you all about the little trip I took last Friday afternoon - a little known place known as Wutai Si (also known as Five Pagoda Temple).

So as usual, I got as close to my intended destination as I could via the subway, as usual. Then, I hoofed it the rest of the way, and passed by the convention center in the process (a sight I've already seen before.) There's really not much to it, to be honest, save the over-the-top Stalinist, Soviet architecture that makes it look like a background out of a James Bond movie.

Anyhow, after about twenty minutes or so of trekking along, I traversed down a small street and finally found Five Pagoda Temple, tucked away within the Beijing Stone Carving Museum where it literally stands at the center of attention amongst everything else. 

Besides the temple itself, this being the stone carving museum and all, there was a variety of steles and statues scattered all about the premises. 

However, while I was expecting to see various statues and the tiny temple itself, here's something I wasn't expecting to stumble upon at all - 

What became of the actually bodies of these Jesuits, I honestly have no idea, but here there grave markers all were, grouped together and each one decorated with a fascinating east-meets-west motif, with everything from crucifixes intermingling with dragons to Latin and Chinese inscriptions engraved side by side.   

Of course I saw other sights at the little museum, but I'm pretty sure that the bulk of my time was taken up with the Jesuit tombstones, as they were all such a fantastically unexpected sight.

Finally, after about an hour there, I decided I had better get going back to UIBE, or at least back to the closest subway station before the sun set, thus making it much more difficult for me to find my way back. However, along the way, I did take about half an hour to explore a park whose true name I cannot confirm - whereas my map called it Purple Bamboo Park, the English sign out front proudly advertised "Black Bamboo Park", so....um, apparently, this plot of land is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis, I guess. 
There wasn't really to much to see there, besides the usually assortment of trees, bamboo, rock formations, and little lakes, though I did find some feathery little friends to occupy me for a good ten minutes. 




As we all know, it's not a successful day out for a Staysniak unless there's ducks involved.