There is a huge park and you can find the locals exercising, dancing and hanging out. They seem to be so happy and it gives u a lot of positive energy. We were lucky we went in early so it wasn’t too crowded. There was this very friendly lady who was using a bright colored ribbon to do an exercise and seeing my keen interest she lend her ribbon to me to try it out.
We then walked from the park towards the Temple. The view is breathtaking. It is calm and so beautiful. We then visited the Echo wall and Mount of Clouds, and walked back to the park.
It will take about 3 hours to leisurely walk around the whole place.
After lunch we went into the Hongqiao market. It is opposite the Temple of Heaven and is hard to miss. It has five floors and you get electronics, watches, bags, shoes , fabrics ,souvenirs and not to forget lots of pearls and semi precious stones. It may be hard to tell the difference between real and fake but it may not matter much as the price quoted isn’t to much, but again you definitely have to haggle.
On the 5th floor (I think!) there is a huge shop where there are beads..all colors and shapes and the lady doesn’t let you bargain too much. But it’s hard not to pick up anything from there. A nice shop and I’m definitely picking up more stuff when I go there the next time.
You can go up to the top floor and walk into the terrace to get a view of the Temple of Heaven from there as well.
Overall, it was a pleasant day, clicked a lot of pictures and came back with a few shopping bags :-)
Temple of Heaven is indeed worth going.. The atmosphere in the park is very lively. Hongqiao market is good for souveniors better than silk market. But don't buy any electronic stuff from there. The Sony pen drives sold there offer lot of storage capacity & are very tempting to buy but in reality they are fake & can;t store any folders on it. We got conned so beware!
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