Beijing 2024 - BeiHai Park (北海公园) - Jingqing Studio Part 2

Still on the topic of the Jingqing studio, here are more photos of it. This bridge seems to be the center piece of the first garden we walked into. From this photo, it looked pretty nice.

But from a different angle, it looked kinda cramped. Lol.

Next was a super small corridor walk way which you could climb up to. Nobody seems too interested in this, hence it was so empty! Lol. Guess people hate steps. 

Above is another part of the garden with more rock landscaping and small pavilion. This is where seats were available and many people were just seated there enjoying the view, or too tired to walk further. 

Looking across the seated pavilion you could see many tourist around.....

I did like the emerald pool area at the other side of the pavilion. It was just a simple rock and pond and less scenic. But the water was super clear, and the pond had algae and fish and reflection on it. It was super cool and relaxing to look here instead of where all the crowded people were with the manmade landscape garden. Here, it looked much more simple, and natural. I took a few videos of the water here. Not sure if I will post them to my Youtube channel. If I do, I will link them back to this blog. 

Beijing 2024 - BeiHai Park (北海公园) - Jingqing Studio Part 1

With our combo tickets, apparently we get entry to this Jingqing Studio. I seriously did not know what to expect to see inside. On the door the sign seems to indicate  Quiet Heart? 

Here is an official info of the studio. It's basically another pavilion, but with more elaborated landscaped garden inside as you will see....

Walking in from the entrance, you first see the pond with something white in the middle. You have to walk either to the left or right of the narrow walkway to go around and deeper into the pavilion. 

I guess these pavilion weren't built for mass tourist visiting, cause the walkway was pretty narrow without much protection from you falling into the pond. It was like visiting someone's private garden, but now it's open to the whole of the world, and everyone just decided to come in. 

The place is famous for the landscaped garden with rocks looking like mountains, ponds with fishes, and bridges. People in ancient China seems to have a lot of time to admire gardens. 

A different view of the garden. I don't know, it looked kinda cramp to me. Like someone trying to put everything into a small space. I didn't feel as relaxed here at all. It just looked very cluttered. 

The fact that it was filled with tourist everywhere trying to get their photos taken meant that people were blocking you way all the time! And when we reached one of the pavilion with seats, all the older visitors were seated there. Hardly a serene ambiance. 

But since it's included in our ticket, we went in and took a look around anyway and took some photos!

Beijing 2024 - BeiHai Park (北海公园) - Water View

BeiHai Park was a ridiculously huge area to walk. Heck the whole of Beijing was huge. We walked an average of more than 30k steps a day. I don't know how I manage it sometimes. Luckily I have very comfortable boots with me. 

When not exploring pavilions or temple, we just walked around the pond area, and almost every angle we went was beautiful. You will see many repeat of this white pagoda as I find it so fascinating. 

The pond over looking a different part of Beijing at the other end was also interesting. The buildings at the other part seems so modern! Felt like almost a world away. 

My favourite might be these small canals around the pond where the boats and trees all come together.

It just felt so relaxing to be sitting inside that boat and going down the waterway. 

A different view with the yellow boats parked at the side. Love the leaves as part of the top frame.

Besides the yellow boats, there are also boats shaped like a lotus flower. Cheesy I know.....

Any wild life at the park you ask? Well, here are some birds hanging around. 

Another view of the pagoda with again, some leaves as part of the picture. 

A corner view of the pavilion where we had our snacks.

An interesting corner of the park where people can stand and read the daily newspaper, for free! So apparently everyday, they will put up the day's newspaper at these board. And you could just come to the park and read it, for free! I thought that was such a cool concept! 

If you're wondering with all the water in the park, were there any fishes inside the water? Well wonder no more! Here is a picture of the clear water with fishes inside (if you can spot it). 

Beijing 2024 - BeiHai Park (北海公园) - More Random Courtyards

 

Seriously though, the numbers of courtyards and pavilions here in China seems endless. I don't really know the significants of most of those that I have visited. I only know that they are all so beautiful and well kept. 

We came across some halls that were closed to the public. You could only admire them from the outside. 

There are windows to look in, and you have to peep in to see what is inside, cause there were some items inside. You just weren't allowed in as the doors are all closed.

Some walls and roof details. It felt so Chinese here :)

Here's a photo of me peeping into one of the windows. It's pretty dark inside, but if you put your camera lens right up to the window glass panel and zoom in, you can take a photo and see what is hidden inside. 

The traditional moongate in the garden area. To the Chinese, a perfect circle represents harmony.

Beijing 2024 - BeiHai Park (北海公园) - Exhibition of Rooms and Stage

 

Walking around BeiHai Park, we came to this Pavilion over looking the pond and sat there for a while eating our usual snacks and drinks while admiring the view of people and boats. It was crowded, but manageable. It felt like a leisure day in the park for us instead of two tourist trying to see as much of the sites in Beijing as possible. I guess that's the benefit of planning your own trip, you get to do the things you love at your leisure time.

After finishing up our snacks (probably pancakes again), we walked around the park and just visited whatever came our way. Not much research has been done on the park. I have no idea how big it was, but the sights kept on coming! First stop, we encounter a hall just showcasing study rooms. 

Each study room looked more like a stage than anything. I have no idea what they were used for. Maybe to sit and admire the pond outside? Maybe to read? To write poetry? Who knows! If only I had the interest to read up..... lol.

I thought this seat was super cool. The writing behind it made it looked like some divine throne protected by scrolls of letters. Kinda like those charms from the temple written in yellow paper's concept. Maybe protective spells? Yeah, I kinda let my imagination just run wild here. I'm pretty sure the actual practical reason was more mundane. 

Imagine having your own private seat like this. Reading and drinking tea here. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it looked like a stage where you have to face an audience. If it was a private setting, it would probably be pretty cool! Maybe it was. 

The above seat was right outside between two doors. Perhaps this was the type of seat to admire the outdoors in. The park probably looked different in different season, so it was neat to be able to sit here out of the cold or heat admiring the view.

A proper desk, perhaps for writing or painting?

I have no idea what does words meant. It is super exhausting for me to read any Chinese letters as it is. But I do like the concept of a seat with two scrolls of writing by each side. It felt protected somehow....

The out side of the exhibition room itself also looked impressive. The usual colour of red and green with gold and black. I am still impressed by how well China maintains their attraction and park so well. Everything looked pretty new to me. 

Another different view of the windows and door details. 

Courtyard. The middle building inside might be a stage....

As usual, each building or door has it's own sign.

A quieter area. I am thrilled that I am still able to find areas where there aren't any people around in Beijing. Goes to show that your prejudiced view of a place isn't always true. Visit it to confirm! And you might find a whole different world than what you expected.