Beijing is a distinctively grand city. Its broad boulevards and stately, imposing buildings give the city an impressive, regal atmosphere that I haven't seen anywhere else. This contrasts with the quaint, decidedly human-scale alleys or hutongs that surround the Forbidden City. I spent my first full day here exploring some of the city's temples, a hutong or two and trying desperately to decipher the plot of a Beijing opera.

My first stop for the day was the Lama Temple, which is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of Tibet. It's a large and colorful place, filled with fantastic, detailed statues of Buddhas, boddhisatvas and various other figures of Buddhist mythology. (Unfortunately, they were all housed in buildings were photography was not permitted.) It also included an exhibit on the lineage of the Dalai Lama, which displayed a photo of representatives from Tibet reaching an "agreement" with officials in Beijing on the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet. Apparently, Western history books must be distorting the facts....

Down a hutong across from the Lama Temple is an old Confucian temple which once housed the Imperial College, where aspiring magistrates took their exmaminations on the Classics. Compared to the Lama Temple, which teems wit Chinese tourists, this temple is peacefully deserted with an ancient, scholarly air.

From there I took the subway south. After picking up a lunch of delicious steamed dumplings and roasted chestnuts from street vendors, I headed into the Temple of Heaven park. The park is a vast complex of buildings used by Ming and Qing emperors to hold ceremonies and conduct religious rituals.

After strolling through the park, I walked up to the Chang'an Grand Theatre to catch a performance of Beijing Opera. The costumes were as spectacular as I expected, the singers and music were good and the acrobatics and dancing of the "chorus" impressive. From what I could make out of the two-hour-long performance, the Red-Faced Warrior went to war with the Old Man because of something having to do with Nasal-Sounding Young Woman. During the battle, the Old Woman (who might have been someone's mother, or possibly the Old Man's wife) was accidentally shot. Everyone was deeply upset, but Red-Faced Warrior seemed humbly apologetic, so in the end, everything was okay (except for the Old Woman, who was still dead).

After all the walking I've done in the past couple days, I think I'll take it easy today. From here I'm going to see the Forbidden City. My hostel is booking me a train ticket to Pingyao for Wednesday night. Between now and then, I'm going to see the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and who knows what else.