Bike Accident and Bei Hei Park

It was bound to happen--a minor bicycle accident on one of our cycling excursions. This time, Laraine and I were on the way to a beautiful, historic park in the center of Beijing called Bei Hei Park (literally means North Ocean or in this case--large body of water).

So what happened? We were traveling north and were still about 10 minutes away from the park. I came to an abrupt stop because the road ahead was blocked by a van being unloaded. It was then I heard a crash and felt a shove forward. I had been back-ended! In all the chaos of bike riding in Beijing, I got rear-ended by the only American in sight. It was a woman with a very familiar-sounding name--Laraine. Yes, THAT Laraine! My own wife rear-ended me. She got her handle bars stuck in the basket on the rear of my bike. No harm done, but it was pretty hilarious that of all the thousands of close encounters and near misses happening literally every few seconds, the only person to actually hit me was my wife.

So we met up with Sharae and Todd Forsyth, who are teaching at Beijing University. They traveled by subway to meet us at the park. We were absolutely blown away by what we saw there. Enjoy the pictures below:

We found a very serene area of the park--With a legend about two philosophers who were once in this section of the park.One of them looked in the water and saw the fish. He said, "That fish is certainly very happy." The other philosopher replied, "How do you know he's happy?" The first replied, "You are not me. How can you know I don't know how fish feel?" Apparently, this was a famous happening at this part of the park. 

Crossing the bridge to Jade Island.

On Jade Island, a beautiful shrubbery display and entryway to the Buddhist Stupa in the style of Nepal's religious buildings. 

Same spot with both of us. 

We love the integration of art and architecture

At the Nepalese Buddhist "Stupa" reminiscent of Quetzlcoatl (winged serpent deity) in South America.

Not the typical Buddhist structures you see in China. That's because this was built after the Buddhist traditions in Nepal.

Various temples highlighted our descent from the main temple on the top of the hill. 

Most imperial buildings have a bell tower and a drum tower, to tell the time by night and by day. We are sitting in one of those. 

Various grottoes on the descent from the top temple.

Having fun up and down stairs.

Brilliant yellow flowers on bridge over to "round house"

A look back at the Stupa.

Sharae Forsyth posing

Winding down our Bei Hei experience

Surprising find -- the "Studio" (office area and palace just for those who worked anciently in the office) of the main palace

Another section of the "studio" or office area of the palace. All of this area was part of the studio.