My Trip to Badachu Gong Yuan - buddhist temple I have...

Badachu Gong Yuan (Park); Beijing, China

I haven't paid my respects at any of the "popular" buddhist temples around town b.c they are filled with tourists and scary buddhas (Yonghegon). So finally I found one I like - Badchu!
I went with Qian to Badachu - farther west of the popular Fragrant Hills Park (XianShan Gong Yuan) - it's very peaceful and out in the mountains. We had to go to the Jishaitan Subway 2 Line stop, then take the 347 bus (very dilapidated) for 1 hour to reach this temple. Upon arrival - you have people clamoring to sell you incense, ask for money, read your "facial" fortune and etc. There are 8 levels to climb - we reached the 6th today. You're supposed to pray/pay/give your respects when you climb to each new level where there's also a new type of buddha - but we didn't do that at every level.
I thanked the universe for taking care of me, giving me many lessons. I thank you the universe for bringing so many wonderful people of all sorts into my life and to continue taking care of them, I thanked my grandparents and mother for raising me, asked for help - in that I need help in being patient with those who are stupid or I don't like too much. And most importantly, I asked Buddha to take care of my grandmother. So no, I didn't ask for anything all world encompassing like stopping hunger or increasing the love.
Upon our way back - the 347 broke down at least 4 times - but everytime it started back up after some nasty nasty fumes. In my blog (triciawang.blogspot.com) you can view other still pictures from Badachu. There's some funny English translations and juxtapositions of "games."