Lama Temple

The Lama Temple is one of Beijing's most popular places of worship and is ornately decorated. Emperor Yongzheng once lived here; now it is home to mostly Mongolian monks who follow the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The final hall contains a 18 mtr high statue of the Maitreya Buddha and is sculpted from a single block of sandalwood. (I was not allowed to photograph this).

It is still extremely smoggy here and it's noticeably harder to breathe - I couldn't live in this city for this reason, but it's a fasinating place to visit if only the pollution could be addressed.

Thank you all so much for still commenting, I really appreciate it.