The Yonghe Temple is a glittering attraction in Beijing Buddhist firmament. It's the place where riveting roofs, fabulous frescoes, magnificent decorative arches, tapestries, eye-popping carpentry, Tibetan prayer wheels, tantric statues and a superb pair of Chinese lions mingle with dense clouds of incense. However, the pinnacle of the complex is inside the fifth hall: a magnificent 18m-high statue of the Maitreya Buddha, a messianic Buddhist figure, in his Tibetan form, clothed in yellow satin and reputedly sculpted from a single block of sandalwood.
The Clock Exhibition Hall is one of the unmissable highlights of the Forbidden City. Located in the Hall for Ancestral Worship (Fèngxiàn Diàn), the exhibition hall houses about 200 clocks and watches of different kinds, both domestic and foreign from the 18th century. Time pieces in China have a long history. Before the Qing Dynasty, sundials and clepsydras were the main timepieces. At the end of the Ming Dynasty or the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, mechanical clocks began to be introduced into China. In the eighteenth century, mechanical clocks were widely used in the imperial palaces. While reckoning time, these clocks brought motion to their decorative people, birds, and flowers. Those clocks and watches were not only useful timekeepers, but also pleasing entertainment and exquisite craftsmanship
The past few years have seen Malacca evolve from a sleepy Malaysian coastal town into a bustling, world-class UNESCO World Heritage site. Someone who strolls by the Malacca River will find its banks lined with 17th century shophouses painted with trendy colourful murals — an example of the city’s perfect blend of the old and new. Along with its evolution comes a thriving café and bar scene. While Malacca has always been known for its delicious cuisine, where the visitor will find a mix of Peranakan, Kristang and Malaysian food, the scene has really taken off over the past few years — with themed cafés, hip bars and stylish restaurants sprouting up all over the seaside city.
