Beijing - Lama Temple / YongHe Temple (雍和宫)

After a memorable and physically-drained visit to The Great Wall of China, we planned for something more relaxing on the next day. Today we are going to Lama Temple, or being known as YongHe Temple (雍和宫).

YongHe Temple, symbolized a palace of peace and harmony. This is a Tibetan Buddhism temple which is well-known with its Han Chinese and Tibetan styles artwork.

Upon reaching the main entrance, few signboards can be seen mentioning some rules to be followed in the temple, to show your respect :)

By the way, incense sticks would be provided for free in the temple, visitors are not allowed to bring in their own incense sticks. There are a lot of stalls or shops selling stuff for praying around the main entrance, just ignore them LOL.

This is quite funny, a signboard built to advise visitor not to being cheated by fortune teller LOL.

At the main entrance.

Incense sticks provided by the temple.

YongHe Temple gained a Guinness Book of Records in year 1993 where the statue of Maitreya Buddha was craved out of a single white sandalwood tree. The statue is 18m tall with an additional of 8m underground, making it 26m in total.

We didn't take any photo inside the temple, including photo of the statue, to show our respect and to follow the temple's rules. You may Google "Maitreya Buddha statue in YongHe Temple" to have a look at this Buddha statue that gained the world record.

How to go to YongHe Temple (Lama Temple):

By MRT Line 2 and Line 5, both lines stop at YongHeGong Station.

Admission fee:

CNY 25 

Opening hours:

9:00 to 16:30 (1st April to 31st October)

9:00 to 16:00 (1st November to 31st March)