Our Walk to the Temple

Our walk to the temple takes about twelve minutes. Some days we do it several times. Monday, after I got there, I walked thirty minutes to the government building where I could pick up our ARC cards (Alien Residency Card). Our outside door opens onto Alley 10.

This is Alley 10 from one end to the other with our building on the left.

Stepping outside and turning left, this is what you see.

Turning left on Lane 7, this is our view.

Most of these small streets are one-way. This is the first intersection.

Lane 7 has a canopy of trees.

At the next intersection, we turn right onto Qing Tian Street. This sign points to Lane 7. In the other direction, it is marked Lane 6.

Qing Tian is a two-way street for cars, motor scooters, bicycles and pedestrians, although it is not much wider.

The important thing to notice at this intersection is the round mirror on the blue light post. Most intersections have one, and they must be used a lot, the way they come buzzing through.

This is Lane 5 to the right, Lane 2 to the left.

This is a nice, wide sidewalk on Qing Tian St, next to the Junior High School on the right (it only lasts one block).

On the left is a park. Underneath the park is a parking garage. You can see the entrance and exit.

And this is a nice, little path next to the park.

There is a man exercising on the contraption on the left.

Continuing, with the park on our left, we are on the only street on our way to the temple that has traffic lights and city buses. But in the next block there is no sidewalk and you have to walk in the street. So we don't go that way.

Instead, we turn right, cross the street with the light, and notice a street light post in the street. There are a lot of those.

Then left at the next corner. We like to walk the one-way streets, facing the traffic coming at us. Here we get shade from the tall buildings (when it's not raining).

A lot of motor scooters parked on this street (and everywhere else).

No extra space for maneuvering (front or back).

We're getting closer.

This is relatively wide. We've seen drivers maneuver their cars through narrow spaces with about one half inch to spare on each side.

This street would be wide enough for a car if there were nothing parked here. But that never happens, so only scooters and pedestrians pass.

Turning right at the French restaurant (very expensive), we are only a block away.

Across the intersection on the left, you can see a little bit of the Service Center and beyond that one spire of the temple (separate from the building and the top blends in with the cloudy sky).

Turning left, we are at the Service Center on our right. Actually, the Service Center only occupies the 4th floor with Public Affairs, Humanitarian Service, finance, translation, building design and maintenance (and such things). The 3rd floor is a complete meeting house with chapel, and the 1st floor is a complete meetinghouse, slightly larger, with chapel, gym, Relief Society room, primary, baptismal font and classrooms. Five wards meet in this building, and on the 2nd floor, three Stake Presidents have their offices, along with five bishops. In the basement is the Distribution Center.

There is always a uniformed guard on duty 24 hours a day.

This is the entrance to the lower levels.

There is a front door entrance to the temple, but we usually enter through the basement.

We refer to this as "B1" meaning basement 1. There is also a B2 and B3.

A lot of people come on scooters. It is affordable. I will have to take a picture of a family of four on one scooter.

The temple president and recorder and a few others have parking spaces on this level.

This door will lead us to the temple.

There is a small waiting room and another door.

Finally we have reached the door to the lower level of the temple. There is a buzzer and intercom where you can identify yourself and gain entrance. Each day we repeat this journey. Sometimes we alter our route for variety, but that gives you an idea of our area.