Last Free Day - Bittersweet

Transitions mean restlessness, and the day before Conrad's departure was no exception. After a morning of doing our own thing - Conrad "roaming the city" and Anne working - we met in the afternoon to begin the process of shutting down the M06-3 mission...

We met in the bicycle parking lot at the South Gate of Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) Park. It was a gorgeous late Fall day: Sunny, warm, breezy...The flags & kites were flying, people were smiling and we enjoyed a quick look at the monument's recent facelift. Then a quiet hour sitting across from the main temple (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest) discussing the outcome of the mission, necessary follow-up and the future of A+B International - a difficult topic for both of us.

The Temple of Heaven is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace (2,700,000 m2). The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves "The Son of Heaven", they dared not to build their own dwelling, the Forbidden City, bigger than a dwelling for Heaven. The northern part of the long wall enclosing the Temple is semi-circular, symbolizing the heavens, and the southern part is square, symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of "the heaven is round and the earth is square". Refreshing perspective...

Afterwards, we finalized our "to do" list, strolled to dinner (a rather warm evening) and indulged ourself in a wonderful farewell dinner at Tian Di Yi Jia.

Sigh...