The Great Beijing

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From Shanghai we headed straight to Beijing. By this stage, our travels in China were starting to feel like a city tour as all we seemed to be seeing was congestion and high rise buildings. Beijing is huge and already undergoing a lot of contruction and maintence in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. In fact, we even saw a massive coundown clock, counting the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the olympics starts!

It was great to see Thomas again and he was very hospitable. I would also count Beijing to be one of the main highlights for me for the number of historical and world renowned places there are to visit. We only had four days... but then we only had a month in China. Will have to go again for sure. I hope you enjoy the photos on this blog as they are some of my favorites.

JOY

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Photos

Gate of Heavenly Peace
This is one of the gates leading to the Forbidden City and has a large portrait of Chairman Mao at the front

"The Punch Place"
Thats what the sign said

View of Tiananmen Square
According to the Lonely Plant guide, this is the worlds largest public square. Not surprising to be situated in China with the worlds largest population.

Another very random sign
"A single act of carelessness leads to the eternal loss of beauty"

Open mic at Jingshan Park
Everywhere we went there seemed to be people singing, especially in Jingshan park. People were either in little groups or large choirs or just on their own singing opera to the trees. Catherine and I were not particularly fond of the style or pitch but found it very interesting and amusing nevertheless!

All dressed up...
This little girl had been dressed up in traditional clothes you could hire and was being made to pose while her parents took dozens of photos

Exploring the Hutong
We got to spend a hour on a bicycle rickshaw touring round the maze of alleyways in Beijing know as the hutong. This is where a quarter of Beijings population currently lives. They are rapidly being replaced however by white tile highrises at a rate of 10,000 dwellings a year. Our driver did complain about overcrowding within the hutong and the need to use public toilets. It looked very orderly and clean to me, at a glance of course, in comparison to many other countries.

The Climb to the Great Wall
We did a day trip to a place called Simatai along the Great Wall. It was so amazing, such a hike, so hot and just incredible. I'll let the photos do the talking...

Comments

[Joe]

May I have a cup a flower tea please?

[mum]

awesome
The wall looks absolutely awesome. Look forward to seeing it myself. Loved your sihouette photo in the framed shot. Great angles and subjects.