more impressions from Beijing

Photos from walks around Beijing in spring


For "pain or pox", I now know where to go!

This old man is practicing calligraphy on the pavement with a large brush and water. He is writing a Chinese poem. His art only lasts for a minute or two, before drying up.

Bicycle and old couch in a hutong

Super scooter :)

A young policeman standing guard at the Olympic Park

Plants in the Old Summer Palace (Beihai park)

Mops hanging to dry in a hutong

An old man flying a kite. He is a professional (as far as flying kites is concerned)

Hidden pavilion in the park surrounding the Old Summer Palace

Endless flowers

Brass door knocker in a hutong

Door knockers

A wall of the White Dagoba in Beihai Park, covered with Buddha reliefs

Panda hat

"Old hutong"

Bicycles in front of a store in a hutong

The 'bubbles' of the Aqua Center in the Olympic park by night. The buildings there are beautifully lit, but the strong wind is annoying.

Close up of the 'Bird's Nest' by night

Close up of the 'Bird's Nest' by night

Zoom effect on the 'Bird's Nest'

Out around Beijing

While my parents were visiting, I took them out around in Beijing. Every day something different.


Caught red handed! (or should I say red-faced...?)
This little yellow terrorist has been eating all the flowers, throwing them around the house, eating the remote controls and newspapers, and making lots of noise.

City gate South of Tian'anmen Square

City gate South of Tian'anmen Square by night

We walked around one of the many hutongs

People playing Go on a sunny spring afternoon. They don't seem to mind that they are sitting on a busy intersection (near Zhangzizhonglu) with the traffic rushing past them.

Too bad I didn't record the sound this dog was making. In the hutong that we walked in, it seemed like everyone and all the animals were staring at us.

The local fish vendor

These fish were still alive; sometimes jumping out onto the ground. That's as fresh as it gets around here.

Someone left a pair of yellow boots

Plastic bottle buyer. People walk all around the city to collect empty plastic bottles and sell them per kilo.

Piles of paper and cardboard are delivered in small carts and stacked onto this truck.

This car has no hood, a hole in the wind screen and a busted front.

We ended the day at "Li Qun's Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant". It is a famous place, and we had only one hour to eat. The roast duck was delicious.

By the front door guests can inspect 'their duck' being roasted

Lanterns

I title this photo: "Abbey Road" ~ it is actually policemen parading on Tian'anmen Square

Two girls asked if they could take a photo with my mother

More security forces on Tian'anmen Square

Another walk through a Beijing hutong/slum

Near the subway station of Da Zhong Si (大钟寺) in North West Beijing is a hutong that doesn't look like all the others. It seems to belong to a different place, time and culture. We had spotted the area from the elevated line 13 subway on our way to Wudaokou (五道口), a popular student area with many coffee bars and cheap restaurants, and decided to have a look.

After a walk of about 20 minutes through an industrial area and passing huge sky scrapers that were only half finished, we came upon this curious place.

The small houses are connected by their walls like in other hutongs, and thus forming long walls and a maze of small alleys. The walls of this hutong were all painted in attractive ochre. The people that live there are not used to seeing foreigners, as they all stared at me and called their friends: "Hey hey, a foreigner! Look!" and pointed at me. Other parts of Beijing are so saturated with foreigners that nobody looks up anymore.

The area is full of garbage, and looks more like a slum than like a normal neighborhood in some places. Inside many houses I saw piles of recycled paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles. The people walk around the city, collecting these things so they can sell it (for around 10 cents per kilo). This is China's efficient garbage recycling system and works remarkably well. The streets are clean (well, not really, but they are a lot cleaner thanks to these people who collect paper and bottles)

Railroad tracks run straight through the hutong, and some locals told us that sometimes even trains pass by. As usual, surrounding the hutong are huge sky scrapers, but the shacks on ground level are built from wooden boards and old bricks. Cooking pots are standing outside on the ground, and the laundry is hanging out to dry next to it.

Remember the Olympics? The figure on the plastic screen is "Huang Huang", one of the five cartoon mascottes. This piece of plastic once probably hung proudly along the route of the torch relay last year, but has now found its way to better use: preventing the rain from pouring in.

A lot of activity was going on: people selling vegetables, luring big bags filled with plastic bottles around, and kids playing everywhere. Old men were playing Chinese Chess on the street, and dogs and cats were sleeping in the gutter.

School had just gone out (around 4.30 PM) and kids with colorful hats and school bags were swarming around the place.

An old man collecting paper and card boards
The characters on the fence (中国) mean China

Two funny kids playing with their masks

Some discarded traffic signs and a pile of garbage

This bicycle taxi is for sale.

A big contrast between the wide and long avenues of modern Beijing. These little alleyways were small, dark and quiet. I wish I knew more about the background of this place, but perhaps it is better to leave it as a mystery.