Anyway, spent eight days in Beijing recently. Here are some crappy tourist shots.
Hey, I had to take it. This was on the day that we and 129,998 other people visited the Forbidden City. Amazing place. Next time you are in Beijing, go. But avoid "Golden Week"... the week all China is on holiday.
All you have seen in books is there, and yes, red is an auspicious colour in China. Walls and doors are painted in it along with a lot of architectural features. And they look great too.
My favourite, of the traditional tourist spots, was the Temple of Heaven. Amazing place.
and let's not mention the, well I won't then, or the cult of, well, let's just think of them as nice objects without historical and socio-cultural baggage. "Hey honey, wont one of these look so cool on the coffee table"...
Go there, be amazed by a changing city. Oh, and the food is great, from restaurant to street vendor. You name it, you can find it, from Kosher/Halal to provincial French via all the regional Chinese varieties.
That and the parks. Great parks. Trees, Lakes, Follies. And people being people in them. Eating, making music, 70 year olds playing the local version of hacky sack. Liked it, apart from the pollution and great distances to cover. Kind of like Christchurch really.
