Havin' a ball in Beijing

Day 61: I arrive in Beijing and Jane has rather cleverly organised a man called Andy to meet me and guide me through immigration and the luggage carousel - lucky me! Beijing airport I am told is the largest airport in the world, and looks pretty awesome too. Jane is there to meet me on the other side and we grab a taxi to the Ritz Carlton where she lives and I'll be staying.

Beijing Airport.

Day 62: Its pretty nippy in Beijing compared to Honkers - between 5-15 degrees for most of my stay apart from one day that was a balmy 22 degrees - they are waiting for Spring to be sprung, so I have to borrow some warmer clothes. Beijing is huge sprawling city (I was warned) with wide tree lined boulevards, it has a surprisingly European feel to it, and it is cheap as chips to grab a taxi. Beijing is also a very polluted city, something to do with it being in a basin at the bottom of a valley, so all the pollution hangs about as a smoggy cloud over the city. Its also very windy which is a good thing as it blows the smog away! Today was a smoggy day, and everything looks a bit grey.

So we head out to the huge 798 Dashanzi which is an art district, for a wander round, and I rug up as it is freeeeeezzzzzziiiiing! Its set in a very industrial looking landscape, lots of big grey concrete buildings and overhead pipes along the roads. There are art galleries and huge pieces of art dotted everywhere.

A bit like 'Where's Wally?', spot the Ade...

These were warm soy milk drinks in lovely little earthen ware pots.

Not sure if this was art or just someone bored one day reading the meter... but it made me smile.

The one thing that will always stay in my mind about Beijing was all the different types of transport there were, cars, taxis, scooters, motorised push bikes. And then there were the ones that they just stuck an engine onto...

These were a personal favourite of mine, I saw them everywhere!

I found some cute and quirky graffiti dotted all around 798.

Jane looking fierce!

Sneaky graffiti self-portraits.

Even the doorways were arty!

This whole building was covered in pipes, I loved it. They looked like cartoon plastic icicles.

No photo's you say? I say whatever! - I have an iPhone and I know how to make it look like I'm texting when I'm not!

Pretty much every day we go somewhere in a taxi and on one of the landmarks that we pass is the amazing CCTV tower, I start to photograph it ever time, in different weather conditions and with my cameras and phone and from every angle I can. It looks like the number 1 from one angle and a 'pair of pants' from another.

 

There's a second tower next to it that is a burnt out shell (on the left here) and has been there for a while - due to the regal ramifications of who was responsible for the fire and who will pay to demolish it. 12 people were arrested. It housed the near completed Mandarin Oriental Hotel and a Culture Centre. On the opening night for the CCTV tower illegal firecrackers were set off on the roof  - and because it was still under construction the sprinkler system wasn't active, and it went up like a candle, oh dear...

I found this photo online of the fire.

Day 64: Liangma Antiques market, crammed full of Chinese art and antiques. It was a  visual feast.

 

Pretty much everyday we would eat dumpling somewhere, these are the more hi-tech version - these men aren't getting ready for surgery they're making delicious dumplings. The other purple and white dumplings were more low tech, but yummy! 

 

Next: Beijing very photogenic - I took 130 on the day we went to the Great Wall of China in Mutiyanyu, the Ming tomb's and the Changeling Museum alone.... So, I'm going to split it into two posts. I still have the Beijing Chaoyang Theatre Acrobatic Show; the GuoZijian Hutong and Confucius' Temple with Jane and Eva; Pangiaouan Markets; Tiana'men Square, Forbidden City and NCPA; and the Chinese Opera!