Beijing, the final album

And here's the last album of Beijing, the seventh and eight day.

Those were two rather lazy days. Done with all the tourist sites we just walked the city center and one of the outer areas which turned out to be a sort of little Russia, with a lot of fur industry going on. Quite a depressing neighbourhood actually, with a lot of ugly buildings. Not many photos of that day.

Click here for the album with some 17 photos.

Click here for the total index.

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It's something I bought in Beijing.

I don't buy a lot of souvenirs. Small stuff sometimes. Problem is that it just stacks up, and my life is a bit unclear location wise. Don't feel like dragging along too much stuff if I need or decide to move, either within Malaysia or forcibly back to The Netherlands. The suitcase I arrived with is already too small.

This I couldn't resist.

Bought it at an art exhibition near the Forbidden City. The girl who sold it to me told me it was painted by her teacher, and for a 'souvenir' it wasn't very cheap. She was a student at the Beijing Art Academy. It was one out of four, depicting the seasons, but this one was clearly the best.

The real deal is about two meters tall and I photographed it in three pieces. Had some trouble stitching it all together without the seams showing up, but worked out ok. Not fully sure about the coloring yet, need to compare it a bit better in daylight. The original blossoms are a bit more pinkish.

Click on it for the real big one. It's big though, about 2mb, so give it some time to load if you're interested.

Beijing bird...

Trained bird flying off to pick up coins...
...click for the bigger version...

Was that it?

So, was that it about Beijing?

No, there were two more days. We just walked the center a bit, stumbled upon a big lake with lots of cafes and restaurants, wandered through little Russia, got cheated by a fortune teller and met this fellow, who was flying a kite, using the contraption on his belly.

Flying a kite over the center of Beijing...
...click for the bigger version...

The amazing thing was that the kite was (an educated guess) at least 200 or 300 meters up in the sky, almost invisible due to the haze. That in itself wasn't too amazing, it was quite windy that day, but he was flying the thing smack in the center of Beijing.

I was wondering what would happen if the kite would unexpectedly come down, with 300 meters of line draped over the city center...

The line...
...click for the bigger version...

He was very proud of the machine on his belly, needed to tell us how much he had paid for it, and was very happy to pose for a good shot.

There's one more album to come, with photos of those two days.

Beijing album VI - The Great Wall

The Great Wall... was a great day. Nice sunny weather, apart from the omnipresent dust in the air, which makes the views very hazy. I insisted on going a bit later in the day, because the light is much nicer in the afternoon, especially around 4 or 5. That worked out pretty well.

Take a look here at some 28 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Beijing album V - Summer Palace

Well, the shortest album so far.

I didn't have a good day. I was a bit moody and tired and it shows in the pictures. There's only one really good shot that day, and that wasn't even in the Summer Palace, but at the KFC in Beijing, of all places.

The Summer Palace was just too big. Another really 'hot' tourist spot, with too many people standing in front of everything.

It's like they do it on purpose. You point your lens and poof, there's someone in front of it... At some objects they're even queueing!

Truly, I never fully understood the desire to stand in front of an object and have your picture taken. It has something to do with showing off I suppose 'look, I was there'. But just taking the picture also proves that you were there. You don't need to have your face in it, unless people you show it to won't believe you were the one who actually took the picture? But how likely is that?

This attitude needs to change, I will campaign for it! Photographers of the world unite!

Ok, I'm done campaigning... my sensor isn't cleaned yet, so who cares anyway...

Thus, hardly any good shots, and the few that potentially were, got spoiled by people or strange objects sitting in the way (like support bars for trees etc).

But in the end it was simply me having a bad day...

Click here to view the 10 photos of this album.

For the complete index of all the albums, click here.

Beijing album IV - Jingshan Park

Probably the best day photo wise of the Beijing trip. Made not too many, but a few very nice ones if I say so myself. And if you want to know what this header photo is about, you'll have to click...

Take a look here at some 17 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Beijing album III - Forbidden City

One of my objectives, when I bought my first DSLR camera, was to try to stay away from 'tourist' photos.

That hasn't been easy.

To want to be original is one thing, to actually achieve it is another. And I must admit that I didn't realise how difficult it is to really take a 'wow' picture, or a photo that tells something more than just what the image reflects.

The Forbidden City is a good example. If you google a bit on pictures of other people who visited Beijing, you'll find at least half a million pictures (for instance on Picasa web) and they're all similar. The same buildings, the same picture of the portrait of Mao, the same bed of the emperor... I even saw some of the photos I took, at similar angles of similar subjects at the similar location.

It's too boring.

Not that there's anything wrong with tourist photos mind you, I don't want to sound all snobbish. In the end I'm also a tourist, and I also like to take pictures of stuff that others have photographed millions of times already. Some of these objects simply beg for it. But I also like to come home with at least a few 'different' ones. And 'seeing' or discovering the 'difference' at a place like the Forbidden City, that's not easy - is my main point.

Therefore this third album doesn't have many of the 'usual' shots and in actual fact doesn't contain many photos for six hours of tourist site. Although I did take a few of the 'standard' photos, and do show a few, when making the album I focused a bit more on details.

The last pictures were taken in the early evening in a park close by the hotel, not in the Forbidden City.

If you want a general overview of the Forbidden City I suggest you google for it.

Click here to view this third album, with some 22 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Twice and doorknobs

Turns out I took a photo at almost exactly the same spot - from the train - on the way to the wall and back... here's both of them...

The third was taken in the Forbidden City...

Doorknobs on the doors of one of the many buildings in the Forbidden City...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...

Beijing album II

And here's the second album of Beijing, the second day, where we wander around Tiananmen Square, after deciding it's too busy for the Forbidden City... with some 27 photos.

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Strike a pose

Posing for his mother who took a picture of him, in front of the back entrance of the Forbidden City...

Click on the photo for a bigger version...

Pots and Trees

Plants in big pots at the entrance of Jingshan park...


Blossom trees near the wall of the Forbidden City...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...

KFC

Women at KFC...

Click on the photo for a bigger version...

Aerobics

Had to compromise on the quality here to keep the upload small. The quality of the movies of the new camera is amazing, but the files are huge. The original was 300mb, for only about a minute of movie. Uploading that would take too long.

Complication of filming with the camera is the focus, which isn't set automatically. So during filming I have to do it manually, which account for the sometimes fuzzy images - clearly not used to using the camera for movies.

In the real movies they have someone for that, called 'the focus puller'. I had to do it myself... :-)

This was just some testing and playing around with new features of the camera, not meant as a 'keeper'. But I hadn't counted on the younger girls passing by, which made it quite funny (if you're me), so I decided to show it...

I'm not fully sure how this player works, but after hitting the play button and a bit of 'Buffering...' it should start playing...

Mind the volume though, it's quite loud...

Beijing album I

And here's the first album of Beijing, the first day with some 19 photos.

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Entrance

Entrance to the Forbidden City at the Jingshan park side...

Click on the photo for an extra big version...

Generations

Click on the photo for the bigger version...

Posing in the Park

Found her in Jingshan park... sadly she belonged to another photographer, but that didn't stop me... And although he did give me some dirty looks when I snapped away (my lens was way bigger), I think she liked me... :-)

Close up...

Click on the photos for the big version... first one is a bit larger than usual...

Beijing ducks, not yet roasted...

Ducklings in a box... being sold on a market...

Inspecting the merchandise, chicklets in a bag, being sold from another box...

(click on the photos for the big version...)

The Scorpions II

And for the people who think I was brave, I wasn't brave enough to nibble on a black one... those were a bit too much... Click on the pic for the big one...