# Trip to China: Contrasts of Beijing



## Frog (Nov 27, 2004)

I recently visited Beijing as my sister is living there and offered to show me around, I took pictures so I decided to share the pics on SSC, hope you find them interesting !









Dubai, my flight was from London Gatwick via Dubai, it took longer than a non stop flight but it was worth it in the end:cheers:








Flying over the Himalayas which had some great scenery, better than any in flight movie








In the centre of Beijing outside Tianamen sqaure ]







However my sister decided to take me through the backstreets for a tour, I thought this was a different style of building 








traditional neighbourhood








an old house

















But just a short walk away from these alleys and it changes to these apartment blocks, quite a change 








View from my sister's apartment where I stayed, the whole area was like a construction site with brand new buildings popping up.








forbidden city, not so much these days but when I was there they closed off half the place because some famous people happened to be visiting that day >(








The new opera house I think? very nice modern building 








Old monastery I believe, located just on the edges of the centre








and the view just opposite, quite a transition from historic to modern








old hutong style houses which look refurbished 








View of the city :cheers:

















cycling down the main road, always an experience to remember hno:








more traditional hutong houses








nice gate in the middle of the maze of houses








Some of these have been here for 300 years, of course they have been refurbished over time but the design remains the same








most of these houses will probably be refurbished, however the ones further out of the city centre are being demolished








Across from the apartment where I stayed some new buildings are shooting up, when my sister first moved to the area a year ago the area was filled with shabby buildings, since then these new blocks have replaced them 








new apartments and some remnants of the old 








The building where I stayed, looks like it was built in the 80s or sometime. originally it was housing for Air China pilots but most of them these days are too rich to live there so they rent out the accomadation, it looks not too good from the outside but is quite cosy inside :cheers:








Old summer palace, I came here by accident, long story - I took a bus myself to the summer palace, I couldn't understand the announcements too so I had to guess where I was but I got out too early and I had to walk the rest of the journey, more difficult than it sounds because the map I had was old and in the mean time many new roads had been built, at least I got there in one peice and still nothing like a good brisk walk I say!








Random street on my long and ardous trek 








The summer palace








view over the lake 








Very nice at this time of day, the illusion only slightly spoiled by the airport next door :nuts:

















Journeying to the Great Wall, this was a particulary interesting day out as my sister booked me on a chinese only trip and I didn't speak a word, but thankfully they looked after me, even if we didn't understand each other fully kay:


























after stopping off at about 5 different shops in the middle of the countryside where they attempted to ply us with merchandise :lol: we reached the ming tombs , where they also tried to get us to buy more things! 








before returning to Beijing we stopped off once more at a mini theme park !








Next day I took the opportunity to try out the metro, this is one of the new lines which is pretty good








one of the old lines which has that communist era charm about it!








My last night in Beijing we visited the central shopping district near Wangfujing








Delicious foods! 








some good shopping here, I managed to procure some tacky merchandise such as an excellent chairman mao alarm clock 








unfortunately I caught food poisoning after that so I was unable to take more pics after that so I leave this final picture of the skyline.
Overall I found it a fascinating city, full of contrasts with old style buildings right next to new apartment blocks, an exciting place with many new projects and constructions happening all the time. Transport could be better, the metro is not so extensive YET but I hear they are constructing many new lines which is good to hear. I had to use the buses one time and had a bad experience when I got trapped inside due to the crowds and so I couldn't buy a ticket, oh well I did get a free ride :nono: taxis are the most convienient method but most taxi drivers don't speak english. I found the most difficult part is language barrier if you don't know any Chinese it can be very hard to get around, I learned some very basic stuff such as ordering taxis to get around and without some phrases it can be hard to get around. 

Thank you for looking and hope you enjoyed my first showcasekay:


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## HKG (Aug 2, 2006)

I am very enjoy your pictures,thanks!


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## cmoonflyer (Aug 17, 2005)

Nice shots , and thanks for sharing !


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

Great photos. It's unfortunate that tourists have to deal with persistent merchants following you around major tourist sites. I remember having them stalk me when I was in Xi'an. Very nice photos however. Beijing is one city that I have yet to visit.


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## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

Great pics , frog kay:

A friend who visited Beijing was impressed with Beijing's changing skyline from his first visit 5 years before. 

Did you stay only in Beijing or making some detour to nearby cities ?


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## dodge321 (Sep 5, 2007)

Very nice photos, I liked how you have a sentence or two under each photo giving a brief explaination. :applause:


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## Frog (Nov 27, 2004)

Thanks for the replies chapskay:


> Great photos. It's unfortunate that tourists have to deal with persistent merchants following you around major tourist sites. I remember having them stalk me when I was in Xi'an. Very nice photos however. Beijing is one city that I have yet to visit.


about the street vendors some of them can be very persistent indeed, I saw a british guy being chased down the street by one trying to sell him some merchandise, every time he said "no" the seller just assumed he was trying to barter so lowered the price :lol: I noticed when I hung around with my sister and her local chinese friends there was less hassle so I figured that way I would be less of a "target", I highly recommend Beijing to visit but unfortunately I have yet to visit the other cities. 


> Great pics , frog
> 
> A friend who visited Beijing was impressed with Beijing's changing skyline from his first visit 5 years before.
> 
> Did you stay only in Beijing or making some detour to nearby cities ?


New constructions are happening so fast my sister said that her whole neighbourhood had changed in the space of a few months let alone 5 years ! I planned to visit Shanghai to see the skyscrapers but sadly I didn't have enough time to make any visits, my sister said it took her about a day travelling to get to Shanghai so I felt I could use those days exploring Beijing instead  I feel China is so big you could spend a lifetime visiting every corner and not see everything ! 

thanks for taking the time to look everyone :applause:


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## rembau1958 (Oct 10, 2005)

A great, personalised pictorial report Frog!

Thanks for sharing


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## HKG (Aug 2, 2006)

Frog said:


> Thanks for the replies chapskay:
> 
> I saw a british guy being chased down the street by one trying to sell him some merchandise, every time he said "no" the seller just assumed he was trying to barter so lowered the price



:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:




Frog said:


> I feel China is so big you could spend a lifetime visiting every corner and not see everything !
> 
> thanks for taking the time to look everyone :applause:


I would like to visit the Flaming mountain and the cave in Xinjiang,because it has a great fairy tale about the monkey king thousand years ago!


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## snow is red (May 7, 2007)

Nice pictures. Thanks alot

Was this trip in 2008 or late 2007 ?


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## Carlcoxmi6ciapayroll (Apr 5, 2008)

China is incredibley vibrant and full of amazing spectacles. Shame it's being attacked by the western powers, who like to judge everyone else's mistakes and forget about their own.


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## [email protected] (Jan 17, 2004)

Nice pictures of the diversity of Beijing. It's really too bad that so many of the hutongs like in some of your first photos are being torn down nowadays.


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Don't think these hutongs are that nice. They look rather like third world slums to me.


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## Alphaville (Nov 28, 2007)

goschio said:


> Don't think these hutongs are that nice. They look rather like third world slums to me.


They are extremely historical and and not as slummy as you might think. 

They are wondeful and full of character, my best memories of Beijing was losing myself in them.


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## AdamChobits (Jun 7, 2006)

goschio said:


> Don't think these hutongs are that nice. They look rather like third world slums to me.


What an ignorant statement hno:


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Excuse my ignorance, I just don't see the beauty here. Its full of electrical wires and dirt on the street.


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## Alphaville (Nov 28, 2007)

Nobody ever said anything about a Westernised view of beauty.

They are exciting places to be where people are interacting in little communities within a huge metropolis. Cities like Melbourne and Sydney could learn alot from hutongs in that regard. They are always active, safe, and vibrant. 

Granted; those pics are not of the best hutongs i've seen. The ones around the lakes in Jishuitan are amazing.


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