Beijing - 北京

25th September - 4th October

We ended our Trans-Siberian route in Beijing, a city of grand (and at the same time--infinitely small detail) scale from architecture to landscape to people and, of course, food. This city is ALIVE beyond anything we have seen so far and the streets are surprisingly safe at night. We found the 'adapting to changes' in the category of food relatively easy after Mongolia's culinary delights of boiled mutton and (yak and goat) dairy products (no offense to Mongolia). We made our temporary home in the Dashilar district down the colorful and bustling hutong (narrow alleyway that create a circuit of never-ending streets and one-storey ramshackle dwellings and courtyards) off Quianmen Dajie.



















The Forbidden City, the palace where the Ming and Qing dynasty resided (and forbade everyone else to visit or live alongside--hence the name) contains 800 buildings and 900 rooms. Unfortunately, the main ceremonial building was under construction (SHOCKER!!!) so Zhenia took it upon herself to pout away...

Buddists have their own way of 'acting' Buddists, hence the happy touching of the knobs of the front gate of the Forbidden City.














These glass sculpted ornaments were all over the place; we're talking doors, wall ornaments and garbage cans.

Behai Park is situated around the Beihai Lake and offers a splendid and serene atmosphere of a park with a lake. Here it is peaceful and relaxing...but don't forget the fierce salsa couples doin' their thing in the middle of the park.

The While Dagoba, built in 1651 for a visit by the Dailai Lama, sits splendidly in the background.

The Temple of the Heaven is a 267 hectare park which contains the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest whose temple's wooden pillars support the ceiling without a single nail!!

Here Tom (as always) appreciates a finely-trimmed lawn at the Temple of Heaven Park.
We rented bicycles one morning and decided to see Beijing ourselves. To our suprise, the roads were really safe since bicyclists have their own lane and everyone rides like a buddist.We could not show our face again if we did not visit The Great Wall while in China...so, here it is. Tom, Miguel (from Argentina) and Vit (from L.A. via Czech Republic) act natural while climbing the steep hill that took us up to the Wall.
View from top.
After 2 hours of walking on the wall, Zhenia gives Tom (the photographer) a sexy pose as a testament of conquering the damn thing.
There was no end to the celebrating in Beijing and since the food was so good, Tom decided to risk a little (with Vit's help) and try the fried chicken head (in which he proceeded to suck out the brain in one quick inhale), the fried sparrow (several babies on a stick) and other kosher goodies.
Here, Tom's chicken head fights back for dear life.