July 21, 2010

Beijing sights

On our first day in Beijing, we got to the heart of the city via train (the subway system is excellent), then decided to walk home so that we could see the city on foot. It was a great way to see the city, but as Beijing is a very very very large city, it was 7 hours later when we arrived at our guesthouse!

Beijing © Evelyn Howard 2010

There was so much to see, as one can imagine. The above is one of the most pleasant areas we passed. The steps to the shops remind me of Manhattan!

Yummy drinks © Evelyn Howard 2010

We stopped when we got tired. This photo was taken at a very nice shop with free wifi. There were many youngsters with their macs and PCs surfing the net. We sat around people watching…

Beijing street market © Evelyn Howard 2010 

Then we came across a street market.

Beijing park at night © Evelyn Howard 2010

We crossed a park, and there were lots of lights and activities.

Beijing sport © Evelyn Howard 2010

Drawing of sporting equipment © Evelyn Howard 2010

We stopped to watch this sport (sorry about the quality of the photo… can’t do much with a point and shoot). It’s a little like beach volleyball… There were 4 players; 2 players on each side of the court.

The “ball” is an object made of feathers and rubber (maybe other materials too). I couldn’t get a photo, but see the drawing on the left. It will always land on its base, because the base is heavy.

The players kick the object over the net. If someone lets it  fall, the other team gets a point. There were some amazing kicks and smashes.

I am glad to have seen this. When I was a kid growing up in Malaysia, my brothers used to play with this, and tried to kick it as many times as possible, without letting it fall. This is the first time I have seen it played in a competitive setting.

4 comments:

Louis la Vache said...

Very interesting series of photos, Evelyn. Mme la Vache, being from China originally enjoyed them, too.
;-D

yoon see said...

Thanks for sharing these insightful photos to us.
I can connect with you here and it brought back the sweetest memories of mine to Beijing few years back.
I wish to go back there again.
Beijing is such a fascinating country with a great retro and modern mixture of wonderous!

Unknown said...

How wonderful to explore! Thanks for taking me with you. :) I would have loved to sit around and people watch too.

lisa jane said...

China is no doubt a country with rich history and lots of things to see. I travel back and forth from England to China work related and unfortunately haven't had the time to enjoy it but I'm considering going there on a vacation so the information was really useful.Thank you for sharing. I've only been to Shanghai so far and it's an amazing city.And speaking of travel tips the only thing I don't like about it is that I often have problems with the last minute bookings and realized that I have to call to confirm my reservation. It might be pricey so I use a call service which provides cheap calls to China Its fast, cheap and easy to use.

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