Beijing

I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing for a presentation, and to meet the project architects, and development group. Beijing is an amazing city, that seems not quite sure what it wants to be right now. The gap between those well off and those that are not, is huge and evident everywhere you go. The roadways are packed with traffic, and I am not sure if riding or walking is a scarier experience. The taxi drivers drive like nascar drivers, but pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way ever (regardless of what a crossing signal indicates) so you constantly have to watch for cars, dodge them, and get honked at when you cross a street. Of course it probably doesn't help that people walk and ride bicycles on the highways.

The food is great, and there is so much history to see and explore. Much of the new architecture is very interesting, but of course much of the new housing developments are bland and generic, but likely a huge improvement over previous options. In China, architecture is king, and it seems the landscape, public plazas, and pedestrian ways are an after thought, and often very harsh - mostly consisting of hardscape (paving) and architectural features like fountains, statues, etc. The scale of Central Beijing is not very human, and it seems they have adopted the American system of auto induced sprawl, only on steroids.

Beijing Airport is huge! The ceiling lighting is almost starlike which

only makes you feel smaller, but a very interesting place

Some typical apartment buildings along the highway. Not traditional, but also not new - maybe 80's-90's development. Beijing is definitely a city of patterns. Design one building and use it 30 times.

Typical "older" retail. Very similar to US strip malls.

Newer Standardized housing development. These types of towers dot

the horizon in every direction.

View from the 62nd floor of the Hyatt Hotel's on the conference level. Pretty hazy, but this is the day before the big sand storm

Look Kids the Birdnest....I can't get over!

National TV station building. China seems to be an architect's dream...for now. It is amazing to see the modern skyscrapers and retail complexes juxtaposed with the older residential and commercial developments.

Ming Dynasty Tombs - 13 Emporers in all. Only 2 tombs are open to the public

Detail of one of the temples at Chingling Tomb

What's up Verne

Statue of the Yongle Emporer - Chengzu

3rd Emporer of the Ming Dynasty, who moved the capitol to Beijing and built the forbidden city in the heart of Beijing

Massive tree trunks used as pillars in the temple

Changling (long masoleum) tomb

Yihe Yuan or Summer Palace
(not part of Ming Tombs)

Main entry

Sculpture in the plaza below the Rock Gardens

People use the palace as a park-like space, exercising, playing games, and dancing

The Tower of Incense atop Longevity Hill

A tower in the rock garden. Chinese garden design incorporates rock labrynths with pathways, tunnels, and bridges that people can climb and walk through. The towers and doorways signal movement into new rooms or areas that have a different character and mood.

A gateway to another room in the garden

The massive complex that is the Palace

More of the Complex

Looking back up at the Tower of Incense

Chinese Cosby? Alicia, I invited him to this years sweater party.

Quilin statue

Miyakoda-san enjoying the rail car ride up to the Great Wall. Our tour only lasted 2.5 hours and it takes 3 hours to walk to the top...so we had to cheat a bit to get up and back in the time allowed.

Miyakoda-san and Watanabe-san celebrate conquering the wall

The wall is enormous, and hard to imagine people building so long ago and without modern equipment.

All the walking caused Miyakoda-san's shoe to blow out. Parts of the wall are very steep and you walk on the balls of your feet quite a bit.

Example of how the wall was built directly into the mountain ridge

A setion of the Wall opposite our location. Shows the enormity of this project, and what a difficult construction site this was. The picture is not clear due to the huge sandstorm that was occuring while we were on the wall.