China - Land of the Dragon
...and the Canon came too!
Along with the superwide 11-24mm lens plus the 50mm prime for nights.
Part 1 Beijing!
Off to an amazing WOW factor with just the airport! I've been to all the big ones LAX and Heathrow, Gatwick, Narita, but the physical scale of this place makes those others look like toys! I don't know if it was just tiredness or something I drank on the plane? but the "shed" that this is all contained in is absolutely HUGE! We had to catch a train to get to our luggage; which arrived before us, of course. There were two stages of fingerprinting, a heat sensor and that was about it, processed fairly quickly. I was not game to get ANY photos of this place, sorry, but was not going to try it, ha ha, and alas I am here writing this blog ):
First day...Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City, straight into it.
There was a congressional meet happening at the square, just as we were there...I was thinking "great timing"...gulp! the entire surrounding blocks were cordoned off to traffic but we couldn't get closer than across the road, but really this meant we had more time in the Forbidden City, which suited me fine.
This place was built in the 1400's burnt down and rebuilt in the 1700's.
I made the decision to take the wide angle for this trip and glad I did. The place is huge! Visitors are only allowed into about a half of it, but it still took us hours to see front to back, and this was without going into any of the Halls. I guess if I wasn't taking so many pics then I would've had time to see inside these places, but you know...priorities :)
Our guide said there is signs saying "no photography" but to just ignore those 😬
AND we had crystal clear blue skies!!!! an extremely rare occasion in Beijing apparently.
Tiananmen Square across the road, plenty of security out on patrol today.
The front entrance to Forbidden City
Inside whilst visiting the "happy room" as they call the amenities, this was a back courtyard. So much detail in the architecture.
Going through one of the many gates, very ornate. One could spend hours photographing the details here, but no time...too much to see...
One thing I noticed about Beijing is people are quite conservative here, mostly dressed in black, going about their business. The traffic was horrendous! I will never complain about traffic ever again. Even with the elevated freeways, it still takes time to get around.
Loved this meandering moat
Check out that blue sky!!
Original pavers perhaps?
This is why I'm glad I bought the wide angle lens with me today
They cap the number of daily visitors to 80,000!!!! wow
The worlds largest palace complex!
So much detail everywhere
The garden at the rear of the complex
Back out onto the streets
The streets everywhere were immaculately clean. No rubbish laying around, great recycling bins everywhere and lots of street sweepers out working. It was about 10 degrees today, though we thoroughly enjoyed being cold for a change.
Went to the Golden Mask Dynasty night show on our second night in Beijing. It was way better than expected, in fact I have never seen anything like it, very talented and moving.
These are live white peacocks! They flew offstage towards the end of the segment. Just beautiful.
And then, just when you think it can't be topped ...they add a flood to the scene!
Last day in Beijing was a HUGE one.
Bucket list item ticked off..THE GREAT WALL of China at Juyong Pass
This section of the wall a most recent addition only around 500 years old. There are some sections way older than this. This is supposedly one of the quieter sections of the wall.
There isn't just a wall to climb but plenty of fortresses or lookouts to stop at and admire AND catch your breathe. There are several sections of wall from different dynastys and not all joined together either.
There were some quite steep sections and the steps varied from up to a foot high to just a few inches
To end the day we went to old Beijing - the streets of Hutong, we went for a rickshaw ride through the streets.
The Beijing National Stadium aka The "Bird's Nest" where the Beijing Olympics were held recently.
The image above had a few ripples in the water from the nights breezes, so I waited awhile for it to settle and was rewarded with this nice reflection.
Next onto Xi'an
Along with the superwide 11-24mm lens plus the 50mm prime for nights.
Part 1 Beijing!
Off to an amazing WOW factor with just the airport! I've been to all the big ones LAX and Heathrow, Gatwick, Narita, but the physical scale of this place makes those others look like toys! I don't know if it was just tiredness or something I drank on the plane? but the "shed" that this is all contained in is absolutely HUGE! We had to catch a train to get to our luggage; which arrived before us, of course. There were two stages of fingerprinting, a heat sensor and that was about it, processed fairly quickly. I was not game to get ANY photos of this place, sorry, but was not going to try it, ha ha, and alas I am here writing this blog ):
First day...Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City, straight into it.
There was a congressional meet happening at the square, just as we were there...I was thinking "great timing"...gulp! the entire surrounding blocks were cordoned off to traffic but we couldn't get closer than across the road, but really this meant we had more time in the Forbidden City, which suited me fine.
This place was built in the 1400's burnt down and rebuilt in the 1700's.
I made the decision to take the wide angle for this trip and glad I did. The place is huge! Visitors are only allowed into about a half of it, but it still took us hours to see front to back, and this was without going into any of the Halls. I guess if I wasn't taking so many pics then I would've had time to see inside these places, but you know...priorities :)
Our guide said there is signs saying "no photography" but to just ignore those 😬
AND we had crystal clear blue skies!!!! an extremely rare occasion in Beijing apparently.
Tiananmen Square across the road, plenty of security out on patrol today.
The front entrance to Forbidden City
Inside whilst visiting the "happy room" as they call the amenities, this was a back courtyard. So much detail in the architecture.
Going through one of the many gates, very ornate. One could spend hours photographing the details here, but no time...too much to see...
One thing I noticed about Beijing is people are quite conservative here, mostly dressed in black, going about their business. The traffic was horrendous! I will never complain about traffic ever again. Even with the elevated freeways, it still takes time to get around.
Loved this meandering moat
Check out that blue sky!!
Original pavers perhaps?
This is why I'm glad I bought the wide angle lens with me today
They cap the number of daily visitors to 80,000!!!! wow
The worlds largest palace complex!
So much detail everywhere
The garden at the rear of the complex
Back out onto the streets
The streets everywhere were immaculately clean. No rubbish laying around, great recycling bins everywhere and lots of street sweepers out working. It was about 10 degrees today, though we thoroughly enjoyed being cold for a change.
Went to the Golden Mask Dynasty night show on our second night in Beijing. It was way better than expected, in fact I have never seen anything like it, very talented and moving.
These are live white peacocks! They flew offstage towards the end of the segment. Just beautiful.
And then, just when you think it can't be topped ...they add a flood to the scene!
Last day in Beijing was a HUGE one.
Bucket list item ticked off..THE GREAT WALL of China at Juyong Pass
This section of the wall a most recent addition only around 500 years old. There are some sections way older than this. This is supposedly one of the quieter sections of the wall.
There isn't just a wall to climb but plenty of fortresses or lookouts to stop at and admire AND catch your breathe. There are several sections of wall from different dynastys and not all joined together either.
There were some quite steep sections and the steps varied from up to a foot high to just a few inches
To end the day we went to old Beijing - the streets of Hutong, we went for a rickshaw ride through the streets.
The Beijing National Stadium aka The "Bird's Nest" where the Beijing Olympics were held recently.
The image above had a few ripples in the water from the nights breezes, so I waited awhile for it to settle and was rewarded with this nice reflection.
Next onto Xi'an
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