The rest of my Beijing pictures...



( too many more... )

Some Beijing Zoo photos...



( some more... )

In Finland we have only one subway line, it's in Helsinki. In Beijing there are eight lines, 148 stations and over 220 kilometres track. Eh, some diiference! I have travelled by subway in some countries but here I decided to become an experienced subway traveller.



( the subway... )

I had thought about purchasing a battery grip for my newish DSLR. Greedy dealers in Finland asked for 350€! It was too much and I tried to buy it via amazon.com but unfortunately they don't deliver hitech gears like that to a remote (communist?) country. Next thing was to ask for my friend to buy it for me and send it here. Then I figured it out to try if I could find the grip from China.

In Beijing I drove by subway to a suburb area. I knew there should be a big shopping mall full of camera dealers only. Again, taxi drivers didn't recognise the address and couldn't find the place although it was only a few hundred metres from the subway station where I had arrived. Probably they could not find the place because they don't speak a word in English or probably they just didn't know the address. The map is quite useful but when most of the addresses were missing or written in a different way, it didn't help me much. Finally, with the help of my local friend I found the place.

It is a photographer's HEAVEN! Especially, if you have Canon, Nikon, Sony or Leica(!). They had all the toys you can imagine for new and old cameras... for example huge lenses I had seen only on tv when watching sport events and lucky me - also the battery grip with lithium-ion battery for my camera. I paid a reasonable half price compared with the prices in Finland! The week in my hutong hotel cost the same money I saved buying the grip from here, heh!

I also looked for a certain binoculars for my Finnish friend. I found many binoculars but not the one I was looking for. What I noticed was that the same bins (Nikon) I have, cost about the same amount of money they cost in Finland. Camera gears were cheaper.

Last time I visited Beijing, I lived in a typical luxury hotel in the city central but this time I had decided to take a room from the hutong area. I booked the accommodation online. I didn't have a proper map to locate the place but I trusted on taxi drivers skills (mistake!). During an interesting tour around hutongs the driver stopped the car several times and went out for asking the way.... finally, he grinned and showed me a small sign "HOTEL". 



( the hutong... )

Greetings from Beijing!

Bad news first. I can not access Facebook from here :(
All I can get is a pageload full of Chinese letters??? Maybe I have to ask some help...

Good news... I can access Livejournal this time... if I can find a free wireless network or internet cafe or something. It's more difficult than I thought. I have my own laptop here but so far it's been useless without a working connection.

I've continued the adventure which started in spring 2009. I've visited several new places and the zoo has so far been the only one I visited already last time. I have some new panda photos! I've met some people I became familiar with last time...

I'm an experienced Beijing subway traveller! I know all the routes and can buy my ticket in Chinese which is - by the way - much easier than buying a bus ticket in Zurich! 

Time flies! It's Tuesday late night and I should return back home on Friday.

Got to go...

edit... "Sorry but you can't access Facebook in China"

I'll let this be the last Chinese picspam entry!

北京王府井墨香阁画廊
北京市东城区王府井大街189临-10号（天伦王朝饭店对面）

 

If you are looking for Chinese art as a souvenir in Beijing, you could visit this excellent Art Gallery. It is situated only a few hundred metres east from the Forbidden City, the address is 189 Lin WangFuJing Street, DongCheng, Beijing, China. They sell both traditional and modern Chinese art with a reasonable price!

( art gallery... )

 

We had only one day in Beijing that was free of guided tours. I had thought to visit the zoo that day because it was not included to the tour and I wanted to see panda bears. Due the lack of Chinese language skills I had asked a local friend to become my personal guide for that day. Somehow, I found five local guides...

( pandas... )

 

The rickshaw man had some customers but I'm sure he dreamed about smaller ones. When you load two Europeans in a car like that, it's really heavy for the driver :(

( the cricket... )

This is probably the most famous historic attraction in China, the Great Wall. I had a chance to see a short piece of the wall and climb a bit the steps of the wall. As you may remember, I have practised with our less impressive stairs in Finland, so I was in good condition for climbing higher and higher. The weather could have been more clear but it was good enough.
( wall & tomb... )

Don't try these stunts at home!

P.S. Sorry about the hissing noise :(

We entered Tiananmen Square ("The Square of Heavenly Peace") through the security check; metal detectors, bags checked... After reading the history of China, you may know that this is a significant place because of many important events. Feel free to read your own history books...
( the square... )

The Forbidden City is a world heritage site of China. I'll let my photos to tell the story...



P.S. I borrowed a movie from my niece, "The Last Emperor". It's filmed on the authentical places in the Forbedden City. I've seen it before but I have to see the movie again - I will probably spot some familiar places...

 

Finally, late in the evening we arrived in China. Well, maybe I should not write "finally" because the journey didn't seem to be too long and I could have continued the train trip still for some days.

( arrived in Beijing... )

 

Finally, we crossed the border and continued our trip. The landscape changed, less green and much much more sand...

( one day in Mongolia... )

Early in the morning we arrived in the Lake Baikal area. The lake view opened after a tunnel and was something different. There are very few lakes along this railway.

 

Fishermen trying to catch some fish. The lake was still frozen but close the beach there were open waters.

( Lake Baikal... )

 

Novosibirsk, Krasnojarsk, Angarsk, Irkutsk...

( the journey continues through Siberian landscapes... )