Here are some photos of the trip I took to China in December of 2003. I took three rolls of pictures so this is only a limited selection of the most interesting photos.
Please click on the images to see larger versions.
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The famous Forbidden City. |
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A dragon sculpture within the Forbidden City. How do you like that smile? |
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Deep within the Forbidden City lies this ancient cafe. The name in Chinese translates to "Starbucks". Perhaps the emperors would study their astronomical charts while enjoying a cold Frappuccino. |
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A view of the Forbidden City. Before I went to China I checked the weather forecast on the Internet. The Yahoo weather site said "smoke". I had no idea what they meant until I arrived. I think most of it is smoke from the coal stoves that are in common use. |
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These old Buddhist caves are near the city Datong, to the west of Beijing. As you can see even Buddha's arm gets tired and needs support. |
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It was extremely cold there. I am the ninja on the farthest right. The other people from left to right are two Korean girls Sunhi and Jiwon, and my friend Andrew. His brother Matt is taking the picture. |
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A temple on a cliff. And more ninjas. |
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South of Datong near the sacred mountains Wutaishan is the small town Taihuai which is packed with various monasteries. One monastery was selling these tourist photos where anyone can be a Buddha. These pictures would get you in big trouble in Thailand I bet where they are pretty touchy about their Buddha images. |
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The old city Pingyao. |
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The stuff they were selling in Pingyao looks antique, but it's probably all fake. Can you find Mao? |
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Matt took us to a secret place where their are almost no tourists and the Great Wall is not rebuilt. Usually there are bandits that chase you with hatchets if you don't pay up, but I guess they took a day off because it was so cold. The haze in the air is partly from the snow, but mostly from the coal smoke. |
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In a mall in Beijing I saw this shop window with two mannequins, except the one sitting down is a real woman. I didn't get the shot, but there is another woman standing to the right. Standing is obviously more tiring because she would change her pose every few minutes. I wonder how much they were paid? They both had 1000 yard stares. |
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A couple of statues stepping on other smaller statues. The first one appears to be a baby lion. Can you see the other baby on the mother's back? The other one is maybe a sinner or some poor schlub. Perhaps the smaller statues represent Taiwan. |