China's Beauty in the City

Once again welcome back =) Its the middle of July and I hope that you've all enjoyed the pictures so far. This post as the title suggests will concentrate on shot which I took in the city or areas within the city. Honestly, China's city looks just like any other cities in the world.

The thing that they managed to do is fuse the "Old world" and the "New world" together. So you get modern buildings like the cutting edge Bird Nest Stadium and also cultural gems like the Forbidden Kingdom. They do have problem with pollution but lets not go there =)



This picture was taken at Sun Island, Haarbin. Most of you would have a little about Haarbin is you've read the previous posts. Its located much much further up north of China, near the Russian border. My main reason to go to Haarbin is to ski *hints* =)

Sun Island is located next to the city. I was there during the off-peak season so that massive area was really empty. You'll feel like the whole park belonged to you. Its kinda creepy in a way too because they have these loud speakers playing romantic music.

Simply a random shot from the bus. The trees have already shed their leaves. Most of you who live in seasonal countries this might be a norm for you....but I was amazed! I've never seen so many trees barren like that before. One thing I was quite disappointed was there was no snow fall! =(

Another shot from the Not-So-Forbidden-City! The chinese people really make effort to design things in such symmetrical order. I tell you EVERYTHING is really orderly done. Its good in a way (discipline) I guess.

After many days looking at barren plants I have to admit that I got quite bored of it. Plants by this lake are still holding on to their leaves tightly. Its yellow so I assume that its about to drop off =)

This is one of the places where you can spend hours sitting there on a bench and read a book. The weather was perfect with cold wind blowing lightly and the sun lighting up th yellow leaves making it appear gold-like.



This is another building located in the Forbidden City. Its an examination hall! The tour guide told said that the rules were so strict that punishment for cheating was REALLY severe (death??).

Those days those exams were THE most important thing in life. Only few with pass it and become one of the "respected" government servants. It was so important that people were actually willing to cheat although the consequences were severe.

Tienanmen Square. The only way to describe it is "long and wide". Located opposite the Forbidden City its a nice place for a stroll except getting hassled to buy fake Olympic merchandises by peddlers. It is a nice feeling though, walking at a place so big and wide.



This is another pictures from Sun Island. Not sure if you noticed but I all the skies in all my pictures are clear. During the two weeks in China, I have not spotted any clouds. The skies was pure clear blue. I wanted snow so badly! No clouds means no rain which means no snow!

One of my favorite shots, I took it at the front of the hotel! The sun was just rising marking the start of another busy "touring" day around Beijing =)