Beijing

Aside from the foul air when I arrived (which became more of a light haze and cloud layer by the time I left), I liked Beijing even if it wasn't exactly what I expected. I don't know why, but for some reason I thought it would be more walkable and well-preserved, when in fact it's neither. It's a huge, sprawling city where walking anywhere along the huge boulevards (6 lanes in each direction) is exhausting and not necessarily pleasant. Plus, the combination of ugly communist-era architecture and massive new projects in recent years (and probably preparation for the Olympics in 2008) means that it's not the most attractive of cities. Still, there were some spectacular sights (even if the amount of time it took to get around the city meant it was hard to see everything) and some areas where you could catch a glimpse of older times. Usually when I have meetings I don't have much time for sightseeing, but this time I was only giving a short presentation and decided to take an extra day (for which I owe Gretchen big-time) to see the city, so I was able to get out a bit.

This is the Tiananmen Gate with the famous portrait of Mao at the entrance of the Forbidden City:



This is inside the Forbidden City (note to self: perhaps it's finally time to get around to watching "The Last Emperor"):



While the Forbidden City was amazing, it was so big that it was a bit overwhelming. I preferred the Temple of Heaven, most of which was actually a nice park. This is the largest building there, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests:



From there, I went over to Baiyun Guan, a peaceful Taoist temple where I seemed to be the only Westerner:



Then I walked around a neighborhood of hutongs, or narrow lanes lined with old/decrepit houses and shops. I started on a touristy street but wandered just a few minutes off the beaten path and felt like I was going back in time 50 years:



All in all, not too bad for a short trip, but I still missed the Great Wall (so much for my list of possible Wonders of the World), the Summer Palace, the lakes near the Forbidden City, and several other temples, so I guess I'll have to go back someday...