Day 3 saw us rise early to a very murky morning.



Not everyone is on holiday as this colourful street vendor cycles past.




First stop was to the "Hutong" a very old part of the city. where we to a pedi-cycle ride through the ancient area. Passing the Drum Tower it appeared to be snowing despite the warm day. The "snow" is in fact seeds from the weeping willow trees. These fluffy flakes drift around and are so light it is impossible to grab them. With some luck one will settle on your hand but the slightest move and it will float away again.



Off to the Summer Palace, originally a retreat for the Emperors and now open to the public. This was one place that I would have appreciated having more time a tripod and less people. Boy was it crowded. With so little time we only covered about 1/10th of the area. Some of the fore-mentioned willow trees overlooking the artificial lake. You can gain some appreciation of the air quality from this shot.



Despite the air, the cherry blossoms were out in force.



Mr Li, was our our local Beijing guide. A very interesting character and a great ambassador for his city.



One feature of the Summer Palace is the Covered walkway, If I remember correctly, is is some 800 metres long and was built so the emperor and his court could walk from where his barge landed to the residence without being rained on. On every cross member and beam in this structure there are painted scenes. All different, there must be thousands of these pictures in this structure.



One could spend weeks just to see each one.



Another decorative feature were these large weathered limestone blocks. I am not sure of the significance of these but they were also prominent in the Forbidden City and other locations.



One of the many bridges in this area. I waited several minutes for the mass of people to get off without luck. Then the crowd cleared leaving this young lady in the centre. She was in fact posing for her friend. I think this is my favourite image from the whole trip.




Sunset in the streets of Beijing, completing and good but very murky day.

[marosari00]

This is awesome...

[Bruce Clark]

This is awesome...

Thank you

[Sailor]

Amazing - thanks much for sharing this look at China!

Jer

[aleonx3]

Thank you for sharing your travelling photos... It is always refreshing to see other people's photos from different tour groups with different venue and days etc. As for overcrowding with tourists, I used to do the same thing you did, try to wait for people to clear from a special point of interest and end up wasting time. Instead, I now try to find a good viewing angle to take the shot (with or without people), if there are too many people, I move on and then come back later to take the shot when the crowd is cleared.

In a land tour, a significant amount of time is spent on the tour bus, I have always tried to take snapshots from the tour bus but I wonder how many people do that too. I know you have a k-7, what lens(es) do you bring with you no this trip to China? Hope you enjoy the tour....

[Bruce Clark]

Thank you for sharing your travelling photos... It is always refreshing to see other people's photos from different tour groups with different venue and days etc. As for overcrowding with tourists, I used to do the same thing you did, try to wait for people to clear from a special point of interest and end up wasting time. Instead, I now try to find a good viewing angle to take the shot (with or without people), if there are too many people, I move on and then come back later to take the shot when the crowd is cleared.

In a land tour, a significant amount of time is spent on the tour bus, I have always tried to take snapshots from the tour bus but I wonder how many people do that too. I know you have a k-7, what lens(es) do you bring with you no this trip to China? Hope you enjoy the tour....

Hi. Thanks for your interest. I have shot some through the bus window. The street vendor in this series for example and some which I will post later. As far as lenses go, I used mainly a 40mm f2.8 Ltd and the 18-55mm WR. I also carried a Sigma 55-300 and a Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 but rarely used them. I would have loved to have a UWA lens, I tried several times to get the Sigma 10-20mm on ebay before I left but missed out each time.

---------- Post added 28-04-14 at 11:18 AM ----------

Amazing - thanks much for sharing this look at China!

Jer

You are more than welcome. China is an amazing place and I have a few more days left to go through.

[Bob Harris]

Just curious Bruce when you say murky is this due to pollution there. Really enjoyed your photos and narrative of the area.

[Bruce Clark]

Just curious Bruce when you say murky is this due to pollution there. Really enjoyed your photos and narrative of the area.

Pollution plus. Beijing is a city of 24 + million people and once was the capital of bicycles. Nowadays there are something like 6 or 8 million cars. All sorts of restrictions apply to help combat traffic and pollution such as no-drive days and high ownership costs. It is not only Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Suzhou and Hangzhou, the other cities we visited, were as bad if not worse. With their economic boom, industry is also adding to the problem.