Reveal

This is the last post from the Beijing trip in August of this year. I am finally caught up. This post is mainly just a bunch of pictures that didn’t fit the previous posts or were cut because I had too many pictures.

An art studio that is also rented out as a place to stay when not in use.

Hutong entrance. Hutong is a narrow street or alley usually in older sections of town.

A bridge on a hutong in the neighborhood where we were staying.

Entrance to where we stayed on Mao'er Hutung

The common area or tea room inside the place we stayed

Part of the roof decor of one of the buildings at the Summer Palace

Jade Belt Bridge.  My camera was accidentally on a weird setting.  I got some results that I kind of like.

17-Arch Bridge at the Summer Palace

Walking by one of the beautiful ponds at the Old Summer Palace

Walking by flowers at the Old Summer Palace

Walking through some ruins of the Old Summer Place

In case you wanted to see a face behind the hat.

Temple

Near the end of my trip to Beijing, we went to Tanzhe Temple. The Temple is located in the mountainous area west of Beijing. We took the subway to the west side of town and hired a driver to take us to the temple and pick us up later. The temple was built in the Jin Dynasty around 1700 years ago. It is one of the oldest and most famous temples in the Beijing area. The place was very peaceful. It didn’t feel right to take pictures of the actual places of worship, but here are some pictures of the Temple’s grounds and from the drive to the Temple.

Common source of energy in China

In traffic on the outskirts of Beijing

Emperor Tree - Whenever a new emperor took the throne, a new branch would come out of the root and combine with the main truck.  That is the legend anyway.

A view of the courtyard where the Emperor tree is.

You walk around this thing 3 times for a blessing

A pool of turtles

View of  mountains

The interesting roof of the Temples

Looking back from the top part the Temple complex

Zoom view of the mountains

Eat Some More

It is December now. We are about halfway between the two great American feeding frenzies holidays. So I figure now is as good of a time as any to look back on my eating adventures in Beijing this past August. The food was good once again. My favorite dish this trip was the roasted duck which is also known as Peking Duck. I didn’t always remember to take pictures of the food. I still took a lot though. So here are a lot of pictures of food.

Tofu, Lamb Ribs, Roast Fish, Fried Pepper Leaves, Salad, Veggies, Clay Oven Rolls, Shallot Pancake. 

Chicken, noodles, and vegetables

Dumplings and vegetables

Tofu

Steamed Pork

Pork on the left and Goose on the right.  I don't remember what was in the middle.  I do remember it all got eaten.

Lotus Root Tip

Roasted Duck and Tomato Egg Soup

The ingredients for the Hot Pot on the right. Includes beef, vermicelli, & tofu

Fried Pepper Leaves, Noodles, Meatballs, and another meat on the right.

Fried fish, porridge, and some veggies.

Beef Noodles

Pita Bread soaked in Lamb Soup from Xinjiang

Fried Eggplant with some peppers and fungus.

Lamb shish kabobs

Beef seasoned and pressed.

Udon Noodles

Steamed Buns

Eggs & Turnip Sprouts

Roasted Lamb

Long Road to Ruin

One of my favorite places that we visited in Beijing was the Old Summer Palace which is also known as the Ruins of the Yuanmingyuan (the Garden of Perfection and Light). The Palace was built in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. It was burnt down by the British in 1860. I don’t know the whole story. Anyway, the Old Summer Palace is in the northwest part of Beijing. It is only one subway stop away from the Summer Palace. The grounds of the Old Summer Palace were beautiful. There were lots of Lotus flowers and lots of weird statues among the ruins. Here are the pictures.

Lake covered with Lotus Flowers near the entrance

Stone Arch Bridge

Looking at Lotus Flowers

Lotus Flowers

Walking by flowers

Climbing on some rocks

View from the Rocks

A channel through the Lotus

The palace ruins

Interesting stone sculptures

They look like aliens.  I've seen this creature in a movie.  I'm not sure what movie though

More alien carvings in the pillars

I think the Predator was based off of this one.

Animal heads on human bodies

A Maze

We took a boat back to the entrance

Looking at the Lotus

On the boat ride

Back to the Stone Arch Bridge