More Beijing Photos!!!!

We are having some problems with out internet access here. There was a crackdown a few years ago and there are not a lot of places around. The hotel has 2 computers, but one has not been working for 2 days and we have to share with everyone in the hotel, so right now we are at a very expensive internet cafe (apparently they charge locals 7 yuan per hour at the one next door - they told us it was 24 - and this one is 20 yuan per hour - yikes!)

We have been riding around town pretty much every day - seeing the sights and running errands for things that we will need for the trip (and deciding WHERE we are going to ride :)

These are some of the Olympic sights - lots of shops and signs for Beijing 2008 - and there is even a countdown to the number of days in front of the Museum of Chinese History/Museum of the Revolution (both closed for renovations!!!)

This is one of the new stadiums under construction at the Olympic Park...


and this is the other one (the famous one with the bendy metal) I think we were on the wrong side to see the new swimming hall next door, apparently that one is nearly finished as well.


One of the many signs we see of the cute mascots....



These are some of the sights we see around Beijing:

A hutong -this is what Beijing used to look like before the powers that be tore most of them out and built the new buildings....we see loads of rubble everywhere and they are disappearing fast!


They even have an Ikea here!


This is A getting a language lesson from a local woman. We talked with her for a good 15 minutes! We had a similar conversation at a shop earlier today - they love it when we bring out our little Rough Guide to Mandarin (it's just a dictionary :) and we help each other with pronunciation (which is VERY helpful for us and I hope for them as well)


A sign that A took a fancy to :)


This is our bus stop....good thing we can recognize it because we certainly can't say it!!!! :) The top line (in green) is the route (there is also a number that is off the photo) where the bus starts and ends. In red is the name of the stop and the green background with white characters at the bottom is all the stops that this bus stops at - they are listed vertically. We take the 915 bus from this stop to go north to the Trek office, but the 915 that you can catch near one of the teahouses we had dinner at does not stop at our stop - you have to be very careful what bus you take and it's hard when you only know a few characters! But we are smart girls and we have figured it out (woohoo!!!!) :) Luckily there's a 401 bus that stops near the teahouse and brings us to our stop :)


We did the tourist thing and went to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower. The area around there is VERY touristy....funny that the loos are not geared to all the western tourists that get taken there (see my previous post about the loos at the Drum Tower :).

The Drum Tower (from the Bell Tower across the way :)


View from the Drum Tower (you have to climb some steep stairs (see the Bell Tower photos below - the stairs are very similar)


This is one of the original drums (? certainly very old) and you can see the knife slash that tore the hide when the Drum Tower was not thought of as an important relic to be preserved....


I want to bang on my drum all day....


This is the Bell Tower (from the Drum Tower across the way :)


And this is the bell...


To get to the bell (and the drums in the Drum Tower) you have to climb a long and very steep staircase...


Here is some info about the timekeeping that the Drum and Bell Towers were used for...



We had to try the street food!

The interesting things they had available....


and the veggie selection that we chose from....


and our choices on a stick - smoked tofu (that we didn't like and binned), seaweed, broccoli, cauliflower, rape and mushrooms... all doused in a whole lot of chili that had our mouths burning! But is was for the most part very tasty :)

Even though it's all veg it was not at all cheap - there is definitely a difference in price between tourist food and food for the locals. We try to eat where the locals eat and we nearly always get away for about 25% of the cost of the touristy food (and it tastes better!!!!).


There are a few more photos in the pipeline....patience, patience :)