For my final day, I visited the Temple of Heaven. It is this gorgeous park south of the city center. The weather was pretty overcast and drab. I was hoping for some sunshine to pick me up this morning. Still just feeling exhausted and beat. If there is one thing that I have learned about photography from this trip, is you never know when an opportunity will arise. As I was trying to cross an insanely busy intersection, I saw all of these people running across a bridge yelling. Yes, I did get a little freaked out at first. I didn't know what the hell was going on and if it was bad. Since no one else seemed startled, I timidly walked to the craziness. It turned out to be some sort of high school training program or something? It was like gym class, but without the ball. They were in groups on the sidewalk doing these basketball and marching drills. It was just crazy.

I walked through some alleyways to see what the other side of Beijing looked like. It was a pretty sad scene. Everything is in a constant state of destruction. Sidewalks that I have been walking since the beginning of the week are now gone. Nothing seems to last long here.

The Temple of Heaven turns out to be the most beautiful park that I have ever been in. It is also the most unique. There was activity EVERYWHERE!! And it was strictly adults! There was bad mitten, ballroom dancing, hackey sack, traditional fan dancing, singing, card games..... it was insane. There were almost no children at all. These were mostly people in their 50s and 60s! Old women doing tricks with a hackey sack that the most sober hippy at Bonnaroo could never do!! There was also this little area where old men were playing these strange guitars and drums. I have never heard such noise before, and I mean noise in a very beautiful way. It shouldn't have sounded good, but it did.

By the end of walking around the park, my feet were done. I called a taxi and got a ride back to my hotel. This will be the last entry from China. This last one was pretty hard to write. I feel like I have just finished a marathon. I am sad to leave tomorrow, but very ready. Jon and I catch a flight into Newark tomorrow and will be back to Cincinnati on Sunday. I hope that this thing didn't bore you to much. I hope to talk to all of you soon.

Peace and love

Day 5: I need a camera to my eye

After saying that I hated the typical tourist photo, I ended up shooting a lot of typical tourist photos today. I tried to put a little bit of artist cred on them, but I don't know how well that worked. Today was a long day! On the encouragement of my friends last night, I got up early and was out the door by 6:30. I was off to visit the Summer Palace. I had my first trip on a Chinese subway and taxi. It took me over an hour to get to this place. I find it amazing that you can travel for over an hour and still be in the Beijing city limits!

The Summer Palace is absolutely breathtaking! I cannot think of another place that is as gorgeous. Versailles comes close, but it was so peaceful in the morning before the tourists came. It was so easy to get lost and discover some new garden or temple. I walked for over 3 hours in the place. My legs are beginning to feel the pain of constantly walking and climbing. I have a really bad ankle cramp that I have been trying to massage all day.

After the Summer Palace I headed South to visit the White Cloud Temple. Taoist monks run the place, and these guys can move. I could not really get any good shots of them. Plus I am a little apprehensive about photographing in religious areas. I don't want to disturb what is a very serious moment for most people. This is a bit of a dilemma for my next stop Lama Temple. It is the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. It is a gorgeous place and a little bit easier to photograph some of the events. Again I just feel like I should put the camera away and light some incense.

Today was a lot different from the rest. I stepped outside of the normal drive to photograph people and see what I could get in the landscape and architecture department. I have to admit that I am really beginning to miss home. I love being here, but I have a case of the traveling blues. At the end of the day it is just nice to be able to put the camera down and not have to worry about where you are going to eat and making sure you can find where you need to go. Plus my body is just beat down. Sleep is still not regular and my back is killing me from carrying around 3 cameras. I know I shouldn't complain. I promise that I will be happier tomorrow!! Okay!?? : )

My radom China thought for the day is this: There are Germans everywhere!! Why is that? I can't seem to escape them.

Mao never did this!!

Okay, I wake up this morning after taking a heavy dose of nasal, and I feel great. I actually slept for about 7 hours. I am a new man! There was nervous energy in the air. I was heading out on my own today. I decided that my time would be well spent in the Forbidden City and surrounding parks (Belhai and Jangshuan). I feel that I have definitely got the hang of shooting from the hip and have gained enough courage to just take the photograph. I was pretty proud of my Great Wall shots. So maybe I am not dirt on Cartier-Bresson's shoe after all??

The Forbidden City is ENORMOUS!! At the end, it took me over an hour to walk to way back to the front. I was a little disappointed that most of the main buildings were under severe construction. There are a few famous buildings that many of you would recognize, but you will not be seeing any in today's shots. It is my understanding that this is the biggest renovation in 100 years. I have learned that I am not a huge fan of the typical tourist shots anyway. They just bore me and I don't have the patience to wait for everyone to get out of the way. There were a ton of people in the place. I mean it was busier than Disneyworld. Some more "art students" tried to bother me, so I just looked confused and kept repeating the few words of Polish I know. It worked wonderfully. Maybe I can one day speak the few words of Chinese that I know and get hagglers off my case??

Belhai and Jangshaun parks are surprisingly peaceful and it is nice to not see tons of people walking around. The car noise and everyday hussle is no where to be found. Belhai is a gorgeous spot with many little side trips inside. The pictures above with the white topped building is the White Dagoba (you had to pay extra to see Yoda). Some guy tried to tell me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but everyone else did. When in Beijing I like to say!

I am back in the hotel and going to get a bite to eat with some people from Jon's work. It is nice to have a few people to call upon should a situation arise.............I just got back from dinner with Eduglobal (Jon's office). Not to sound all weird or anything, but the best way to know another culture is to break bread with them. We went to a hotpot restaurant that is attached to the hotel. Think fondue only spicier and a lot better. I just had an amazing meal with 9 new friends. We toasted Yao Ming, Tracy Mcgrady and being a "real man". I was also told that in order to show your friendship, you have to get drunk together. Don't worry, I know that I am a light weight, but I kept my dignity! :) I would also like to thank my father at this point. My dad can make friends anywhere he goes. I like to think that maybe I have inherited that trait from him! Thanks Dad!!!

RANDOM China thoughts

1. Things are cheap in China. Yesterday at Friendship Town, Jon and I ate a typical American-Chinese meal for $2!! Think Main Moon buffet in Norwood or the Peking Garden in Wheeling. I bought 4 beers, 3 waters and some cookies for $3!!! Amazing stuff here in China. However, my meal at the hotel cost almost $20 last night. This was for a burger and fries!

2. Regardless of the cheapness of the country, it is still a developing nation. I guess I have a hard time believing this since they seem to be a world power. Driving through rural China yesterday, I saw extreme poverty. It was like being in El Salvador. People living in tiny huts. Even in Beijing, there are extreme contrasts. It comes as quite a shock.

3. Mirrored elevators, which seem to be all of them, are extremely awkward. I never know where to look. Plus it is weird when you are a foot taller than everyone else and they just stare at you.

4. Relating China to the jokes on the Simpsons is not a good thing. It is sad that all I keep thinking about is how I want dragons to offer me eternal happiness.


I took 400 pictures today! I hope that you enjoy them, and hope that I can get another 400 tomorrow. I couldn't edit a majority of them. I will be heading to the Summer Palace for some sunrise shots. We will see where else I end up!

I wanted to extend congratulations to my brother-in-law Josh on his recent engagement.

I hope all of you are well.

Peace

Day 3


I am going to keep this relatively short. I am fighting a cold and three nights of poor sleep are starting to beat me down. The day was spent at the Great Wall of China, though I think Jon would have enjoyed Monday Night Football. It is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. I am humbled just thinking about how long it took to build and how large it is. We got to ride this roller-coaster type dealy up to the top and back down again. Jane(contact) had to save Jon from the hands of a pushy peddler. We got to feed apples to some bears.

The next few days I am flying solo. Hopefully I will have more energy and funnier stories!

Peace