A few pictures from my trip to China July/August 2006

 

There are many pictures of Ray's and my hike to the Great Wall that will follow....

My nickname for the hike is the Chinese walk of many steps.

Much of the hike was spent walking up many, many, many sets of stairs.

In the pictures, Mongolia is to the left of the Wall, and China is to the right of the Wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At each of the towers, vendors would try to sell tee-shirts, cold water, and cold beer.

Somewhere around the half-way point of our hike, I enjoyed a nice cold beer.

Same beer. Same Great Wall.

 

 

This young Chinese man was actually playing with his cell phone. And yes, there is cell phone signal on the Great Wall!

The end of our hike is in view (halfway up the mountain where you can see a road going off to the right).

The Flying Fox!

This picture's for mom & dad!

We were given the choice of hiking to our finish point or taking a zip line across the river.

Price - 35 RMB ($4.36 US) for the zip line and a boat ride.

I'm off!

This really was so much fun!

Ray and I took an illegal motorcycle taxi ride home from the subway station to the apartment where we were staying.

The computer shopping district - Zhongguancun. There are very few rules of traffic in China.

The walk signal for pedestrians was red which means (as it does in the US) do NOT go.

This is Temple of Heaven Park - a gorgeous park in Bejing!

A great hall in the Temple of Heaven park

A nod to the 2008 Olympics. Beijing is in full-swing preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven

Recently, there was a major restoration effort for the Temple of Heaven and its surrounding halls.

With some of the pictures that follow, you can get an idea of the incredible detailing

of the carvings and painting that went into designing these structures.

Looking up towards the roof of one of the great halls.

The ceiling of the Great Hall of Harvest.

Stairway to Heaven

We were not allowed to go inside the Temple of Heaven, but I tried to snap a picture

to capture some of the beauty!

Ray and the Temple of Heaven

I liked the detailing on the outside of this great hall. I have been told that the Temple of Heaven and its surrounding halls

make a specalar sight in the winter when it snows because of their brilliant blue tile roofs and colors that constrast

with the white snow.

Temple of Heaven

Darlene and the Temple of Heaven

 

An open-air market in a village not too far away from the Temple of Heaven Park.

 

Another view - same market.

I've got my eyes on you!

?? - I am not sure what some of this food is. Seafood I think!

Jackfruit

Another motorcycle ride home - I had the same driver as the night before!

It's tough to go shopping and carry all of my bags home on the motorcycle taxi!

Farewell Beijing!

 

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