Temple of Heaven

This photo was really an "f/8 and be there" moment (though the photo was taken at f/6.3). While touring around Beijing (the Ox Street mosque and the Source of Law Temple), I received a call from some friends that they were heading to the Temple of Heaven. I was thinking of saving the trip to this Beijing landmark for when I was with Catherine, but given that there would be plenty of other opportunities to go check it out with her, I decided to go and meet them there. What we found when we arrived was a full blown dress reherseal for the torch lighting and relay ceremony for the Beijing Paralympic Games. We, and everyone else that happened to be visiting the Temple that day, got to see what would be in store for the live audience and television viewers. This particular image was taken when this elegant lady made her way to the top of the stairway. I was crouched directly behind her but everyone else was shooed away by the security; not sure why. This gave me the opportunity to take this shot without any gawking onlookers in the way. Just the right place, at the right time, and with camera in hand.

Date: August 25, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter speed: 1/640
ISO: 200
Focal length: 55mm (83mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

The Grande Finale

I just finished coming from the most amazing Olympic experience here in Beijing. Watching the Beijing Olympic Closing Ceremonies with a couple hundred Canadians and then running outside to catch the closing fireworks at Tiananmen Square from what was, I kid you not, the best seat in the city (barring the officials directing traffic and overseeing the fireworks). We were a couple hundred metres from Tiananmen Square, watching from an elevated wooden deck. Access to the street below us was closed to pedestrians, and lined with hundreds of security forces.

The fireworks lasted a full 18 minutes and were an exercise in superb pyrotechnics which made the Celebration of Lights back in Vancouver look like a sparkler show. Every time it looked like the show was reaching its climax, it would take a step back from the edge and once again reach a crescendo. This would play over again and again, while high-tech fireworks dazzled - there were fireworks that exploded into red stars, others that made a cascading noise like waves crashing on the shore, and yet others that formed smiley faces. It was fun watching the buses, taxis and cars driving by Tiananmen that slowed down as they found themselves under a sky of explosions. The evening breeze blew the smoke away from our vantage point and we watched, along with local guards and PLA troops, as the show finally came to an amazing end.

I am no fireworks expert, but I am sure that any past fireworks display would have been hard-pressed to match the one I just saw. China went all out to bring its Olympic games to an unforgettable end. After the show, we all broke out in spontaneous applause, and the guards lining the street smiled at our gesture of appreciation, the look of pride on their faces barely hidden.

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Olympic Gold

Photo with Canadian Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek, who was part of the champion 8-man rowing team. That medal is sweetness. Way to go rowers!

Beijing Restaurant Review: Noodle Loft

For those of you who may be interested in how I am nourishing myself...

Found this restaurant in That's Beijing, winning a 'Best Value' award in their annual round-up. There are two locations in Beijing and don't ask me how or why, but I have already been to both. The major Noodle Loft draw is the fact that you can go and watch the Shanxi chefs make the noodles right in front of you. They are stretching it, rolling it and beating it at the bar which makes for great entertainment as you await your noodles.

The menu is nice in that it has photos. The appetizers are extensive and I especially enjoyed the cold spicy noodles and the cold carrot shavings. The sliced beef wasn't bad, but nothing special. As for the noodles themselves, they are nice and chewy, and come in a variety of shapes/forms. The "you mein" come in a dim sum dish and are shaped like little cones - you dip the noodles into three different sauces provided. The 'you mein' was neat to experience but I don't think the sauces provided enough bang.

The beef brisket and noodle soup was good, though the broth could have used a bit more flavour. Finally, the chow mein was very nice, being not too oily.

If you have to pick a location, go to the one by Soho New Town since you can actually sit and dine at the noodle bar.

Overall, a great place to take guests and friends to have an inexpensive meal in a nice environment and built-in entertainment. Just make sure you go around peek times or just before peek times to catch all the noodle-making.

Let's try a rating system out of 5...
Food: 3.5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 4.5 (when the chefs are making their noodles)
Value: 4

Noodle Loft Daily 11am-10pm 3 Heping Xijie (in a back alley just after exit E at Hepingxiqiao metro stop) Chaoyang District (5130 9655) 20 Xi Dawang Lu Chaoyang North East (6774 9950/5372)

A perfect Olympic experience

Catherine and I bought a pair of tickets off a Canadian to Tuesday night's Athletics event at the Beijing National Stadium (aka the Bird's Nest). The events started at 7pm so we spent a couple hours wandering the Olympic Green, just taking in all the sights and sounds of people milling around and enjoying the Olympic atmosphere. When it was time, we entered the Bird's Nest to take our place on the second floor. The seats were great and we had a nice view of everything. The night's events included women's 200m qualifiers, men's 110m hurdles qualifiers, men's 200m and 400m semifinals, men's discus final, men's high jump final, women's 400m final, women's 110m hurdles final and men's 1500m final.

Of course the highlight was Canada's bronze medal from Priscella Lopes-Schllep in the 110m hurdles! Woo! It was a pleasant surprise and the fact that they had the medal ceremony that evening was icing on the cake.

Having all the events to watch at once was great and the stadium was quite impressive. We wandered around for a while to take photos of the Bird's Nest and its neighbour, the Water Cube. These buildings look their best in the evening when they are lit up by their red and blue, respectively. Photos to come in the next day or so.

An amazing Olympic experience. Can't wait for the Paralympic Games!

G

Squat and Smoke

The squat position is very popular here in China, which is something I cannot understand. For me, squatting is quite uncomfortable, yet people in China use it as a resting position. On the same day I took this photo at 798 district, I saw a women conducting what seemed like her banking/paperwork in a squat position.

The other significant point about this photo is the quality of light. You may have noticed that a lot of the photos taken have very flat light, mainly because it is rare for the sun to break through the haze/pollution, so what you end up with is diffused light that does not produce shadows (or very interesting lighting for photos). The day we were at 798 was a great day with blue sky, clouds and sunlight. You start missing your shadow after a while!

Date: August 12, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 200
Focal length: 200mm (300mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

798: Alley Texting

A photo taken in the 798 art district, looking into one of the many alleyways lined with brick buildings.

Date: August 12, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 200
Focal length: 150mm (221mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Characters as Art 01

This photo was taken at the Confucian temple - it is from one of the stone slabs on which have been carved the names of all the people that had passed China's famous civil service exams. It's funny, not being able to read too many Chinese characters, I sort of see them in the abstract, and so at times they can be art for me.

Also interesting, as I was shooting a stone slab with etched characters, it was not too different than shooting a brick wall, the standard subject for testing camera lenses. Given that I was shooting in the shade, I had to shoot wide open and as I reviewed the image I noticed that the sharpness at the edges of the image were much less sharp than the centre area. This is one of the first times I have noticed the limits of my lens in practical photography (i.e. I had to crop the photo to compensate for the non-uniform sharpness, and you can still notice the less sharp characters around the edges). Interesting...

Date: August 6, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/3.8
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 200
Focal length: 20mm (30mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

The Dutch Heineken House

Went out to visit the Dutch Heineken House the other night and found a sprawling complex that has been converted into a Dutch beer garden and concert/dance hall. The place was staffed by young Dutch in their signature orange, and the place was filled with foreigners. I'm sure it costs a lot to rent the space and pay for the staff, but they were also making a killing on the drinks, with a beer costing 30 yuan for a small cup. Inside the dance hall, they had a live band going which got everyone pumped up. The above video gives a good sense of the atmosphere and the fun-loving Dutch staff.

Canoe and Kayak Slalom

It was a cool rainy day as we set out to attend our Olympic event out in the Beijing suburbs. After following some excellent written directions from our friend Jessie, we arrived at Shunyi to find ourselves in the midst of some heavy rain.

One observation I had when I arrived at the venue was to note that China is not all that interested in generating much economic activity as a result of the events. The ponchos they gave out to people to ward off the rain were free (which was appreciated), there was very limited food choices (and a lot of the choices were sold out) and there weren't any vendors selling stuff save for a few tents. It was nice not to have things shoved our way for purchase, but it was an odd thing to realize that China appears to not put much emphasis on the economic benefits that could be leveraged from the games, instead, focussing on making the games a success, defined by their own criteria.

As for the event itself, we watched a race of men's canoeing. We sat in front of a large group of French supporters who made a ton of noise when their athletes raced. There were no Canadians in the race so we just enjoyed taking in all the other fans, especially when the Chinese "jia you" cheering machine got into full swing. The event was great to watch and the athletes were amazing in their ability to control their boats and the speed they ripped through the course.

Eventually, the poor weather got the best of the race and the event was postponed. After a bit of a lineup we loaded into a bus and headed back for central Beijing. Despite the poor weather, it was a surprisingly satisfying Olympic experience. I'm glad we had a chance to take in the atmosphere of the Games and experience going to an Olympic event.

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The canoe/kayak slalom course

Here's the course that the athletes had to navigate. The bleachers were just behind the course and we had a great view of the entire course.

Canoers turning on a dime

Here is the German duo making their run. The red gates mean the canoers have to go through the gate the other way. The green gates are for going straight through.

Our tickets to the Beijing Olympics

We picked up these bad boys at a draw for extra tickets for purchase at the Embassy. Keep an eye out for a pair of Canadians waving the Canadian flag!

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798

Catherine and I had the day off yesterday so we headed off to 798, known as Beijing's hop art district where up-and-coming Chinese contemporary artists make their home and display their art. 798 had received a negative review from one of our colleagues who had been a week or two ago so my expectations were not very high, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised. This place is essentially a Toronto Distillery District type place (gentrified old industrial spaces, lots of brick) brimming with art galleries and sprinkled with cafes. We went through some great photo galleries and the entire district itself was just filled with so many neat buildings/art/people/lines that it was a photographic paradise. 798 is currently my favourite spot to photograph in Beijing. One important thing to note is that from what we saw, a lot of the art on display had already hit the big leagues. We asked for the prices for some large photographs and the prices ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 euros. So much for finding an up-and-coming artist! I'll post some shots I took from 798 over the next little while.

Wii with the Premier

We had a little staff party the other night and were lucky enough to have the Premier drop in to spend some time with us. He got involved in all the games, from Wii to bingo. Here is a shot of me poising behind the Premier as he lines up his shot in Wii Sport bowling.

Purple Haze

Before I left for Beijing, my Director General gave me a copy of That's Beijing, a local magazine that targets the expat community. The issue he gave me covered the best restaurants of Beijing, so this has been an invaluable guide for us while we have been in Beijing in our quest for good food. But of course these restaurants reviewed/recommended by these expat magazines are completely geared towards foreigners and wealthy locals. When I ask some locals where to find these places, or ask about certain expat areas, they just shrug and say that they don't frequent these places since they are so expensive. And they are, given that a typical expat meal out can range from 100-300 yuan, whereas a local Chinese eatery will run you about 35-50 yuan (exchange rate is about 7:1).

And if there was ever any doubt about the expatness of these recommendations, the restaurant we tried the other night was completely full of foreigners. Purple Haze, a Thai restaurant, served excellent Thai food as well as not-too-expensive drinks. The five of us ordered a dish each and everything was pretty good. It wasn't the most authentic Thai but it was still very good. The red coconut curry was especially good, as were the chicken skewers and spicy eggplant. This place is definitely worth a re-visit, and we will look to check out their other location which also hosts a live jazz band on Wednesday evenings.

Oh yeah, when we left the restaurant we found ourselves stuck looking for a cab in a Beijing torrential downpour. We were running through ankle deep puddles and standing around trying to wave down a cab while avoiding flying walls of water from passing cars. We eventually got back to the hotel in time to watch team China get outplayed by the more talented and more skilled team USA in basketball. BTW, check out this great article on Yao Ming.

Purple Haze
www.purplehaze.com.cn

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Photo Op with the Premier

Local children

While out on a hutong expedition we came across these three kids playing on the sidewalk. I asked them to give me a quick poise, and they happily obliged.

Date: August 5, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 200
Focal length: 18mm (27mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Watched my first live Olympic event

There has been endless Olympic coverage of various events but I was fortunate enough to catch the women's cycling event whiz by the street in front of our work. Most of us waited outside for the pack of cyclist to zoom by. All the competitors were basically riding together, with no break-away leader or stragglers. Very cool to be one of the ones lining the streets cheering the athletes on for the brief dozen seconds or so. Turns out the British rider ended up winning the gold for the event.

After a post-work dinner at an expat-jammed Thai restaurant, a bunch of us got caught in a thunderstorm without our umbrellas. We were pretty drenched before we finally managed to catch a cab to head back to our hotel. After drying off we watched Team USA out-play Team China in Olympic basketball to a 101-70 score. I was of course hopeful that the game would have been a bit more competitive, but I guess all that talent on the U.S. team was just a bit too much for Yao Ming and the rest of his teammates.

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Opening Ceremonies

I can never really recall one Olympic opening ceremony from the next, as I find the two year gap between them a bit too long for my memory to not become hazy. That being said, China's opening ceremony was quite the sight and I was very much impressed by the dazzling show.

Like most, I was not fortunate enough to score tickets to the opening night, but I did have the privilege of watching the games on a giant projector in an air conditioned room (didn't those spectators at the Bird's Next look warm?) with a bunch of fellow Canadians on Canadian soil (i.e. the Embassy). We ordered in some pizza and had a great time watching the games. Of course a great cheer erupted when we saw the Canadian team make their Olympic entrance (after a false start with team Denmark's red and white clad athletes). Speaking with more local Chinese, I was told that the ceremony did a good job showcasing Chinese history, but since we were watching the Chinese feed (which did not have commercials) I missed a lot of that.

All in all, an impressive start to the Games. I am looking forward to catching the events on TV when I can, as well as attending my one (and probably only) Olympic event - finals for canoeing and kayaking. Woo!

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TV spotting

Seems like I somehow managed to get on CBC/CTV news on Thurs night, shown escorting the Minister of Foreign Affairs to an event here in Beijing. Thanks to people that pointed it out (I still have yet to see it)!

Now I need to work on making my remainder 12 seconds of fame count for a bit more...

G

Chinese Chess in the Park

Date: August 5, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 200
Focal length: 24mm (36mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Less than one day to go!

The countdown clocks around Beijing only have hours left! Can't wait to watch the opening ceremonies.

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Taking a Rest

Date: August 4, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 200
Focal length: 105mm (158mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Beijing Window Cleaners

A crew of window cleaners going at it.

Date: August 4, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 200
Focal length: 42mm (63mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

East meets West

The following link came from a friend over Facebook. The icons within do a pretty good job of noting the major general differences between East Asian and Western culture, and is particularly timely given our arrival in Beijing. It'll only take a minute to go through and should have particular resonance for those who have had deep considerable interactions with both cultures (esp. those of you who are CBC).

http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/print.php?id=1748

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Purple and Red

Photo of a visitor to the Forbidden City.

Date: August 4, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 200
Focal length: 200mm (300mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Red Wall

We visited the Forbidden City today, after sleeping in a bit (we had a big karaoke night the night before) on our day off. Speaking of karaoke, this was the second time that we went to Party World, a three story modern facility completely dedicated to the act of (poorly, in my case) singing in front of friends. Like the first time we went, this time we were brought to a private lounge with comfy seats and nice big flat screen displays. The music selection is quite extensive and features enough variety to please most people. After a couple awkward songs at the beginning, people got into the mood and starting belting our power ballads. Woo!

Okay, back to the Forbidden City. This is my second visit to the seat of ancient Chinese imperial power. My last visist was in 2002 so this was a great refresher. We took in the sights with the help of a tour guide. We did not take too many photos or felt too rush to see every last nook and cranny as we know we will be returning many times with incoming visitors. At one point we just sat down on a ledge overlooking the upper half of the palace just enjoying the shade, the breeze and watching the tourists walk by.

Date: August 4, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 200
Focal length: 70mm (105mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Fancy shmancy

Beijing's undergone a major facelift in preparation for the Olympic Games. For example, the main subway stations are clean and shiny. They even went to the trouble to add nifty Olympic ads in the subway tunnels that come to life as the train zips past.

The Heart of the Middle Kingdom

People enjoying a pleasant sunset in Tiananmen Square. The few days of blue skies we had have been replaced with the regular haze today.

One week to go!

A spontaneous countdown broke out from the crowd that gathered to watch the Olympic clock by Tiananmen reach the one week mark.

Date: August 1, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/5.3
Shutter speed: 1/8
ISO: 200
Focal length: 75mm (107mm equiv.)
Format: NEF

Smoking Man

A common sitting area for visitors to Tiananmen Square are the giant lamp posts dotting the square, here is a couple enjoying a break at the base of one such post.

Date: July 24, 2008
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: 18-200 AF-S DX VR
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 200
Focal length: 200mm (300mm equiv.)
Format: JPEG

A Random Walk

After returning back to the hotel from work, I witnessed a rare sight outside my window - blue Beijing sky with whispy clouds and a clear horizon that allowed me to see the full expanse of the city and the mountains beyond (I didn't even know Beijing was surrounded by mountains).

As you may have seen from some of the news reports, pollution is a significant issue for the organizers of the Beijing Olympics. Despite the government's measures to curb pollution in the city - including removing half the cars from the road, seeding clouds to induce rain, moving of polluting factories and reduced operating time for remaining manufacturing - last week's air quality in Beijing had not seen any major improvement. But the last couple days, thanks to some rain (natural or man-made, I'm not sure), the miasma that usually envelops the city has been non-existent. Colours jump out in vibrant display, freed from the heavy haze.

Not wanting to let such a wonderful Beijing evening go to waste, Jessie, Catherine and I went out for a walk. We originally wanted to take a pedicab tour of some old hutongs that was recommended by our Lonely Planet guide but we were unable to find the location (I am finding the Lonely Planet China to be not very impressive). Instead, we decided to walk over to Tiananmen Square. We were greeted by a large crowd of people surrounding the world's largest square; turns out we made it in time to watch the lowering of the Chinese flag. After the flag was removed, we made our way into the Square itself to take some photos. The place was full of people with everyone also out enjoying the wonderful summer evening. People were taking photos in front of the Olympic decorations and the Forbidden City. Chinese people sat in groups on the concrete. It all felt very Chinese, and a sense of excitement was definitely in the air with the Olympic Games fast approaching (I took a photo of the timer at exactly 7 days left till the start of the games).

After Tiananem, we took the subway to a Mexican restaurant by the Silk Market recommended by Jessie. We sat outside on their patio and enjoyed an excellent meal of nachos, tacos, burritos, chimichangas and drinks. The best moment was probably after we finished our meal and the live artist began playing Heart of Gold by Neil Young - in Beijing, eating Mexican listening to Neil Young (talk about globalization).

It was evenings such as these that have me so excited about living in Beijing for the next little while.

G