Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A City of Contrast!

I know that it sounds very cliche, but Beijing is really a city of contrast. There is a struggle between the desire to enter capitalism, and yet this is still very much a Communist country. This post is actually more about the contrast in scenery.




The air was very clear in the city the past few days so I was amazed by the view from my balcony when I got home yesterday evening. So I grabbed the camera and snapped off a few shots to share:









If you look behind the buildings you can see the mountains in the distance.









Here I tried to zoom in a bit, steadying the camera on the balcony railing







Keep in mind that my balcony faces west so those mountains are the separation between China and Mongolia, and sitting on top of them is the Great Wall. It's not visible in these photos, but one day it might be clear enough to see it. I've been told that one portion of the wall is only about an hour from here, but I'm saving that trip until Lightnin comes out to visit so we can both see it for the first time!

Like I said contrasts, this time in the scenery!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice shots! Sounds like things are going good. That bar you went to with that beer special made me think about Rosie O'Grady's 5¢ beer night. That was a fun road trip,too short though. Any way, when are we going to see pic's of the new bike? Catch ya later.
Brother J

Anonymous said...

Thunder-
I'm anxiously awaiting my trip over...just a few more weeks now! I should have all of my paperwork tonight when I get home! YIPEE! Miss ya and will talk to you in a bit.
Love,
Lightnin

Anonymous said...

Ah-so, Grasshopper... those were very good pictures. Young Lightnin (more like Young Thunder!!!) and I just finished eating some smoked pork tenderloin and decided to check out the blog. I bought a Belgian beer sampler the other day and have been enjoying it immensely and thinking of you each time. Looking forward to when you guys move to FL. Hope work is going well for you! Love, Dave

Anonymous said...

Hey, Dave is calling me young thunder, but I really think I should be "little dark cloud". ha ha! Anyway it sounds like things are going well there! Talk to you later.

Love, Tonia

Thunder said...

Brother J - Lightnin and STEB are going to go pick it up this weekend, and she said she'd take a few pics and e-mail them to me. I'll share them when I get them.

Lightnin - I'm glad you finally got your papers. I got my offial documents on Tuesday too, so now I'm fully legal!

Davie - You crack me up! I was told that there is a great Belgian restaurant here so Lightnin and I are going to go there so she can get her Meule Frit! (mussels and fries) They also have a selection of Belgian Ales!

Little Dark Cloud - Nice to hear from you! You crack me up too!
Things are going great here, I'm having the time of my life, both at work and off time!