cao chang di--beijing

a little walk through cao chang di.  i wasn't kidding about the prevalence of red brick and white stone trim...

cao chang di--beijing

the galleries in cao chang di tended to be more international in flavour.  several galleries from europe and other countries across asia were representing.  overall, i think i appreciated the work in cao chang di more than 798.  798 was very chinese--from inception to representation.  for example, what's not to love about this little mounted marble mammal?

cao chang di--beijing

even superman needs acupuncture sometimes.  i'm all for suspension of disbelief, but if bullets can't hurt him, how does ya gets them needles in?  man of steel meets ancient chinese secret...

cao chang di--beijing

cao chang di is another area with several galleries located about 10 mins (by car) from 798 district.  this area is more residential and mixed use than 798.  most of the structures seemed to consist of the red brick and white stone compounds shown in this series of images.  i just like this sequence of the guy walking with the long pole (insert penis joke here). 

mausoleum of mao zedong--beijing

apparently, there is a pickled mao in the middle of tianaman square.  unfortunately, the mausoleum was closed the day we visited.  i think there was a demonstration scheduled for the square the following day and paranoia was in the air.  as you can imagine, the government doesn't mess around when it comes to tianaman square.  there was security everywhere, even in evidence before the grand social realist statues flanking the building.  

street food--beijing

i'm not sure what most of this stuff is...  various parts, eggs and unidentifiable seafood.  i do know that the red cubes that appear in the top picture are some type of fermented pigs blood.

street food--beijing

starfish and various types of 'pedes (centi- and milli-).

flash fried before you eyes...

street food--beijing

maggot, grubs and locust, OH MY!

street food--beijing

so i finally bit the bullet (so to say) and decided on a skewer of small scorpions.  as you hear at the end of the video, they tasted like fried.

small scorpions, big scorpions, crickets, OH MY!

the big scorpions seem to be a popular item...

street food--beijing

some sort of shrimp-like shellfish that i had never seen before.  encountered this a few time in various cities in china.  taste and texture is somewhere between shrimp and lobster.  the red things in the top picture (next to the shellfish) is the heart of some small animal.  mmmmm...

street food--beijing

like in many cities across asia some of the best, and most exotic, food can be enjoyed fresh from the kiosks of street vendors.  beijing has one famous stretch of wangfujing street that is renowned for its variety of unusual food items.  i started with some of the largest oysters i have ever enjoyed.  they were heavily seasoned with fresh garlic, peppers and onions.  delish...

forbidden city--beijing

at the far end of the city is a garden featuring a variety of gnarled, ancient trees and some period sculptures.

forbidden city--beijing

CHECK OUT THE THRONES!!!  there weren't any lights on in the building that housed the thrones, so the flecks on the images are dust particles that my flash was hitting.  did i mention that the air quality in beijing is awful?

forbidden city--beijing

here is some video footage of one of the courtyards in the forbidden city.  keep in mind that this courtyard is flanked on each side by courtyards of equal size and that there are several more of these courtyards beyond...  don't mean to keep harping on this point, but this place was massive!

a link to a map of forbidden city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Forbidden_city_map_wp_1.png

forbidden city--beijing

some images of forbidden city to give you a sense of scale and level of architectural detail.  some areas were a bit rough (mostly old stone staircases) but for the most part the place was fairly well restored.  the royals had it really good.

forbidden city--beijing

we checked out the forbidden city, which was the imperial palace for nearly 5 centuries starting in the early 15th century.  the scale of this compound is indescribable.  i walked into the first massive courtyard and thought to myself, "this place is immense".  i soon realized that we were only in the first of many courtyards of that scale.  apparently this site covers almost 8 million square feet.  it just kept going and going.  perhaps the world's first McMansion.  here are some shots from the front entrance.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City

stone yard visit--beijing

one final shot from the stone yard.  i just liked these dancing figures hanging out in front of a nondescript warehouse.

stone yard visit--beijing

check the hippo table.  get it?  the glass top is like a pool of water cooling the oversize mammal.  speaking of water, they served us hot plain water in paper cups.  mmmmm...hot plain water (you have to do your own homer simpson for that one).  also, pictured is the showroom that is fashioned to look like some jigsaw puzzle of a western courtyard, complete with false doors and windows, all of which they are willing to produce or provide for the right price.  

stone yard visit--beijing

gotta love all the religious statuary being produced by chinese infidels for upstanding christian consumers in the west.  let me know if you need a marble angel statue...i have a hook-up.  check out the nun statue with the pink elephant.  not sure if they were intentionally placed in such close proximity, but somehow it works!