All Around Beijing

Today's post has no unifying theme - these are just a bunch of pictures I've accumulated from my third and fourth week here.  There are photos from Panjiayuan - a large antique market, street vendors, and the Lama Temple. Check out the description under each photo for more details.

Things are well here. I turned 19 earlier this week and had a great birthday party with students and teachers from the UChicago program. I also upgraded my Chinese name (previously 满汉声) to more authentic name (满汉声 is apparently not a name a Chinese person would give to their children). How I got my new name is going to be the subject of a future blog post, but in short a Buddhist master gave it to me. My new Chinese name is 金汉生. More about that later though.

Enjoy!

This is Zhongguancun road, the main road that passes by the east gate of Renmin University. Further north is the heart of Beijing's high tech district. I took this shot from the UChicago center in Beijing. Since it was taken through a window I had to photoshop out some of the refections afterwards (in the original there is a creepy reflection of my head in the sky). 

Cold noodles, or 凉面，is one of my favorite dishes in Beijing. This is a noodle stand in an alley nearby Renmin University.

A woman lights incense and prays at the Lama Temple.

The entrance path leading to the Lama Temple. I wanted to try to find a composition different than your typical temple photo. 

A man takes a rest inside on of the halls in the Lama Temple.

A man makes a sign on the side of the sidewalk in Haidian District, Beijing.

A man stands in front of a store in Panjiayuan, a large antique market in Beijing. The sign to his right reads "Chicken Blood Stone" ("Bloodstone" in English), which is a type of red stone used in jewelry and seals.

A man sells antiques at Beijing's "Dirt Market". While most of the antiques here are imitations, there are occasionally legitimate artifacts.

Communist paraphernalia at Panjiayuan.

Panjiayuan, Beijing's antique market, is also known as the dirt market. On the day I went there were a couple thousand people at the market.

An enormous construction operation in the Beijing suburbs near the airport. There were probably 30 cranes in total working on an apartment complex.

a quickr pickr post