Beijing, China

Friday Evening

The morning started out with a visit to Beijing University to listen to a lecture on Chinese calligraphy. The professor who delivered the lecture was an 87 year old retired professor of a Calligraphy named Yang Xin. He was simpy amazing. His lecture gave us a history and demonstration of calligraphy.

Let's be honest here the guy is eighty seven years old and he used power point and a laser pointer. There was no one doing it for him, he worked the whole system himself. He was full a vigour and life. I guess it re-inforced the point of his lecture. That the practice of and appreciation of calligraphy allows people to stay sharp. Laotzu Yang was the epitome of this. He told stories, jokes, and anecdotes. He was totally charming and engaging. His lecture was the highlight of my trip so far, simply awesome.

Beijing University Campus

After the lecture we toured the campus, it was stunning. There were lakes and walk ways, the place lived up to its hype. We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch and then headed to the Summer Palace. The palace was finished in the after the fall of the Ming Dynasty by the Qianlong Emperor to escape the summer heat and dusty winds of old Beijing. From the pictures you can see why.

Our next stop was the Olympic Village. What the place lacks in history it has in fame. Although the day was overcast and had quite a bit of smag the scene was great. When I was here this summer we simply drove by. So after the Olympics I have been dying to get to see the Olympics Village with the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest.

Two things. First the weather had been wonderful and the the sky has been blue as the ocean. So I was thinking that the pollution was more due to the summer than to China. Well today was overcast with smog. Beijing is in a sort of valley which makes the pollution from factories, the winds from the west and north, and smog really block the view of city.

Mr. Steph at Beijing's Olympic Village

Next three of us decided to roll the dice and skip the bus home. This would allow to do a couple things. First, we could get right up to the Olympic stadium and Water Cube, the others would tak e the tour bus home and could only stop enough time to take the bus. It also gave a chance to take the subway back to the hotel.

Here was what were up against. Not one of the three of us speak Chinese, we had never taken the Beijing subway before, we would have to switch subway lines three times, and we doing all of this at 5:30pm on Friday. We made it no problem. The subway was packed like a sardine can at least half of the ride. Here is the funny thing, we beat the bus home!

Mr. Steph ont the subway, part 1

Mr. Steph ont the subway, part 2

For dinner we had the famous Peking Duck, don't forget that Peking was the old way Westerners would spell Beijing. We had a nice dinner and it will be sad to say good bye to Beijing. We will tour a hutong tommorrow morning then fly out to Nagoya, Japan in the afternoon.

CLick here for photos of the calligraphy and Olympic Village!

Mr. Steph out