1. This was taken at one of the lakes in Beijing. I was walking along the main streets and their "proper" stores, then ventured through the back alleys (where there were street merchants selling all sorts of things) THEN suddenly came across this lake.
2. This one was taken at the Yonghegong Lama temple (not Llama spelt wrong, as in the Dalai Lama. Awkward moment when you don't see any llamas).
3. This is in fact a picture of the courtyard in my Godfather's flat. It seems to me that the Chinese work well on presentation both inside and out. I'm also used to small ,not exactly pretty, London flats - between the two there's a big difference.
4. This... is a fancy lamp post.
5. I went to the Beijing National Museum on my first day in China. This plaque was up over the entrance to the big entrance hall. I'm not sure what it means though.
6. This was taken before the museum peeps pointed out that flash wasn't allowed. Anyway, I'm fascinated by Ancient China. You see so many items such as pots and decorative objects in the museum which you expect to be from 200AD or so, when in fact they were around 2000BC.
7. The entrance to the Forbidden City in front of Tian'anmen Square. As you can see there's a big plaque of Mao on the front, and people loved having their photos with it. It's odd seeing Mao on money and the few Party monuments around the city.
I actually saw said Arthur earlier! I hadn't seen him properly since he went on his travels (and pre-blue, pink to be exact, photos on twitter). It was so lovely to catch up (plus he produced gifts, including a vintage polaroid he found in a second hand shop).
Have a stupendous week!
LOVE TO YOUR MOTHERS
