A Lesson in Scale


15 Years in Texas taught us that things are indeed bigger there... but, here there be dragons.

We visited a large square, a large palace grounds, a large park, a large store, and had a few other lessons in scale.

"They" say things are bigger in Texas. "They" have not been to China. Today was a lesson in scale, with tours of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City... not to mention a local park surrounding Buddhist temples and an "American" hotspot - new to Beijing.



The largest plaza in the world... we couldn't really see the other end... but that's a different kind of scale.



Puffy!

And now the million square meter walled city!



Some hallways are longer than others.



This little dude was near the Starbucks in the Forbidden city. Now that's "reach".

And the park... that surrounds a temple on the hill (there are 5 pavilions around the temple, one for each direction... hmmm.) You can see the temple in the distance in this shot.



We did a little bit of walking today.

Tangent:

Ever seen an ice-bike?



There were ice-boats too!

Stairs...



The mid-afternoon sun! It's the smog that kept the other side of the square out of view.



And finally: the last lesson of the day - Beijing's place for one-stop shopping, with always lower prices!



You can't get these in our local Wal-mart:



If you think Central Market has a big meat and fishes section; hoo boy. We'll have to go back for pictures.

And of course, we'll have pictures of the Chinese Hot-pot restaurant shortly, replete with live fish and shrimp brought to the table as proof... man o man - and only Kent ordered the 'hot and spicy" bowl. Yes, Tracy has decided that one of us (ahem) must eat something completely new each day. When's her turn?

Tomorrow (er, today) - is the Great Wall... the lessons continue.

Posted: Thu - January 4, 2007 at 03:59 PM        

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