The last gig for the Road to Rouen album and
it has led us to one of the most interesting places we've
ever visited. More of an enormous building site than a city,
Beijing is a complex and confounding set of contradictions,
thick with smog and bursting at the seams (that’s what my
guide book says – and it’s true). The festival was extremely
strange but the fans we could see in the distance, passed
the uniformed soldiers guarding them, seemed to be enjoying
themselves in as unrestrained a fashion as was legally
possible. Certainly the fans I met before the show were very
pleased to see us. Some hasty sight seeing allowed as a
small glimpse of our surroundings but when we return the
place will probably have changed beyond recognition. Still
recovering from the culture shock as I write this but the
pictures tell the story better than I can…
The first meal
after a long haul flight is a bit of an eye opener
View from a
footbridge over Gongrentiyu Chang Bei Lu
Demps salutes
his fellow
comrades outside the workers stadium
More statuesque sporting achievement
Gents
Tuk-tuk to go.
TsingTao -
China's tipple of choice, apart from their other excellent
lagers.
The last
remaining old drum in the Gulou.
Hear the
drummers herald the hours of day in the Gulou.
View from my
bathroom window of Dongsi Shitiao
The same view
later the same day
The Zhonglou, an
18th century reconstruction of the original Ming bell tower
that was destroyed by fire.
The 15th
century, Ming Gulou
There's
something strangely human about the incisors on the chinese
big cats.
Gaz sports his
new John Boy Walton glasses
No trumpets in
built up areas
Gaz stars in
70's classic 'Hot Talking'
!
The Mongol
hordes just over this ridge
Mike and Gerry
climb the Great Wall
Mike, Adam and
Gerry approach a fortress on the Wall at Mutianyu
The 'wild' Wall
snakes off over the mountains for the next few thousand
miles
This stretch of
the Wall is part of the Ming-dynasty renovations of 1569 and
then rebuilt in the 80's for Wham's Tropicana tour
*
*
*
Capt. Rogers
makes friends with a local
Here's the
little red eyed critter close up
Age specific
facilities
Tian'anmen (Gate
of Heavenly Peace)
Moon cakes are
early for the moon festival
Nǐ hǎo from
Beijing
The giant
studded doors at the Duanmen (Upright Gate)
*
*
Welcome to the
Military Museum of Chinese People's Revolution
Inside the
Military Museum of Chinese People's Revolution
