Persongalleriet #636: Beijing, Day 5 - Morning Walk

It's become my morning routine to do a short photo-walk in the alleys near my hostel, to make use of the lower sun and the slightly more comfortable temperature. Some days I get an early chinese breakfast of dumplings dipped in vinegar and chili.

The small dumpling shops stack these metal or basket steamer sections into big stacks:

The steam goes up through the steamer chimney and cooks it all!

At the duck place.

More dumplings!

Morning Toilette.

Morning Stretch.

Hutong Selfie.

Moped Monk.

Drawing up plans for life?

Be well everybody!

/Niklas

Persongalleriet #635: Beijing, Day 4

That's Friday the 17th! The main attraction of the day was the Temple of Heaven park. It's teeming of activity, people practise musical instruments, do coordinated dancing, advanced gymnastics and much much more! But of course, I was shooting on morning and evening walks, too, and also on the way to the park and back.

In my alley.

On the subway.

The Poodle. Outside the east gate of Tiantan, Temple of Heaven.

Park work-out.

How to deal with the afternoon heat.

Quick Fix.

The Restaurant.

Chinese Dreams.

Evening Stroll.

That's it for today, folks! Be well everybody!

/Niklas

Persongalleriet #634: Beijing, Day 3

I'm a couple of days behind with the blog. So, day three was on Thursday even though I'm writing this on Saturday. Once more, I did three photo-walks: morning, midday and evening.The morning walk has already become a routine. To walk through the narrow hutongs near the hostel as the city is waking up is a treat!

On the midday tour I went to Tiananmen Square and later further south to the streets and alleys there. When you're in Tiananmen you really really need that classic shot with the old chairman in the background...

Going back and forth between your destination and home isn't just a chore and a waste of time. At least not for the streetie! Here's one from the bus:

And one from the subway:

And when you're walking the streets between sights you can more often than not find something interesting. Like for example the Chinese equivalent of a Wunderbaum:

Or this nice family near Xidan.

Finally, back at my "home" avenue, Xinjiekou Nandajie:

Be well everybody!

/Niklas

Persongalleriet #633: Beijing, Day 2 - Evening Shots

Here's a few photographs from after dark, Wednesday evening. It was really dark in these hutongs, so I had to switch to manual focus and use the maximum aperture on my Samsung 30mm/f2.0. I'll start with some B&W:

And here are some shots where I liked the colours:

Be well everybody!

Time to hit the streets again!

/Niklas

Persongalleriet #632: Beijing, Day 2

But I'll start with a quick recap of how I got here. Wrote a blog about my troubles with the Scandinavian Airlines pilots' strike a couple of days ago, but that was i Swedish, so here'a a short version in English:
* About 10 hours of telephone queing, spread over 2 days,  before I could adjust my travel plan after my flight was canceled.
* A 37 hour trip incuding an overnight train journey, instead of a 17 hour trip.
* Upon arrival my suitcase was lost. Luckily I got it after 11 hours. So, that was 48+ hours in the same clothes... That shower and change of clothes was sweet!

So, day 1 was mostly tiredness and worry about the suitcase. Day 2 was something else entirely! I woke early, about 6 a.m., and went for a morning stroll. Couldn't resist some breakfast:

Chinese breakfast on the street! Mild and aromatic by themselves, but dip them in a mix of Chinese vinegar and chili paste and there's a wake-up call for ya!  :-) And as you see, I couldn't resist eating one before I took the shot.

Scene from right outside my hostel's front door!

I did three photo-walks this day. Morning, mid-day and evening.Here's a shot from the mid-day walk:

China-America.

Ice Cream with Tenderness on the Side.

Pics from the evening walk will have to wait, can't spend all day in front of the laptop!  ;-)

Be well, everybody!

/Niklas