A giant street between my hotel and the Temple of Heaven, with the characteristic Beijing haze.
Neat piece of street art on the way to the Temple of Heaven. These Socialist Realist type friezes are actually fairly common and kind of neat.
This creepy little guy is always happy to help me out. Wherever I go.
Temple of Heaven, from a distance. This is a Ming-era Temple, where the Emperor would give the annual offering for grain. So a pretty big deal.
The main altar, a bit closer.
Another view.
The long walk from the main altar to the other temples in the complex. The ceremony was incredibly complex and involved several different stages and several different buildings.
I believe this is the echo wall, where on a quiet day (i.e. not when I visited, surrounded by Chinese tourists), you can hear someone whisper into the wall from across the courtyard.
One of the astoundingly ornate Ming interiors to the altar.
Inside the quiet, lovely Emperor's retreat in the complex.
Another view of the moat. Notice the lack of Chinese tourists. I did.
Emperor's throne.
The exterior of the building.
The Lama Temple (Yonghegong), as seen from the street.
Worshippers in the temple.
The temple, prayer flags.
More temple!
A lama whose photo I surreptitiously took.
Creepy propaganda slogan 1!
A pointless picture of a closed gallery in an abandoned factory.
Creepy propaganda slogan 2, this time with weird Olympics subtext!
Approaching the CCTV building. I think this was right when I got out of the subway.
Coming closer...
This is right beneath it. I was pretty much gaping in awe and taking as many pictures as possible.
Good shot of the underhang.
Walking away...
Last shot.
Ahh, food porn. This is tieban niurou (Beef served on a sizzling iron plate). I recall enjoying this maybe more than I should of, it's a pretty boring, standard dish, but I was starving.
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