To continue this series on Beijing, I was amazed that the old buildings from when the European powers were here a hundred odd years ago, are still standing and looking good. There was also a number of older, mature trees, that I didn’t see any where else in central Beijing.
Automatically, all seemed “different”, and “old” and more “European”! In fact, it reminded me of home, in Glasgow. So much so, that I automatically assumed, that there should be a pub nearby!
St Michaels Church, Beijing
From here, it was very short walk to Tiananmen Square, though it was approaching dusk, and the light was not good enough for more shots.
In reality, I’ve never really been a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay, though I’ve watched quite a few of his differing shows. So it was interesting to see him the last few weeks on BBC1, to be thrown into the role of a gameshow host of Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance.
It must be said, that he has an empathising appeal. He seems to always be on the side of the contestants, as they are answering questions, in order to stack their “money blocks” onto various places around a central fulcrum, making sure to never collapse it from its precarious balance – it works a treat!
It has the questions, the decision that the contestants must make (how many blocks should they choose each time), and the agony or delight when they actually have to place the blocks around the central point. It can be cruel, but it can also be very compulsive viewing.
As there is little to traveling right now, I’ll go over some of my recent travels. Please try Beijing. As you can tell from my crude map, it’s a very centralised type of old city, with a central ring road and road system; ideal for walking.
Of my trips to the far east, two were to China, with the second trip seeing Beijing for a second time. After the first time the year before, I couldn’t wait to get back. Unfortunately, I lost many of the photos from that year, owing to a disaster with my PC! Not deterred, after the second visit, I actually took my time to save my photos onto my hard drive properly.
Please, before you die, I’d recommend that you go here. It still has enough of its old charm (though you may disagree), that is mixed with its newfound wealth.
I’d recommend, and the next few blog posts will show, several things:
* The Hutongs * The old European quarter / Tiananmen Square * The zoo / Summer Palace, in the outer northwest of the city * The Qianhai Lake area, a musical, hive of activity, particularly at night * Just walk in the streets – Central Beijing is VERY easy to get about in.
We started by getting a cheaper, studenty / youth hostel – the 161 Hotel, at about £40 / night, that also did a reasonable breakfast, right in the central Hutong area. In addition, the Panda Bear beer was delicious!
A Hutong being a number of narrow alleyways / streets, that have been used for centuries, both as courtyard residences, as well as an area where some of the old royalty had lived. These are now both being preserved and also possess a variety of cafes, pubs, bike shops, hotels and millionaire flats – in certain areas. My favourite place, was the Ho Kitchen & Co. establishment, with a very nice draft beer. My friend told me, that some of the properties are worth well over a million dollars (or pounds, I can’t remember) nowadays. Mainly for the central location.
Whilst at times, there was a degree of, dare I say impoverishment, the overall level of safety and basic amenities were never in question. Though, I must warn you that it is an experience if you are desperate to use the public rest rooms! From what I had watched on the tv, and what our bartender / barista had confirmed, it is the intention of the Chinese government to launch a mammoth improvement of these much needed facilities, a total of about 100,000, if I understood correctly.
In addition, when I was talking to the said bartender, because I had noticed that in my previous trip (the year before), that there was a larger window in the pub that faced the Hutong street, he confirmed my recollection. But he also added, that this was due to a government edict, that he really had no desire to talk about – which was interesting.
All of the photos are from the Wudaoying Hutong area.
This week, I will FINALLY be starting to blog about recent trips to the far east and continue with the write-ups about the different neighbourhoods in Glasgow.
I’ll start to write about China and in particular, Beijing – PLEASE go there asap. It was a revelation to me.
As for Glasgow, I’ll continue to look at certain areas, specifically, several in the city centre; Woodlands and Yorkhill.
These and more food, music and my take on certain online classes, that you would NOT normally do, as at present, I am taking an online dance class!
If you’re like me, then you’ve probably never really had a lot of time for TV “keep-fit” experts. The reason? Time and time again, they ALWAYS expect too much from you. It is either too long or too enduring for anyone who is trying to follow them at home. Always!
So it was a welcome surprise, for me to accidentally switch Workout the Wright Way on two times the last week, and to finally see an expert, who had low expectations of any participants.
Wright constantly stressed that it was up to you, as to how much energy to expend, or how many repetitions to do. You want to do the 3×6; fine. Less? That was fine as well. His philosophy was to so SOMETHING.
As I am not really a fan of many recent crime dramas for a variety of reasons, I did see a very quick episode of Unforgotten the last year and thought that it was slightly different than many series nowadays.
For one thing, there was a human element to it; a degree of empathy and relation to modern day UK life. This may be down to the cast’s performances, or scripts.
The series concerns two cops, a DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar), who follow up cold cases. For this episode, number 1 of the new season, they were investigating a headless body that was found, and naturally, just what happens concerning its identification, etc.
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Yes, once again, and one of my pet peeves, is the over use of blue / brown colour correction! Why do they do this! It adds NOTHING to the story, and if anything, detracts from the drama. OTOH, the empathy and relation to modern Britain, I liked the joke about Crystal Palace supporters (!), is much better than, for example Marcella, The Bay and Vera.
I simply LOVE sweet alcohol! Always, and always will, but even at times in the past, from that truly great shop in the UK known as Home Bargains, I had to refrain. This involved a cheap, toffy concoction, that I should’ve chilled before consuming. My recent attempt was with a Smoked Apple Whiskey Liqueur – It’s beautiful.
Made by Manchester Drinks, which produces a myriad of “different” treats to be drank, this had me enamoured, as normally, something smoked is NOT my scene.
This works a treat and will certainly buy more of in the future.
To complete my Park Circus photo blog, I started at the Lord Roberts monument, at the entry to the Circus from Kelvingrove Park. Roberts happened to be the last Commander of British Forces, before the post was abolished in the early 20th century. This is looking west, over Kelvingrove Park , Glasgow University & the part of the West End known as Woodlands.
From here, we moved east, to the entry of the Circus, looking at Park Gate.
Thence, we meandered to Park Circus’s north side, its central park area, and the south side of the Circus; complete with a Goethe Institute / Allianz Frances.
On the way out of Park Circus, we see both the Trinity Church (the Old Trinity College that was part of Glasgow University), and the old Park Church (Free Church college) on Lynedoch Place, that was rather disgracefully destroyed in the late 60s, with only the tower remaining.
After heading west on Lynedoch Crescent, there are now a number of new builds on the left, that actually follow the old design plans that were there in the past, on Park Quadrant.
Finally, on the way down and out from the Circus, we are in Woodlands Road, by the Free Presbyterian Church, travelling back westwards.
With all the time spent in the house the last year, I decided to watch past series, that whilst I didn’t watch at the time, always thought would be quality – Lewis (2006-2015) came to mind.
As everyone should know, this was a continuation of the sidekick character from the InspectorMorse series (1987 – 2000), with Kevin Whately reprising his role as DI Robbie Lewis, along with Lawrence Fox as his able sidekick now, DS James Hathaway.
As a fan of Morse, I wondered why I’d never watched before, though I may have seen the odd episode. So the past year, it was no problem getting back into the vibe by consuming all 9 seasons, finishing this week. The surprise of the whole thing, was the Morse like, boy-wonder Hathaway; often times consumed with guilt, remorse and confusion, after witnessing the many different murders and evil, deep in the county of Oxfordshire.
Lewis finale, “What lies Tangled” – DI Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately), Elizabeth Capstone (Zoë Tapper) DI James Hathaway (Laurence Fox, r.)
Equally, the Lewis character had that easy-going feel, that continued with his graduation to be the lead detective, that is pulled off quite easily. At times, Morse is mentioned, but only rarely.
On another note, towards the end of the series, it seemed that the “dark” themes were exaggerated; anything from alchemy, voodoo’ishness, myths & legends, etc, that we’ve seen a preponderance of the last ten years or so; as all crime series have become “dark” – complete with blue / brown colouring and mumbled dialogues.
The surprise? That there was no sequel, to the sequel, with a Hathaway series. Intriguing, as there could be a myriad of ways that this could go? As a detective, as a supervisor, or even as an academic, say, back at his beloved Cambridge (a pilot on this is readily available from moi!).
I remember years ago, when the indie / music scene was just so much stronger, when there were literally hundreds of young bands everywhere, employing various degrees of musicianship (Verity Susman from Electrelane is actually classically trained, and currently writes film/ TV scores – Can this be said today of any young bands?).
Theses guys (girlz) caught my eye mainly through the infamous Metro free newspaper’s gig preview, and their equally bleak album cover – so a trip to see them, that night, at King Tuts in Glasgow had a sense of urgency to it (soon after, I was to see them in Charing Cross in London (stalker?)).
They lead off with the opening track from the album, The Invisible Dog, that live, blew my mind. Everything was there; slowness, brooding, sparse, and an organ sound with a Farfisa? If truth be told, some of the tracks ARE too long, and sometimes unfocussed, but what a first effort, that can blend in the background for your own soundtrack in your house. 4/5
Curious Bystander 