Beihai Park

We went to Beihai Park on Friday - "we" being my roommate, Min Ji, and Meng Jiu Sheng, who lives across the hall from us in our residence and is Japanese. I'd already been to Beihai, but agian, these parks are so big - even the "small" ones seem big! - that you can go over and over again and have the impression you're seeing things for the first time.

The famous "Nine Dragon Screen" wall - the original's in the centre of the Forbidden City.
There's a huge lake that we walked around to get to that centre island you see behind us.
Workers working - all of Beijing is either under construction or renovation in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Meng Jiu Sheng resting in a pagoda.
The weather these days isn't too great. I remember last year I arrived on August 22nd and for a week the weather was pretty bad, but then, on September 1st, the sun came out and hardly ever left after that. Every day was beautiful. Hasn't been the same this year...
The roof of the pagoda.
In the bus on the way home. The bus on the way there and back had air conditioning, but because buses are often crowded it can get pretty hot...