Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Olympic Village, Beijing


Olympic Village, Beijing
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
The entrance to the Olympic Village complex in Beijing. After the games these apartments will be sold as residential housing in an area of Beijing that will be home to upscale shopping and neighborhoods. I'm not sure on the pricing of these apartments though it will be considerably less than the approximately $5 million US needed for a luxury apartment at Pangu Plaza which is very near the Olympic Village complex.

I'm here with my friend Kevin Wu, a Medford Dentist who grew up in Beijing.

Great Wall at Simatai


Great Wall at Simatai
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Another shot of Simatai, the section of the Great Wall that has had somewhat limited visitation, especially by foreigners, because it is about 100km from Beijing.

The hike up the ridgeline on top of the wall was unbelievable as the wall stretched up and around the cliffs to the East and as far as you could see to the West. This section has had very limited restoration yet much of the huge structural components are largely intact, including the watchtowers where overlapping rocks hold up massive stone cielings.