Happy Tiger New Year! (Oh, and Happy Valentines Day too!) We spent New Year's Eve in our apartment in Beijing this year. The fireworks were absolutely crazy. They started around 6:00pm and kept going until well past 2:00am, non-stop.

There are no "official" fireworks shows like you'd think of them in the US. These are just random people who buy fireworks at the million fireworks tents that pop-up around Beijing near CNY. They drag their load onto random street corners and then light them off. As you can see from the photos and video below, these are often pretty serious shows, very close to buildings. You can buy a "show-in-a-box" for around $75-150 USD or maybe even higher; light one fuse and the step back.

I imagine the scene was repeated on virtually every block in Beijing (if not more, since we live in an area with lots of expats and hotels.) Spring Festival lasts two weeks, so we have a lot more fireworks to go...

This was probably the coolest set of the night, next to our apartment.

We were pretty much right underneath this one.

Here's Michael (9) playing with a sparkler.

Here's video I shot from our apartment at midnight. You can hear a roar in the background; that's from fireworks going off all around us. The big dark spot in the scene is a construction pit, so we have an even better view of the mayhem near by. The light colored building in the middle of the scene is the Shangri-La Kerry Centre Hotel.

I'm a big fan of the Bird's Nest Stadium (even though they're not quite sure what to do with it now.) I think it's a lovely piece of architecture, especially from inside the shell. Here are a few shots I took earlier.

 

Last year, I wrote about the icy fun Beijingers enjoy on the frozen lakes here. This year, we decided to try it out ourselves. We had a rare combination of a warm (for a Beijing winter anyway) sunny day with clear skies (read: little pollution) -- perfect for day of riding ice chairs at Houhai (a lake near the Forbidden City). It's a picturesque area surrounded by old Chinese buildings including the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower (see in the pix below.)

Our driver gave us a great tip -- avoid the first two skating areas (first one is too small/crowded, the second is primarily for ice skaters) -- so we headed straight for the third and last skating area. We bought three tickets for 10RMB (about USD$1.50) to get on the ice and another 40RMB for unlimited use of two ice chairs (plus a deposit of 80RMB each to make sure we returned the chairs.)

As you can see from the photos below, the chairs are pretty rudimentary -- just a welded steel frame with two seats covered with a little scrap of carpet.

After you pick out your chair, you choose the poles you'll use to propel yourself on the ice. These are literally just screwdrivers welded to sharpened steel shafts. It's something of a miracle that none of us came back with new holes in our body.

As it turns out, you can really get going on the ice on one of these chairs. Obviously, this is super fun. Our driver explained that they all used to do this because they didn't have money to buy skates before.

Andrew (12) quickly figured out how to do spins on his chair and started doing 720s. Invariably, Michael (9) decided that ramming Andrew was more fun.

There was really quite a scene on the ice. There were vendors right out on ice selling drinks, cotton candy, kebabs (chua'r), and such plus midway-style games even including the electronic free throw basketball games.

Trains of ice chair riders were pretty popular. Somehow, it seemed pretty nuts to have so many with sharp sticks in such close proximity.

There were other ways of getting around on the ice. Ice bikes were a popular rental. These looked pretty fun and got moving pretty fast too, although sometimes the wheel would just spin.

There was also a guy with a sleigh pulled by some animal (alpaca?). I didn't see anyone riding the sleigh.

You could even rent an electric powered cart. These were clearly repurposed bumper cars. I only saw fat, smug boys riding these.

I have to say, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. There were families, couples, old folks, young folks, and piles of friends all having a great time. People were all smiling, pretty polite (even apologizing if they crashed into you), and clearly having fun. Even the vendors were nice (the cotton candy guy even offered me a cigarette). This was pretty different from our usual experience in Beijing and was evidence that at it's best, Beijing is an awesome place. We'll undoubtedly go back to Houhai for more ice play again.

I saw this sign at the entrance of a neighborhood near our place in Beijing. Not sure what they're banning. Car bombs? Burning cars? Couples arguing in the car? Whatever it is, I don't want it in my neighborhood either. Seems like an important sign...

Here are a few shots from my office window in Beijing of yesterday's eclipse. I've never seen an eclipse like this before. Amazing.

At first, I thought it was a Chinese Death Star coming to blow Google China off the map, but it was just an eclipse.

I liked this shot of Michael (9) playing with his new Legos on Christmas morning.

Andrew (12) humored me yesterday by standing very still for this photo at Shibuya Crossing, the crazy, uber-busy pedestrian intersection by the Shibuya subway station in Tokyo. It's a "scramble" crossing where all auto traffic stops so pedestrians can go in every direction. (This was also the debut of my zippy new lightweight, carbon fiber tripod. I love gear!)

Canon 40D, 28-105 3.5-4.5 at f22, 1.5 seconds.

Here's something you don't see the US too often, but it seems relatively common here in China -- sheep grazing by the side of the road. I snapped this photo near our (now old) house in Shunyi, a suburb of Beijing.

When I first encountered the amazing art photos of Liu Bolin (刘勃麟) hanging at a resort outside of Beijing, I did a double-take, not sure what I was seeing. I spent quite a bit of time studying the pictures and marveling at the attention Mr. Liu paid to getting the details right. (I especially like the first photo below.)

See more of his amazing art on his site: http://www.liubolinart.com/

Here's a video of how he makes these cool shots.

We had about six inches of fluffy snow last night in Beijing. Unlike Seattle, Beijing didn't shut down, although the commute was definitely slower this morning. Beijing definitely looks nicer under a cover of white.