pictures!

long promised and finally arrived. here are some pictures i took on saturday (on an afternoon trip to a tibetan buddhist temple) and on sunday (a city-wide scavenger hunt with our chinese roommates). so without further ado:

this is, from left to right, joy, durrell, and clark (in his brand-new $20 "north face" jacket) crossing a square near our school. that rather impressive building in the background is the beijing exhibition center, an excellent example of soviet-influenced architecture. there are always a few people flying kites out in the square, but they're crazy because it's really freaking cold.

here is clark, as well as, from left to right, durrell, jamie, and mark (from amherst) on the path leading up to yonghegong, a famous tibetan buddhist temple in beijing. the thing was built in the 18th century, and has on display quite a number of artifacts from much earlier that were given to the various lamas as gifts from the chinese emporers. the standout is a two-story tall buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood. it's some type of world record apparently.

here's joy, me, and durrell in front of one of the lions at the temple. to get the correct view turn your monitor on its side. i'm too lazy to go through uploading the correct version. it was really really cold that day (middlebury cold), and i was wearing way too little clothing. at least i didn't forget gloves, like durrell.

here's my attempt at one of those traditional vs. modern pictures of china you see everywhere. i am not a professional photographer.

this was taken on the scavenger hunt, also a bitterly cold day. its the entrance to gugong, the forbidden city. i have not been inside yet.

this is a street very near tiannamen square, to the east, which is the modern, upscale part of the city. our school is in the west, in a very typical residential area. i'll take some pictures of it soon. on this street it the beijing palace hotel and the hyatt regency. i had to go down here to find out how much a custom made qipao is, the traditional chinese dress for women (it's several hundred american dollars).

that's it for now. if you could please shoot me an e-mail to make sure these pictures actually show up, that would be tremendous. the response last time was overwhelming. it really makes me feel loved.