Drum and Bell Tower Beijing

People (mostly Chinese) told me that you either like Shanghai or Beijing, seldom both of them. After working half the summer at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), it is time to travel around the country. I've been looking forward to travelling around China and climbing the Great Wall for so long. Now the time has come.
I boarded a bullet train in Shanghai (a flight ticket was the same price, but I chose to travel by train, because a) I wanted to see the landscape and b) airports are far away and it's a hassle getting there), enjoyed more or less the second class ride (the landscape is rather disappointing, the people on the train noisy, etc.) and got off in the heart of Beijing five hours later.
My first impression of Beijing is negative. Dirty, smelly, polluted. Everything is different in Beijing. While Shanghai is posh, Beijing seems more working class. There are more poor people and beggars. However, I've made the most out of my short stay and visited some places like the Drum and Bell Tower. Because I arrived a bit late, I didn't have the time to visit both towers. Since the Drum Tower had a show, I decided to visit this one and leave the Bell Tower.

Along with the older-looking Bell Tower, which stands behind it, the red-painted Drum Tower used to be the city’s official timekeeper, with drums and bells beaten and rung to mark the times of the day. 

This one is the Bell Tower.

This one, directly opposite is the Drum Tower.

This is the way up. Very steep and it takes some time to reach the top.

The view from the top.

The vistas from the balcony.

A hutong area.

Sorry, not in service.

The drums.

Waiting for the show to start.

Let the fun begin!

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If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

Bund and around

Shànghǎi’s definitive spectacle, the grand sweep of the riverside Bund (外滩; Wàitān) is a designer retail and dining strip; it’s the address in town for the city’s most exclusive boutiques, restaurants and hotels. The best strategy is just to stroll, weighing up the bombastic neoclassical contours with the pristine geometry of Pǔdōng over the water.
The streets west from the waterfront morph instantly into a less salubrious commercial district housed in the uncleaned shells of concession-era buildings, mixed with newer skyscrapers and office towers. Yet even the most casual of wanders yields sudden architectural gems. 

Symbolic of colonial Shànghǎi, the Bund was the city’s Wall St, a place of feverish trading and fortunes made and lost. Originally a towpath for dragging barges of rice, it’s remained the first port of call for visitors since passengers began disembarking here over a century ago. Today, however, it’s the extravagant bars and restaurants and the hypnotising views of Pǔdōng that pull crowds.

Promenade
The Bund offers a host of things to do, but most visitors head straight for the riverside promenade to pose for photos in front of Pǔdōng’s ever-changing skyline. The area is essentially open around the clock, but it’s at its best in the early morning, when locals are out practising taichi, or in the early evening, when both sides of the river are lit up and the romance of the waterfront reaches a crescendo. The promenade begins at Huángpǔ Park; you can follow it 1km to the Bund’s south end at the Meteorological Signal Tower. 

The best way to get acquainted with Shànghǎi is to take a stroll along the Bund. The waterfront was the seat of colonial power from the mid-19th century onward, and the city’s landmark hotels, banks and trading houses
all established themselves here, gradually replacing their original buildings with even grander constructions as the decades passed.
The Bund had its golden age in the 1920s and ’30s before the turmoil of war and occupa- tion brought an end to the high life enjoyed

by Shànghǎi’s foreign residents. Mothballed during the communist era, it’s only in the past 15 years that the strip has sought to rekindle its past glory, restoring one heritage building after another. Today, it has become China’s showcase lifestyle destination, and many of the landmarks here house designer restaurants, swish cocktail bars and the flagship stores of some of the world’s most exclusive brands. 

Source: Lonely Planet Shanghai.

Cross the bridge and you're off the high class shiny touristy area.

Interesting to see where some people hang their washing.

Men at work.

The epicentre of power and money.

Huh, what's that? A church!

Gate to the fourth dimension.

Sie ist ein Modell und sie sieht gut aus .... (Kraftwerk song)

Some evening and night shots

The cool docks aren't cool at all. They are very expensive. Be prepared to spend a fortune if you dine there.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.