Posts by Chris Waugh
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The closest photo I could get. Most of the birds either stayed stubbornly hidden – even only a couple of metres away, I could see the reeds moving as they moved around – or far, far away. This one decided to make a run for it, but didn’t give me time to set up a shot.
Walking on water.
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Wetland reflecting, ghostly wind turbines in the hazy distance, 野鸭湖/Yěyā Hú/Mallard Lake Wetland Park
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Mountains, village, bird
Lamp post crossed by its own shadow.
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Capture: Upside Down, Inside Out, in reply to ChrisW,
finally captured!?
Beautifully captured, beautifully explained.
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Capture: Upside Down, Inside Out, in reply to Jos,
Claws?! Supposed to be a crescent moon to show it's a mosque. I didn't really put much effort into finding a good angle, most of the ground floor frontage seems to have been given over to a wholesale market dealing mostly in construction stuff, but also large volumes of beer.
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How’s this for another look at that second mosque?
Or perhaps this?
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The mosque is large and has several gates. This was the only one open. That courtyard looks inviting, but that sign over the gate saying “ancient mosque/清真古寺/qīngzhēn gǔ sì” looks oddly threatening. I’ve been in there before, years ago, it is really beautiful. But I don’t like photographing inside active places of worship, it seems kinda rude and invasive.
Even so, through a gap in the wall…
Another old mosque in a similar style nearby, this one over the line on the far eastern edge of Chaoyang District. But I find it works best in sillhouette. I like these old properly Chinese-style mosques, they look much better than the faux-Middle Eastern style mosques and other buildings like schools and cultural centres built for the Hui in more recent years.
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And some random miscellany from today’s trip out to Tongzhou:
The last remaining bit of Old Tongzhou Town? On 北大街/Běi Dàjiē/North Street, Tongzhou East Gate.
Nope, the old Muslim quarter along 南大街/Nán Dàjiē/South Street is still intact and bustling. Now where was that beautiful old mosque?
After about an hour of searching the lanes on the west side of South Street, I found it down a lane on the east side - and realised I'd walked right past it right as I started searching. But tell me, how the hell are you supposed to get a decent shot of anything in lanes this narrow?! In a hot air balloon or helicopter? Considering the southern ends of the flight paths in to Beijing Airport are right over Tongzhou and how low I've seen planes fly over there (you haven't lived until you've seen the tread patterns on the tires of an Airbus A340 from directly underneath), I'd rather not poke my head up any higher than the rooftops....
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Looking north to where the Grand Canal meets the Tonghui River, the connection to Beijing proper. Trust me, can't go floating down there to Beijing any more, not without having to portage several really shallow stretches.
Oops. forgot. Light drizzle had turned to proper rain by this point. Also, that's an ancient pagoda to the left of the cranes - don't know why, but in the year I lived in Tongzhou I never bothered going to check out that pagoda. And that is a boat moored to the east bank. How real a boat, I don't know. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit under any of the bridges.
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Under the bridge.
And flipped.
