Soho Galaxy

One good thing about the virus is that there are no people to obstruct photos

Out and About in Beijing

The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann)

The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story.

I’m pretty sure this was my first opera and probably my last. I was really confused the entire time and had a hard time understanding the translated subtitles. I was impressed that the actors/singers were able to memorize 3.5 hours of dialogue/songs and the set design was incredible. However, pretty sure opera isn’t my thing.

However, I was pretty excited to go inside the National Centre for the Performing Arts, which is super cool looking building surrounded by water.

May the Fourth Be With You

Bird’s Nest - Beijing, China

The Pants Building

Jingshan Park

This is my favorite spot in Beijing. It’s right in the middle of the city, offering a 360 degree view of how big Beijing actually is. It was cold, so I wasn’t here long, but sometimes it’s nice to be outside and just take a moment to appreciate the city in which you live 

Winter is here

Don’t let the picture fool you, Beijing is cold. And not the kind of “oh it’s a cold August night” kind of cold. I mean negative temperatures cold, in Celsius though, so don’t be too alarmed.

Drum Tower

Beijing Weekend

Pants Building

Beijing Rain

Good design

I understand the cost associated with something like this, but it makes traffic so much easier with pedestrians not blatantly disregarding street lights. I wish there were more of these in Beijing. 

Don't mind the bad panorama. Cars were moving, things got weird

Hutong

Hutong

So I moved into the hutongs, which are the traditional style buildings located with subway line 2 of Beijing. This is the entrance to my building. The walls are covered in stamps by people selling water, usually the company name and phone number. 

Funkytown

Been listening to a lot of funk music lately, including Childish Gambino's new album  "Awaken, My Love!" and LBCK's "The Goods" 

More from Tsinghua

Tsinghua Art Museum

Honeycomb

Great Hall 2

Each province in China has their own 'room' within this building and we were allowed access into the "Fujian/Xiamen" room (Where my friends girlfriend is from) as it is the 'best' room in the building. She was quite proud about this. This was also the room (we were told) where Xi and Premier Li meet to hold discussions. So naturally we sat in the chairs and tried to look authoritative. Both the murals are woven, which made them that much more impressive upon further examination. The finale included a trip to the roof where we could overlook Tiananmen and Mao Zedong's Mausoleum. This was definitely a tour to be remembered, although I'm hesitant about wether or not to show these to the world. Enjoy them while they lasts.