Beijing Boyce

Before heading out for the night, I thought I’d share some photos taken around 8 PM in Beijing on Chinese New Year’s Eve (this is my first try at thumbnail images).

The first shows the view in front of my apartment - the Russian zone is behind the pointy building in the top left corner. The second shows the view to the right, including Workers’ Stadium, which will host some Olympics events in 2008 (actually, I thought the fireworks last Chinese New Year’s eve would have made for a perfect opening event). The Bank, a lounge that will soon open on the site of the former Maggies, is at bottom left.

These guys enjoyed trying “hello” and “happy new year” on me. They are posing beside my friendly neighborhood fireworks stand, which I passed on my way to get dumplings (too busy to hand-make them this year).

The next photo is taken looking down from my apartment building. - a couple of families are playing with sparklers. The last one shows the view directly in front of my window. You can see three different fireworks displayed and yet it’s only about 8:15 PM. A thick haze of fireworks smoke nearly hid those buildings from view last year. That’s a lot of fireworks…