Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

New and old

From this angle, Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts looks a lot like a flying saucer. The actual building, however, is the egg-shaped dome in the center. Surrounding it is an artificial lake.

It's one of the newest buildings in the city and opened to the public in December 2007. Reportedly, the building cost around $460 million dollar to construct it. The place can seat about 5,452 people. Do the math and that's about $84,000 to make each seat.

Shows of all kinds go on all year.  Swan Lake will be performed next week. The building also holds art exhibitions.

Still you have to pay about $4 dollars to walk around inside. Probably a way to recoup the costs.

In terms of it architecture, there's nothing very Chinese about it. The man behind the building's design was French architect Paul Andreu, who's known for his work on several international airports. Now I think I know why he included this giant window ceiling.

Things aren't all that sleek-looking everywhere in Beijing. A 5-minute bike ride from apartment is an older neighborhood. One of my classmates calls it "the village" and I have to admit, going there feels like entering a time warp.

Blocks of gray concrete form the backdrop. And all the buildings look rundown. People dump their used water in the streets. Unleashed dogs scamper around. There's a lot of mud lying about. Definitely a few plants and trees could be used here.

Whenever I come by, I feel a bit lost. The alleyways can be  like a maze. Once while riding my bike, I also almost crashed into some clothes that was hung out to dry.

Still, somehow cars can squeeze their way into these narrow alleyways. They mainly do so by honking and yelling at you.

They sell lots of things on the streets here, some of which I'm not totally sure if you can buy. The other day, someone flung out some meat and hanged three slabs across a string on the sidewalk.  I wasn't sure if someone was selling it, or if it was trash. I'm not even sure why there was furniture hanging outside on the streets. I didn't see too many customers wanting to buy a snow covered couch.

I'm not sure what to think of this place. Some might call it an eyesore, others would say its home. But one of the best things about this neighborhood is the food. The Kung Pao in the restaurants here is damn good. I keep coming back for more.