When I got back to the hotel after my evening out in Beijing, I spent some time channel hopping on the TV. Several of the channels were directed at a youth audience, either offering soap dramas featuring hip youngsters or interviews with teen idols.
As we walked beside Beihai Lake, we watched young people drifting past in Sampans, some gently serenaded with quiet music played on an instrument that looked like a lute, others singing tipsily, wearing red devil horns on their heads and waving sparklers.
Suddenly, we noticed a flaming object falling from the sky and when we looked behind us we saw that there were more bright flickering objects in the sky, moving towards us from the other side of the lake.
They were fire balloons, carried on a gentle breeze that came from the North. Eventually, when their tissue canopies got too hot, the balloons would catch fire and tumble towards the ground, frightening, no doubt, whatever would be the Chinese equivalent of an armadillo, crouching in the shadows.
We drove to Beihai Lake which lies to the west of the vast Imperial Palace at the centre of Beijing. Here, on a Friday evening, we discovered crowds of mainly middle-aged Chinese waltzing on a paved patio beside the lake.
Along the lake front are a string of themed bars where young people sit outside at tables drinking cocktails or beer. Small shops sell weird and brightly coloured tourist knick-knacks.
Behind the hectic waterfront with its bright lights are quieter streets where I discovered this snack bar selling posters from another era.
My geographical sense of the centre of Beijing is somewhat dreamlike since I have only driven around it at night. Here is the vast empty space of Tiananmen Square. Its smooth surface seems to glimmer like black ice.
We were invited by our Chinese hosts to have dinner at a restaurant in Beijing called the Laoshe Teahouse. Each evening, the restaurant houses a theatrical show which consists of a series of short sketches by musicians, actors, comedians and dancers.
Here are two characters from traditional Chinese opera, enacting a scene in a room which is entirely dark. We have to imagine that they are unable to see each other. The man in black is trying to assasinate the man in white. Because the room is dark, he doesn't realise how close he is coming to that defensive sword.
Driving down into central Beijing after a day in the office, we pass many buildings with brightly lit facades. This is Beijing Central Railway Station. For a central railway station, it seemed very quiet.
I expected to see lots of people riding bicycles here in China. In reality, there are perhaps more than in the West, but not many more. None of the bicycles seemed to have lights, which must make them rather a hazard. No doubt this absence of lights is a throwback to a time when there were less cars everywhere.
Beijing was not at all as I had expected. It is a thoroughly modern city, similar to large cities I have visited in America. Cars are everywhere, mostly very modern (a lot of VWs), and at rush hour they jam up the wide roads. On every side are tall apartments and office buildings, some with interesting pagoda-like designs.
I haven't been posting much lately because I've been travelling quite extensively. My latest trip was to China. I bought a little digital camera before leaving in order to record what I saw there, staying in Beijing. I'm going to post a picture every day over the next week. This first image is taken from the aeroplane on the approach to Beijing. Beijing lies on a flat plain and these are the mountains which border the plain to the west. It is around 7 a.m. in the morning and mist is lying in the valleys.