365 DAYS OF LONDON: Ewen Bell's famous China Photography Tour

So I'm in Beijing, people think I'm Chinese (which I am, but also am not). I'm suffering the first stages of re-entry shock; I sometimes feel like a retard, especially when I say things like "ooh McDonalds" or "ooh a billboard/cinema" but I have gotten so used to being in a 3rd world environment! It's especially hard to see food wasted - our meals are always much too big for the group and there's tons left over, I feel awful knowing how many people are starving and will never even see food like this.

I've checked into my luxury hotel and have had a loooooong hot shower and am enjoying chilling out in air-conditioned coolness. It feels so good to be in a proper hotel, especially considering I'd stayed in hostels, guesthouses and some really crappy crap holes over the last 5 months. It's definitely a nice end to a long adventure of roughing it :) That afternoon I meet Alta, who is to be my roommate for the trip, and at 6pm we head down to the lobby to meet the rest of the group. There are only 7 of us plus Ewen and Yi Ran, our local guide. Ewen needs no introduction (visit www.ewenbell.com or www.photographyfortravellers.com if you REALLY don't know who Ewen is by now). Yi Ran is 23, works in marketing at Disney China and we hit it off right away; she's lots of fun, a great shopping buddy and just a really nice girl overall. The rest of the group consists of:

Elaine from NYC, writer, art lover and eternal seeker of fun
Alta from SA, well-travelled, collector of ceramics and able to provide some much-needed bluntness at times
Kathy and Karl from the US, Karl a certified practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine and Kathy a retired professor of biology
Lou & Jean from US, Lou the self-processed master of the universe and everything photographic who had his own methods for everything and carries a tripod EVERYWHERE - day and night, and Jean, his 1950's housewife follow-him-everywhere-cos-he's-the-boss-and-he-knows-everything wife, also complete with tripod.

And me, the 20-something backpacker with a huge appetite for local food, local culture (especially the food) and just life in general, who's used to slumming it and has no patience for spoiled, difficult travellers.

Sounds like the setup for a reality TV show, right? :P That night we had dinner in a crummy, dark, scary corner of Beijing's old district (the hutongs), which just happens to be the BEST Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing.

Later that night Yi Ran and I went shopping in this street:

And the next day the group headed to the Great Wall. We were so lucky with the weather, we had a beautiful orange sunset which gave spectacular photographic results. We went to the Jinshanling section; the tour normaly goes to Simatai but it was closed for renovation. Jinshanling is a good 3hrs drive from central Beijing; most people go to Mutianyu which is a lot closer and therefor more crowded. We had the wall almost to ourselves. It was an amazing feeling to be standing on the wall itself, it stretches for some 8800 km across the country, and when you're standing on one of the towers you can see it go on for as far as the eye can see. It was a good, steep climb to get up onto the wall itself. This, of course, was cause for celebration.

Here's the wall at sunset:

During our stay in Beijing we also visited the Drum and Bell towers, Temple of Heaven, the hutongs and the Summer Palace. It's great being on tour with other photographers; just like in Cambodia, there are plenty of people to bounce ideas off, ask questions, swap lenses and just talk general camera geek stuff. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! And Ewen is a fantastic guide, he takes the time to sit with each of us one by one, see how we're going offer advice, and answer any questions we have. He obviously is very passionate about his craft and is willing and eager to share his knowledge with others. You don't see this very often with pro photogs.

Some pictures from around Beijing:

MMMMM spicy chicken at the Summer Palace

Suzhou St, Summer Palace

Hwa cha - flower tea

The Temple of Heaven

Photographers being photographers :P

Crazy cat lady of Beijing

On the 3rd night we took an overnight train to Xi'An, home of the Terracotta Warriors. Surprising to all of us, the city is a great place to visit in its own right. It's a major point on the Silk Road, meaning over the centuries it's had lots of Muslim influence from nomads & traders, and as a result has a large Muslim Quarter with a huge mosque. what that also means is there's a fabulous evening market with lots of BBQ meats, unleavened bbq breads, dried fruit, fresh walnuts and lots of other middle-eastern-type foods. We ate a delicious meal of bbq lamb skewers seasoned with cumin, roast chicken and chewy bbq garlic bread, so non-Chinese but so delicious! Another winner, Ewen :) Being within a few days of the harvest festival meant the markets were overflowing with moon cakes... even more NOM! :D (by this point it's clear Ewen loves his food as much as I do - AWESOME)

Pictures from Xi'an