A short life in China

Some shots of the famous Forbidden City, where you can spend hours easily.

Colors, fumes, noise, smells

Chinese streets have them all, although the camera can only capture the two first! Pictures can give everyone a pretty good idea of how a country looks like. But smells and sounds are the things that make you realize your really are not home, because no magazine brought them to you before.

Food sellers in Xi'an (muslim specialty, and dry fruits).

Hot steamed corn is very popular; here, sold in a small street around Wangfujing avenue, Beijing.

Small fruits in caramel... Mind your beautiful lips, modern girl!
Qianmen, south end of Tiananmen square.

Jiaozi, damplings, ravioli, name them as you like. To be deeped into soya sauce or vinegar, or both. And always a little bit sticky so they don't slip away from your chopsticks...

Very attractive smells of muslim food, in Xi'an.

Wandering in the slow Beijing

Far from the modern life, but so close to the modern streets. But life is definitly there, something happens at every corner. Just get lost, the way home is always easy to find anyway. The air is dusty and dry, but carries what stays in memory for long after: Xiao Chi smells ("small food", all sorts of snacks that are boiled or fried in the street), the ring of bicycles, the noise of a loudspeaker repeating a newspaper's name over and over again. And the soft and golden light offered daily by the winter...

At the big market, Dawanglu (south-east), behind the Soho buildings.

Xiao Chi for sale. Around Wangfujing street. Hot hot hot!

Cooking noodles (in a hutong around You An Men, south-west of Beijing).

Old lady walking. One of the warm bars at Houhai.

Outdoor haircut (around You An Men).

Antics for sale, tourists awaited! Test your bargaining skills in this small but crowded alley hidden on a side of the glittering Wangfujing street.

At the big market, Dawanglu.

Modern Beijing lifestyle

Advertisements, night-clubs, and the everlasting elegance of Chinese women. Hey! mister Sony Ericsson, why is Solarization so good on the K700 phone and so useless on the S700?

New Town heigths

Beijing buildings, at SOHO New Town, 30th floor.
These pictures were taken with a Sony Ericsson K700i phone, using the brilliant solarization mode. No post-processing at all was applied, these are the raw images. Funny how moving the camera a little bit changes completely the result. Bye-bye Beijing...