The Beijing trolleybuses even work without the wires.

Some streets are every bit as pleasant—if not more so—than their European counterparts.

Old and new: ramshackle huts on one side of the road, a slick modern high-rise on the other.

An abandoned house next to the brand-new eight-lane highway.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at Tiantan Gongyuan.

Inside the hall.

Detail of carving on the outside of the hall.

Writing in Chinese and Manchu scripts. The Qing dynasty, after all, were Manchu.

Column detail.

Drainage spout with cloud pattern.

One of several gates around the courtyard of the Round Altar at Tiantan Gongyuan.

Statue at the Lama Temple (Yonghe Gong).

Lama Temple building.

Prayer wheel spinning.

Lama Temple buildings.

There is so much incense burning all over the Lama Temple complex that it is hard to breathe!

Close-up of another prayer wheel.

Up above, dark clouds form; it rained very hard shortly afterwards, but I was safely inside a taxi by then.

The other red meat.

Do you like dogs? Sure—but I couldn't eat a whole one.