China 2018 (Beijing, Great Wall)

The summer of 2018 was an exciting time. I spent the first part of it interning at a robotics lab at the Stevens Institute of Technology. My mom and sister went to China to meet up with my dad two weeks ahead of me; I spent a week home alone and a week at Matthew’s place. I had fun pretending to be an adult:

At the time, my dad was living in a relative’s apartment in a relatively nice part of Beijing; we squeezed in with him. I spent the early part of my stay there cycling around the city. My favorite place was the 798 art district, which had some cool street art and some trendy galleries. I may or may not have crawled under a fence to poke around in an abandoned factory.

High-rise apartments around pond Three red dinosaur statues in cages Rusty staircase in factory
The apartment complex, street art, and abandoned factory. (Click on any image to view at full resolution.)

We later went as a family to an interesting tourist town near a section of the Great Wall. The tourist town was made to be an imitation of a traditional Chinese town, but it was oddly empty and overgrown; this gave off an eerie vibe.

I definitely recall taking some more pictures during this visit to the Great Wall, but they’re on a hard drive that’s currently missing.