Serenity is found in the most maddening places

Sure, most of the time Beijing offers a constant drone of cars on the ring roads and the sounds of hammers and saws from the construction sites, however it can really surprise you how often you find yourself in a quiet, cool place. Even in the crush of the May First Holiday crowds at the Temple of Heaven, Rachel and I still discovered a quiet grassy park with very few people. This old man was taking his birds out for a walk. Often people keep caged songbirds and on nice days they tie the cages up in a tree and let the birds have a good chirp. This old fellow has a finch and a chickadee, both chattering away above his head.

There are countless spots where you realize that you haven't heard a car horn or a vendor shouting "hello, you buy?" in minutes. You often round a corner of a houtong and discover that you are alone except perhaps a scraggly cat making her way along the curved edge of the roof tiles. I have a feeling that as time goes by I'm going to come to rely on these moments more and more.