Just prior to halloween in 2009 I made a trip to Beijing, China. It was my fourth or fifth visit to China's capitol over the past 15 years and I was looking forward to a good visit and some more outstanding photo ops. After a good night's sleep to start adjusting to the 12/13 hour time change, I awoke on 31st October to a city covered in snow with very large ad wet flakes falling at at a high rate. It was as beautiful as it was unusual. The city was unprepared for the snow and traffic was at a stand-still. Not wanting to miss the event, I grabbed my Nikon D300 and headed out into the very wet snow to record the downfall. After a few minutes, it was clear to me that venturing into the city was not a viable option, so I opted to see what I could do on the hotel grounds.

The Shangri-La Hotel has always been my home-away-from-home choice in Beijing. Just outside the back of the Lobby/Lounge area is a delightful Chinese garden. The snow had converted th garden into a spectacular contrast of green plants and trees and heavy snow woven through traditional Chinses architecture. I hope you enjoy this visit to Shangri-La in the Snow.


PS: It seems that snow in Beijing is very unusual is October, and the amount of snow that fell was unheard of. The local news finally reported that in their effort to aleviate a dought that had been gripping Beijing, the Chinese government had seeded some moisture laden cluds with silver iodide to provoke some rain. Unexpectedly, the desired rain fell as snow in October.