The Other Side of the World: Beijing, China

Beijing is one giant juxtaposition of the 700-year-old hutong narrow alleyways of one-story stone architecture, and miles and miles of 30-story skyscraper apartment buildings and shops. Brett and I have been on pure intake mode for the last 2 days, absorbing the sights, smells and sounds. As the hutong residents sweep the dirt around their residences and shops with brooms fashioned from twigs, a few blocks over there are structures being torn down and new buildings going up in their stead, with the fervor of insatiable growth. Although the Chinese now have a growing economy and many of the signs of western capitalism such as Nike, McDonalds, KFC, Tag Heuer, etc., we are reminded of the nascent nature of this "progress" (if we can call it that) by the fact that most Chinese still do not speak ANY english, and most only know Chinese symbols, not the new Roman alphabetic "pidgin" Chinese. We both feel quite safe. The Chinese are kind. There are very few western tourists. Interestingly, people on the street do not hassle us...they pass out pamphlets to everyone else, then ignore us. It's like we are invisible!

Our Chinese successes to date:

1. Found our hostel in the dark. (Yeah, we thought we could take a bus...got off, got lost, then called a taxi)

2. Ate an entire fried scorpion. (Tastes like a soft-shell crab.)

3. Took the Beijing subway at rush hour. (Piece of cake, once some other english-speaking couple got change for us)

4. Took our first Mandarin language class. (Brett kept saying "Ching ching" to everyone to thank them. It should have sounded like "shay shay". We could have been saying, "Can I touch your monkey" for all we know!

Tian' anmen Square:

The largest public square in the world, about the size of 10 football fields. It is an open, flat area made of pavers tiled two by two facing an enormous portrait of an older Mao on the front of the "Working People's Cultural Palace". The center of the square boasts two giant TV screens (10 feet high x 75 feet wide) playing typical marketing scenes of China: fine cuisine, city scapes, beautiful landscapes, etc. The Chinese flag is raised every morning and lowered every night in ceremonial fashion, witnessed by a large crowd of proud Chinese. Tian'anmen feels like such a dichotomy of Maoist communism and the democratic liberation rally/protest that ended up with hundreds of Chinese killed by the military in 1989. We wonder which one draws more Chinese to this spot. To get to the "people's square", one has to go through airport-style security. The square is patrolled incessantly by uniformed and plain-clothed police, and is monitored by hundreds of video cameras.

Money:

The exchange rate is Y6.8 to the US dollar.

The subway ride was Y2 each (30 cents)

A cab ride across town was Y25 ($3.50)

A Tsing Tao beer is Y7 ($1)

Hostel room per night Y140 ($20)

Brett had his first mystery meat for lunch yesterday. It was grey. We think it was bullfrog.

Last night we both passed out at 8 pm, and woke up at 3 am still in our clothes with the lights on.