Click on the dates below to get the daily summaries and pics...
10/25/07- 10/26/07 - 10/27/07 - 10/28/07 - 10/29/07 - 10/30/07
11/03/07 - 11/04/07 - 11/10/07 - 11/11/07 - 11/12/07
Notes&Observations
At the 7-11 next door (kept us alive! Although still no English)
We bought a bar of soap: proudly called "Cow Beauty Soap", with a picture
of a "beautiful" Holstein on the box, and also milled into the soap bar
itself with the word "cow". I had to bring the box home.
They had various kinds of instant food, mostly instant soup and noodles.
But there was also a package called "Convenient Gruel". I didn't actually
buy any of that...
---
On the Internet: You've heard that things are different in a country like
China. It's usually normal (actually quite fast here), but some sites just
don't seem to go, time after time. Wikipedia is one of them, it just stalls,
and finally just can't seem to get there, whatever you're looking up.
---
Saw a big office building that housed the "Chinese National Philatelic
Corporation". I guess even stamp collecting is nationalized.
---
Dogs: We've seen only a few (of course, we are in a city), but guess what:
they're almost all Pekingese. Appropriate, I suppose..
---
About ordering food: After about a week, I wrote that we're getting better
at it. Now after 3-1/2 weeks, though, it's still really difficult.
---
I mentioned earlier, how do fat people and old people do it? Well, we've
seen no fat people, none at all. And there's plenty of food. (Carla did
see one guy who was kind of chunky. He was walking out of a McDonald's.)
And almost no old people, it seems, at least around here, in Beijing.
We bought a bar of soap: proudly called "Cow Beauty Soap", with a picture
of a "beautiful" Holstein on the box, and also milled into the soap bar
itself with the word "cow". I had to bring the box home.
They had various kinds of instant food, mostly instant soup and noodles.
But there was also a package called "Convenient Gruel". I didn't actually
buy any of that...
---
On the Internet: You've heard that things are different in a country like
China. It's usually normal (actually quite fast here), but some sites just
don't seem to go, time after time. Wikipedia is one of them, it just stalls,
and finally just can't seem to get there, whatever you're looking up.
---
Saw a big office building that housed the "Chinese National Philatelic
Corporation". I guess even stamp collecting is nationalized.
---
Dogs: We've seen only a few (of course, we are in a city), but guess what:
they're almost all Pekingese. Appropriate, I suppose..
---
About ordering food: After about a week, I wrote that we're getting better
at it. Now after 3-1/2 weeks, though, it's still really difficult.
---
I mentioned earlier, how do fat people and old people do it? Well, we've
seen no fat people, none at all. And there's plenty of food. (Carla did
see one guy who was kind of chunky. He was walking out of a McDonald's.)
And almost no old people, it seems, at least around here, in Beijing.
Ahhh ... 8:16 and the train begins to move.
I can't describe what a feeling, just to be on the train, on its way back to Beijing.
Everything actually went just fine, I suppose. The tour guide (from the TerraCotta tour) asked us where
we were going when we left, and explained the best way to go and the best thing to do at the train station, turn left
when you first get in, don't worry about this or that thing, go to the waiting area for Z-20, etc. Couldn't be any easier.
Ok, taxi to the train station was fine, then you get in the intense, jammed line outside, where they all tell you to watch
your back, or was that pack, either way, there are lots of pickpockets. Then after a while of that you're inside, find
the waiting room that does have "Z-20" written on the outside, so you're pretty sure you're in the right place. (But always
some doubt. Not much English.) We jammed ourselves into a chair between two people, one of them left after a few, maybe
annoyed, who knows, but now we have two seats to wait in. People still jamming in through the door, in front of us.
Really packed, close air. Then a very chatty guy, from France who was fun.
...
Anyway, the electric signs flash all of the trains, and they do mention Z-20 to Beijingxi (Beijing West) but it's just not
obvious that it's our train, and what we should do. And you really can't ask anybody, nobody speaks English.
So we decide to just get up and go to the platform (good call, Carla!). They don't stop us, and we get down there among the
trains, and there is ours, and we find our car, and our seats, with our bunk beds, and our own bathroom -- "western" toilet,
even! -- and nobody comes to say we're in the wrong place or anything. And then the train starts moving, right at 8:16.
What a feeling! Like I said, I guess everything went as smoothly as possible, but what a relief to actually be on the train, moving.
...
Anyway, I figured we had it made, just grab a cab from the train station back to the hotel. There are always tons of
cabs around. Plenty of workers everywhere, I'm sure wages are very low. Restaurants always have plenty of wait people
hanging around.
So we go to where the taxis are supposed to be, still underground. We go through a door, and run into a thick line of people,
running left to right, and just past them a single-lane roadway, where presumably the cabs are supposed to be. Didn't see how
far to the right the line extended, but it was quite a ways. We head left towards the end of the line, and walk, and walk,
and walk. Probably almost ten minutes, just walking past literally hundres of people waiting, and not moving. In the
whole time, two cabs drove by. I figured that even if the road had been jammed with taxis, it would have taken a couple
of hours just to load the people. And there were almost no taxis. So we headed over to the big international hotel across the way
(where we had hung out on the way in, when we realized that we were 3-1/2 hours early). No cabs there either, except for a
few that nobody was taking, which seemed too easy. Sure enough, they wanted 200 Yuan ... the ride down was about 35 yuan.
One young employee of the hotel really took it upon himself to find us something. After a few, he found us a cab who offered
80 Yuan. I held out a 50, they said no, I considered negotiating (80 Yuan is barely $10, after all), but the kid shot me a quick
look that said no, so we walked away. Then back to the front door, a cab drove up a dropped some people off, and the other,
older people said here you go. We looked all over for the kid, he was presumably off trying to find us something, and we would
have loved to give him a tip. Never saw him again though.
whole time, two cabs drove by. I figured that even if the road had been jammed with taxis, it would have taken a couple
of hours just to load the people. And there were almost no taxis. So we headed over to the big international hotel across the way
(where we had hung out on the way in, when we realized that we were 3-1/2 hours early). No cabs there either, except for a
few that nobody was taking, which seemed too easy. Sure enough, they wanted 200 Yuan ... the ride down was about 35 yuan.
One young employee of the hotel really took it upon himself to find us something. After a few, he found us a cab who offered
80 Yuan. I held out a 50, they said no, I considered negotiating (80 Yuan is barely $10, after all), but the kid shot me a quick
look that said no, so we walked away. Then back to the front door, a cab drove up a dropped some people off, and the other,
older people said here you go. We looked all over for the kid, he was presumably off trying to find us something, and we would
have loved to give him a tip. Never saw him again though.
| The two of us are ready to head home.... | In our little 2 bed bungalow! |
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So, on Sunday we took a tour, total 12 people in a little bus. We saw:
1: the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
2: a factory/store where they make replicas of the terracotta warriors, and a few other things
3: the Banpo Village museum
4: the Terracotta warriors.
When Buddhism was catching on, a monk walked from Xi'an to India(aren't there mountains in the way?), and came back with thousands
of scrolls of Buddhist teaching. They built the Big
Wild Goose Pagoda to house them, and him, while he spent most of the
rest of his life translating them.
The factory was interesting, showed how they made not only the models of the warriors but also things like those Chinese folding panels that
stand in the corner. Not really sure why we stopped there, but Ithink the tour companies have deals with them. We did buy a little something there.
The Banpo village was a 6,000 year old settlement, and was interesting. They built the museum around the site itself. This one, like the
Terracotta warriors themselves, was discovered by accident, recently, by a farmer digging a well. (The joke is, a good way to get rich is
to go out into the countryside and dig a well. Also, they say that the reason there are no subways in Xi'an is that there's too much
stuff like this underground. Xi'an is actually built on top of several levels of older cities.)
And then the TerraCotta warriors: I'll write that up tomorrow.
| Quiet spot in the Wild Goose Pagoda area | Standing in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda |
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| Fridge hanging with the elephants at the big goose pagoda | The pagoda is leaning.... |
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| Paths to yet another buddha.. | The golden buddha? |
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| Banpo museum with 6000 year artifacts | Pictures of the dwellings at Banpo |
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| Where they make the copies of the terracotta soldiers |
Making of the furniture at the terracotta museum |
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| Stop for lunch with our fun group??? | Always excited about the western style bathroom |
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| Lining up the soldiers in the 1st pit | The 1st pit where 6000 soldiers have been recovered |
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| Pit 1 - more soldiers | They are lined up |
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| This is what they have to rebuild to produce the warriors... | Some of the horses that have been found |
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| The 3rd pit of the Terracotta Soldiers | One of the generals that is under glass worth a few hundred million |
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We took a weekend trip to Xi-an.
The sights that we saw were:
- the old city walls;
- the Bell Tower, and the Drum tower;
- the Big Wild Goose Pagoda;
- the Banpo Village museum (6000 year old ruins, unearthed)
- the crowning jewel, the eighth wonder of the world:
the Terra Cotta warriors.
Trying to figure out what to do on our third weekend, Carla (on advice from co-workers) booked a hotel in Xi'an.
Xi'an was the ancient capital of China, from when China was first unified. It's a city with tons of
history. They say it used to be the capital of China, that Beijing is a relative newcomer as capital: it's only in the
last, oh, 1200 years or so that Beijing has been the capital. It's a much smaller city that Beijing,
only about 6-8 million people. Slower pace, they say.(Note, Beijing is the second biggest city in China,
at about 13 or 14 million; Shanghai is the biggest.)
Well, you get to know your roommates. Our train car was mostly an Australian tourist group, who were actually kind
of annoying. Fortunately, our roommates were very pleasant,two young Chinese women who were computer professionals
(they had been in Beijing for some Oracle training), and one of them spoke very good English. So we chatted for
quite a while, the English-speaking one told us a lot about Xi'an, and what to see and do, and that our hotel was a
very nice one, right next to the South Gate of the old City walls. Lots of discussion about who sleeps in the
upper or lower bunks, "either is ok with us" on both sides, didn't know whether they really cared or were just being
nice to the old people, yadda yadda yadda. So, nobody really cared, Carla and I went to the dining car (read: bar car) until they closed at 11:00.
a night sleeping in an airplane seat jammed up next to some stranger, travelling to Switzerland or something.
---
Our hotel was nice. I had read about it on the internet, and it got mixed reviews. (I've noticed, when reading
travellers'
reviews of hotels, etc., on the internet, the reports vary. But generally, people from Iowa talk about the nice things about
them, and people from New York and New Jersey always dislike everything, and complain about little things.)
reviews of hotels, etc., on the internet, the reports vary. But generally, people from Iowa talk about the nice things about
them, and people from New York and New Jersey always dislike everything, and complain about little things.)
The hotel was right next to the South Gate of the ancient
city walls, which are an attraction in themselves. The best
description
of them is just the views -- you can't believe how big they
are. I don't think that our photographs could have done them justice,
but a thousand words here wouldn't do any better, as they say. We walked from our hotel to the Walls, and the Bell Tower and the
Drum Tower, which were fascinating with their history. We didn't walk to the Great Mosque, but we did walk the local commerce street,
which they said was realated to the Islam community, but we saw mainly Chinese, and only a little Islam. It was a hotbed of hawkers,
trying to drag you into their shops, wheeling and dealing. Wallet in front pocket always. And speaking of the hawkers, they are at every tourist site, lots
of them. Our guide at the TerraCotta warriors said to watch one trick that they do: they sell a box with little statues of about
five of the warriors, "only a dollar a box". If you're not careful, they'll give you an empty box: so a dollar just for the box.
On the way out, an old woman was really pestering Carla, hitting her on the arm. Patience was low by then, and Carla hit her back --
"Don't you hit me!" (Of course it doesn't matter what you actually say, they won't understand a word anyway.) The old woman totally
cracked up -- she wasn't expecting it and was really caught off guard, and just laughed and laughed. With us, not at us, if you know what
I mean. She really got a kick out of it. She didn't get a sale out of it though.
but a thousand words here wouldn't do any better, as they say. We walked from our hotel to the Walls, and the Bell Tower and the
Drum Tower, which were fascinating with their history. We didn't walk to the Great Mosque, but we did walk the local commerce street,
which they said was realated to the Islam community, but we saw mainly Chinese, and only a little Islam. It was a hotbed of hawkers,
trying to drag you into their shops, wheeling and dealing. Wallet in front pocket always. And speaking of the hawkers, they are at every tourist site, lots
of them. Our guide at the TerraCotta warriors said to watch one trick that they do: they sell a box with little statues of about
five of the warriors, "only a dollar a box". If you're not careful, they'll give you an empty box: so a dollar just for the box.
On the way out, an old woman was really pestering Carla, hitting her on the arm. Patience was low by then, and Carla hit her back --
"Don't you hit me!" (Of course it doesn't matter what you actually say, they won't understand a word anyway.) The old woman totally
cracked up -- she wasn't expecting it and was really caught off guard, and just laughed and laughed. With us, not at us, if you know what
I mean. She really got a kick out of it. She didn't get a sale out of it though.
| We arrive at the train station |
Train station with a board full of chinese train schedules... |
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| Doesn't Bill look ready to head to Xi'an with 3 women roommates | One of our roommates - she was fun and informative |
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| Our train is ready to head out | Hard to find the hotel but we managed - kidding |
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| Inside our wonderful hotel - Ana Grand Castle Hotel | Just a small downtown hotel |
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| Inside the market area | Goat head soup? |
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| Market area by the Great Mosque | Looking down at the market place |
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| Tough way to carry bricks | Hopefully the birds make it through the day |
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| We wanted to beat the drum but they warned us not to! | Drum tower |
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| Inside with the Drum roll | Outside the drum tower |
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| Next stop - bell tower from the drum tower |
but not before a starbucks stop |
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| Bell tower | And we thought the independence bell was old - this one was built in 1384! |
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| Walking towards the south gate of Xi'an | South gate tower |
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| Looking west along the south gate | Looking down the street from the south gate |
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| South gate at night | On to the next day... |
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Here a some miscellaneous pictures from around the city and the pearl market - lots of Chinese goodies at the market!
Dinner with Carla's work group
------------------------------
We had dinner with Carla's work group at a famous Peking Duck place. (Note, it's called Peking Duck, not Beijing Duck.)
Appetizer was duck tongue soup. Yup. I had some, but didn't eat any tongues. Not sure
that Carla had any soup at all.
They do group dinners with a big lazy Susan in the middle. Everybody just grabs stuff out of the dishes with their chopsticks. Our group
had two ducks, lots of meat all around, and other things. Also, both of the heads were on a plate near the center of the lazy Susan, cut in
half down the middle, with little strips of duck meat across them. People said that some people eat them, although nobody at our table
touched them that evening. I'm thinking that they're kind of like the green stuff in lobsters, which some people eat... Although I'm not sure
what exactly you eat if you "eat" the head.
They had turtles on the menu. They're served whole, and attractively pictured with their heads sticking out of the bowl.
At work, Carla talked about this. They said, "Turtles are very good!" Well, in the US, we do pick live lobsters out of the tank...
"Turtles taste much better than lobsters." (But then: we talked to some Australians about eating duck. They said no,
we don't eat duck, people keep them as pets. So they see eating duck as the same as eating turtles?)
Then later we saw turtles for sale at the supermarket (something like Hannafords). I also saw crabs climbing right out of their tanks ... then
hanging on the edge, and climbing back in again. They also had big fishin tanks, at the supermarket; I think Carla got a picture of them. They
have a guy there who will cut them up for you, for free I think.
---
One of the first times we went out to dinner, just the two of us, we got some sort of chicken dish, in a bowl all mixed together, chicken and veggies etc.
The chicken is all cut up: I think they basically dice the whole chicken before cooking, and the drumsticks, etc., are just cut into pieces about an
inch long. So you pick out pieces (with the chopsticks), and have to chew around, and spit out, the little piece of bone in it. Really a hassle if you ask me.
So then, besides the bones, we spy a chicken-foot in there, all batter-fried and ready to go. Put it off to one side and continued. Then near the end I
spied the head. (Didn't tell Carla until the next day, but I did cover it up so she wouldn't see.) So, one foot and one half a head: apparently we got a
half a chicken between us, which makes sense. (The left half, by the way...)
So about the chicken feet: they're not just extras left in, because at the supermarket next day, they sell them by the pound.
---
Carla's coworker Brian accompanied us to the Pearl Market on Sunday. As we were heading there in the cab, he pointed out a restaurant very near
our hotel, that he said had good Peking duck. We tried it that evening, and it was very good. Although it was not easy: not a single word of English.
We tried pointing stuff out from the menu, but it was really difficult. After we had ordered, it seemed that they had settled on something that
seemed like what we wanted ... but you're never sure. It worked out, got some really good Peking Duck.
I also learned just what Peking Duck is. A lot of that is: skin. Slices of skin, cooked crisp, slices of meat, slices of green onion, slices of cucumber
(I think), and little tortilla-like thing that you roll it all up in. And some brown sauce to dip it in. I like duck, but I think I prefer it served like chicken.
| Fritz getting ready to go shopping | The boys (Brian and Bill) enjoying the market!? |
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| Looks like the states - one working and the rest watching! | There are about 10 restaurants down this alley with some tables outside! |
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| Here we go into the grocery store! | Want some fish for dinner? |
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| Want some meat?! | Let me out... |
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| And they said it was the off season | We're going in |
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| The wall goes on and on... | and on and on... |
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| We're part way up! | We are at the beginning of the wall |
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| Kelly and me overlooking the north wall | We just walked up this... |
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| Hmmm... which way to go? | Looking up the Great Wall! |
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| On the way home from work - I think he's moving! | Another definition of rush hour |
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| At karaoke and Scott is loving the song... | Chris really getting into the vibe... |
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| Everyone is excited for the singing to start | Jack is getting it started for the night |
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Get up to watch the Red Sox/Rockies! Live at 8:00 AM.
More soon...
| A clear sunday outside the hotel | We're heading to the mall |
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| Just a quiet day at the mall | Running away from the mall - too many people |
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Saturday, October 27, 2007: Sightseeing
---------------------------------------
On Saturday, we visited the Forbidden City, also known as the
Palace Museum, built in 1420 and used by the Ming and Qing dynasties
until 1924. It's huge, and I think they said it's the largest
palace complex anywhere. We (Carla) got tons of pictures.
Ended at the South gate, which is the North end of Tian'anmen
Square. We didn't go across the street (actually a huge boulevard
which you have to go underground to get across) ... did see plenty
of Red Army soldiers (kids!) keeping people moving though.
So after touring the area for 3 1/2 hours it was time to move on.
We took the subway (more on that later) down to the Heavenly Garden.
That too was huge, amazing, and also built in 1420.
What a beautiful place -- lots of trees -- one cypress that was
500 years old. And it had something very nice: lots of quiet,
peaceful walks, with many trees, few people, almost no
noise, and it really seemed that the air wasn't so bad. Keeping
in mind that Beijing is a huge city, with 13-15 million people
all around, and we're not really city people, it was nice to get
a little quiet time among the trees. You could see people doing
TaiChi and playing badmitten.
Ok, about that subway. It's convenient, cheap, and easy, with
just one little catch: too many people! You can't believe how
crowded it is. Hot and humid from all the people breathing...
People don't mind just pushing and squeezing.
(Aside on that: they don't really have "lines" here, they'll
push right past you if you let them.)
Anyway, after the Forbidden City and the Heavenly Garden, I must
admit we got a little "cultural overload".
After all day, it's hard to remember all of the Empress Dowagers,
the Hall of Heavenly Peace vs. the Hall of Preserving Harmony,
Palace of Union and Peace, or Terrestrial Tranquility, Heavenly
Purity, Central Harmony, ... lots more. Very impressive though.
So then we were more than ready to get home.
Hailed a cab, showed them the new map and off we go. He gets us close
to the hotel but when we get out we can't see it nor are we sure which
direction to go. We walked into a store and everyone working there was
looking at the map trying to figure how to get there. As I said, they
are more than willing to help. But not a single word of English. One
finally believes it is one block east and 2 blocks north -- we found our
7-11 and hotel. We go in to eat food we bought at the 7-11 and then went
to bed at 7:30. We woke up, thinking it probably wasn't time to get up
yet, who knows, maybe 5:00 AM? It was 10:00 PM! Yes, a little too
early to get up. We got up anyway, wide awake, and with a bad
thunderstorm going on outside, are writing up our trials and tribulations.
Stay tuned!
| In the Forbidden City | 500-year-old architecture |
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| Hall of central harmony at the Forbidden City | In front of the main gate of the Forbidden City |
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| The Chairman | Chairman Mao |
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| Tian'anmen Square | If I sit down, I'll never get up! |
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| We took the subway along with 1 million others... | The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, in the Temple of Heaven |
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| Badmitten and Tai Chi, on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven | The streets of Beijing - bicycles are everywhere |
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Friday, October 26: Back to Work
--------------------------------
Friday morning Carla had to go in to work, it's only a 20-30 minute
cab ride. Headed downstairs with address in hand (in English, in
Chinese with western alphabet, and in Chinese Chinese). A kiss
goodbye, and into the cab and gone. Got there ok. Here's her
story of the first day at work ... and the adventure getting home!
I got there and had to locate someone to help me find my temporary
cube. The people I had worked with weren't around but another person
from the group came out to help. He was so nice, setting up my internet
connection, asking how my trip went and got me started. Then more
from the group start showing up and I try to understand their names
and try to keep a name with a face. Went to lunch with one person from
the Beijing office and another from the Sydney office, whom I had
worked with through the years. It was good catching up and we went
to a place that had pictures along with the food selections. We got
some vegies and a chicken pot. It was very good. I did some work
and at 5:00 I decided it was time to head home... Head out and hail down
a taxi -- the guy has no idea where I want to go and drives off. Ok, no
problem, I'll find another one. The next one didn't know where it was.
Ok, this isn't looking good -- I decide to go back to the office and get
a map. My co-workers were kind enough to find a map and marked an X next
to the hotel. The map wasn't very extensive and I asked if we should get
a better one but they seemed to think it was fine... Three policeman
were helping me earlier and now were looking at the map -- they were
confused but hailed a cab for me. No luck, off he drives and by this time
it is getting dark, I have no phone, and have no idea where to go. They
hail another cab... still not sure but by this time a woman had stopped
and had the idea of calling the hotel and then handing her phone over
to the new cab driver for directions. How nice was that! Everyone is so
helpful and love to try to speak English. I finally made it home at 6:30,
very tired and forlorned with the amount of time it took to get home. I
am going to have to redo my map and get better directions to the hotel!
---
Well, we have gotten better directions. We've taken great pains
to make out detailed maps, and get our friends to write Chinese
characters on them whenever possible. It can still be difficult
because they don't speak a single word of English, and vice versa,
although we are learning a few words such as North, South, East,
West, Street, Avenue, Road.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007: Travelling
The flight here was from Manchester to Chicago, and from there
to Beijing. For that second leg we had three seats for the
two of us, which is nice, but 13 hours is a long time no matter
what. I was wondering whether we'd fly East or West, but we
went straight North: over Lake Superior, Hudson's Bay, Baffin
Island, then the North Pole. Couldn't see anything out the
window at the North Pole, it was night (which lasted about two
hours). Carla wanted a picture of the North Pole, but got a picture
of the display screen showing our plane over the pole instead.
Beijing airport wasn't bad at all, baggage & customs went right
through. Everything is written in Chinese with English below;
that helped. Met the guy holding the sign saying "Mowers", I
thought he was someone that Carla would be working with. Turned
out he was just a cab driver, who spoke no English at all.
I was a litle concerned about the bathroom. I'd heard stories
about a "hole in the floor". Fortunately, everything was normal,
not bad at all actually.
SMOG! Unbelievable air pollution, unlike anything we'd ever seen.
Buildings disappear into the air in probably less than a mile.
You can easily see it just looking at the building across the street.
Heard that the day after we arrived, 3000 people were stuck at the
airport because of visibility. In general, we notice that people
cough a lot, and a few where face masks, just to work. How can people
spend a whole life in this? I thought maybe that first day was
exceptionaly bad, but no, it's like that all the time.
We were wondering about the Olympics coming here next year: no
serious athlete could perform in this air. Turns out, that's a
big issue with them now, what to do about the air pollution for
the Olympics. At any rate, you can't open the windows at night,
and even inside you can almost always smell it.
Thursday, October 25, 2007: Arriving
------------------------------------
The climate here is pretty much the same as New England. They say
that Autumn here is the best time: Winter is really cold, Spring is
very rainy, and Summer is hot and humid.
Didn't have to set our watches: Beijing is 12 hours different
from EDT. That makes it easy to figure out what time it is
back home, but pretty strange.
Riding in a cab: well, Manhattan is wild (if you go there and are
not familiar with it, I recommend a cab ride even if you don't
need one, just as one of the must-do things in the City), but here
you have lots of bicycles and pedestrians in the mix. Definitely
the "rule of the nose": the right-of-way goes to whoever is there
first. Generally, yield only to avoid actually contacting somebody.
And go really fast.
Missed the first game of the World Series. Still not entirely
sure whose side I'm on, Sox or Rox. Maybe pulling for the Rockies
because they're probably the underdogs, I expect Boston to win.
The hotel is pretty much Westernized, everything has English
subtitles, and they speak English at the front desk. Not very good
English for the most part though, it's tough to communicate.
And away from the front desk though: basically zero English for
housekeeping, or anyone else.
(Not like in Europe, where at least you can read the letters and
maybe get a little idea what things mean.) There's lots of English
on TV: CNN, ESPN etc., which is nice. ESPN is mostly "football"
(soccer) of course, but they do show the World Series -- actually,
they replay each game at least twice, which works out for us.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and our plan is to watch game three, which
should start at 8:00 AM I think.
Out in the street, there's almost no English spoken, and it can
be definitely difficult to get around. We've already learned that,
if you have an address, written in every language, a Beijing cab
driver will not know how to get there. Carla has a nightmare
horror story about getting home from work on her first day...
The first evening (Thursday) we walked down the street and found
a nice little restaurant, that had some English writing. (Lots of
them don't.) All of the food tasted really good -- we've noticed
that since then, they just seem to mix their flavors in the right
proportions. But guess what. The bathroom: hole in the floor!
All nice porcelain and stainless steel, but, nothing above floor
level. Just stand there, ok for a guy, but I'm glad it was only
#1... Wonder how old people or fat people do it?
| We are on our way... | Headed over the north pole but unfortunately it was cloudy! |
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| Our hallway in the hotel | Outside the hotel |
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