Crowne Plaza Hotel Zhongguancun Beijing

... it didn’t.) A good-natured lady laughingly told me yes, and to go ahead and get in. I looked into the shadowly depths of the decrepit machine dubious of whether this was an experience I really wanted to partake in. I cannot remember whether my resolve, or the “helping hands” of strangers finally persuaded me onto the bus. The next thing I know I was on the steps, talking to the conductor and a rowdy-looking audience. I couldn’t help but grin at my fellow ...

... but then it got a bit weird, with people taking photos of the group and everyone asking people for photos, although no one asked Lesley, which at first she was pleased about and then got a bit upset that no one wanted her photo!! The dark hair and tanned skin don't interest them as much as a white fair haired man. We went to visit the Forbidden City which contains 9999 rooms and was home to many emperors between 1401 and 1925 and their hundreds of ...

... to pass through the Party, which obviously limits what you can do or say. One of the biggest hip hop songs of all time and one that you could consider as really allowing it to take off is NWAS's "**** the Police." Can you imagine that coming out in China? No wonder hip hop is still in its infancy. It was really cool to see what is happening though and the ways in which it's being adapted but still remains firmly tied to American culture and ...

... på bænkene i skyggen. Det er desuden svært at få ro og naturfornemmelse i parkerne i Beijing, da kineserne (som jo er et meget legesygt folkefærd som tidligere nævnt) altid klistrer parkerne til med forlystelser. Det vil sige karuseller, diverse legepladser - både for voksne og børn, og folk som synger og spiller over det hele. Og jeg synes altså ikke, at det lyder smukt, når de synger på den klassiske måde, som for mig bare lyder meget højt og falsk. Jeg endte ...

... has been continuing its careful diplomatic dance with Chinese leaders. And some Christians dissidents in China have been arrested during the Olympics. They include Hua Huigi, who was detained while bicycling to the Kuanje Protestant church service attended by Bush. With restrictions on foreign journalists in China during the Olympics, it's hard to know what else religious Chinese might really be up to. I suspect the state secrecy is hiding things that are not too pretty ...

... much of a social life.  We talked a lot about our respecitve hopes and caught up with the last few years.  She ranted about the Olympics and how troublesome daily life has become.  (That was another one of the explanations I've been told for my subway stop's closure.)  Everything, EVERYTHING, is Olympics here now.  Every sign, every commercial, every development, every TV program.  "The Olympics make me want to vomit," she said.

... forward to was the long chute you can ride down on these little black roller things. Unfortunately, we were all pretty disappointed when we discovered it was closed and would open just after we needed to leave. Oh well. We took the chair lift down, which was not nearly as awesome but still sufficed. At the bottom, I shopped with Megan and bought the best dried fruit (strawberries, kiwis) and a banana that I've ever tasted. That's a *******e to beat, too, after the markets ...

... lunch. I figured it would be the one time this year I could visit an Outback Steakhouse and those onions are impossible to pass up....mmm nothing beats 5000 calories of deep fried heaven. After the minor heart attack we took a small detour and hit up the international food store to pick up some stuffing and cranberry sauce for our upcoming Thanksgiving dinner. We'll let you know how that goes later on. Next stop ...

... and not to nice to walk around we returned to the hotel to rest till dinner. Dinner was a Chinese fast food resturant, suprisingly very delicious. After eating A LOT, we headed to the Big Goose Pagoda. By then it had stopped raining, so we took our time wandering around. The temple had closed so we couldn't go inside, but there were shops and things to see around it. Around 9pm the water show started. The water show was to the soundtrack of Swan Lake, with water ...

Our first train ride in China. We spent 1.5 hours in the train station in Datong, in awe and highly amused by the locals. Everybody queues (well, if you could class it as a queue) for 2 hours before the train arrives. No idea why! Everyone has a seat ...