Some observations

Here are some things we've noticed so far:

 

- There is a diaper shortage in China (or just a reluctance to use them). Many young kids have but-less pants on, and the parents just let them do their business wherever they need to.

 

- Everyone deserves to be first in line. No one queues properly in China - they just budge ahead of you. You have to really elbow your way through to get what you need. For example, yesterday we were ordering lunch and a guy tried to cut in front of Amy twice before yelling his order from behind. We yelled back at him and he shut up for a while.

 

- There are a lot of imitations here. We've found fake versions of nearly everything (books, DVDs, clothes, etc). And we've bought quite a few to bring back. The knock-offs are very easy to spot, usually with quite hilarious English.

 

- Tours are subsidized by the government. Our "Great wall and Ming Tombs" tour the other day was about 2 hours at those places, and 4 hours at government Jade, Silk and Tea shops where you had to sit in the gift shop for 40 minutes.

 

- Squat toilets are unpleasant. Nothing further needed here...

 

Did the pictures I posted last time work? We've done a lot since I wrote last.

 

On Monday we met up with a friend from Vancouver (Paul) who joined us as we went to the Fortinet Beijing office. They treated us to a really good Sichuan lunch. We checked out some markets in the afternoon and then went for Peking Duck. I actually enjoyed it and we tried to go again last night to the famous restaurant but it was too busy.

 

On Tuesday we did our Great wall + Ming Tombs tour. The Great Wall is absoultely amazing and something everyone should do at least once. The only disappointing thing was that we didn't have enough time there. After our tour we checked out the Hutong district where all the foreigners drink and had dinner. There are some really nice lakes in that area (and throughout Beijing).

 

Yesterday we went to Beihai park which is huge! I don't know the exact size but it seemed much larger than Central Park. We rented a motor boat for 60 Yuan ($10) and drove around the lake for an hour and had some beer. The weather was nice so this was really relaxing. In the evening we met up with Paul again and had Sichuan dinner at our favourite local restaurant.

Today we are going to the Summer Palace to check it out. That should take up most of the day. In the evening we plan to meet up with two former Fortinet employees who live here for dinner. Then in the morning we fly out to Xi'an, leaving Beijing behind.