No meat for her, No Nuts for Me

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We're carrying this little card with us in China that says just this in Mandarin characters: "No meat, No nuts". It's already paid dividends...

The Beijing air feels like the northwoods of Alaska compared to Bangkok. Okay, so it's still smoggy as hell, but it's cool relatively, probably in the low 70s.

We're holed up in one of China's many 'provincial government invested hotels'. Of course, we didn't know that when we booked at the airport, but my sources tell me that our hotel is run by the peoples provincial government of inner mongolia. sweet!

There aren't too many white people or english speakers for that matter around the lobby and hallways of our place, and lunch was a total adventure. Sherry and I know how to say hello and that's about it. I came away with some beef stew and sherry had a platter of sauteed celery. yum! They even had English/Mandarin menus and it was still super difficult. Sherry commented that this begins the 'weight loss' portion of our trip.

We saw Chairman Mao today. He's up and around actually and feeling well-rested after a few years of rest. I'll tell you that I don't think that he'll ever get back to his days as a 12 handicap golfer, but he's looking pretty fit for his age.

Lonely Planet Mandarin phrasebook in one hand and foldout Beijing tourist map with pinyun/Mandarin characters in our other hand we're primed and ready for a quick 2 or 3 days here.

Sherry's just gotten word back from her old friend Jonathan. Anyway, he's in the NE of China and may be traveling around a bit while we're here.

It might sound weird, but we met this guy on the street today named Ting and we're taking a tour with him tomorrow to the 'untouristy' part of the Great Wall. Hopefully by 'untouristy' he doesn't mean 'the part of the Great Wall where they kill and bury Western tourists for their passports and blood plasma'. He has a webpage, and hey, if you have a webpage, you have to be somewhat legit, right?

Ting's Tours

(Exhibit 2: The Timoney Group)

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Comments

[Muranda]

Sounds like fun. Just don't be going with every stranger you meet on the street. Remember what your mother's use to tell you. Miss you guys

[fav aunt]

you make me laugh
gosh cory you are really making this fun for the rest of us folks back in the us. luv the way you write about stuff.. ok ting is just your kind of guide, cheap and off the tourist track and techy, hopefully you will still be alive after to send pics. his web site looks good, how much is200RMB's to us does it include body disposal. also whats up with exhibit 2 filling you last will and testament. luvvvvv you guys hurry so we know ting's is legit....