This will help you know what to expect in Beijing

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Visiting a communist country, you expect to see a heavy dose of soldiers around. The army/police seem to be everywhere, in their green or blue uniforms, I understand the color and/or style of uniform signifies your rank. But yet, I am not intimidated. Could it be: because they don't have guns, just walkie talkie's, or because so many of the uniforms are finished off with well worn tennis shoes on their feet. Probably neither, I suspect it has to do more with the fact that not many of them look over the age of 13. They are so tiny and thin that their belt actually does hold up their pants and there is alot of bunching in the back. Lauren explained to me that most of the non college bound kids go to boot camp and are assigned either to the army or the police. If the majority of the soldiers look like this, thank goodness for the population explosion over here, they need the volume.

You might think the stereotypical view of Chinese people being so small is genetic, and you might even be right HOWEVER these people never stop. Walking and riding bikes is their main mode of transportation so the mere exercise alone could do it. They are continuously on the move. No loitering anywhere, always moving. The only people who are not in motion are the people standing in front of there little stores along the road. There is rarely a public bench to be found, it is astonishing how they stay on their feet and keep moving, constant motion.....(I think you are getting the idea of what I mean). But if by chance someone gets tired, they just back up against a wall and squat. Yep, no benches necessary, just squat, catch your breathe, move on. (might explain their proficiency with those low level toilets I mentioned last time).


Here's another interesting note to remember for when you travel to Beijing, your boogers are a different color. I know it seems silly to mention but I would hate for you to make the trip, pick your nose and be afraid you have cancer or something. All I can say is, thank goodness I was with Lauren when I noticed. We won't go into where, why or how I noticed it was a different color but it is redish brown and Lauren says it is because of the pollution........you're welcome!

Tonight we went to a restaurant in the center of downtown Beijing because Lauren was dying for me to try Peking Duck. Peking is neither a type of duck nor a name of a city. Interesting historical tidbit here........hundreds of years ago the British mispronounced Beijing as Peking and it stuck. They even have a university named Peking. Quite accomodating of the Chinese, don't you think? I wonder if I could start a word over here and it stick?.........hum...... .....maybe.... "yo momma" that sounds Chinese. Well, anyway, the duck was great and so was everything else we ate there tonight. Great meal!!

Lauren is afraid I might scare someone from travel here with some of my stories. I think just the opposite. I feel these emails are better equiping someone to make the trip. Sometimes just "knowing" what to expect takes the sting out of the strangeness of it, don't you agree? But in an effort to please the host, I would like to say, I have never felt safer in a strange city than I do here. I don't know if it is because they are in constant motion all the time or what. Walking alone during the day and even when we walk at night, there is no sense of fear. Interesting? Now that I have put in a plug on the plus side, I want to share three of our taxi experiences with you.

Remember I mentioned about Lauren arguing with a taxi driver. Well, this is the story on that. First let me preface it with this. There are more taxi's here than NY, they are a dime a dozen and they are everywhere. We get in a taxi from her office and she wants him to take us to the shopping district where the Catholic church was. We get in the taxi and she tells him where we want to go. He says to her there is a lot of traffic going that direction, she virtually says, "so, take me there anyway" and he continues to bitch about the traffic. I don't know, does that seem weird to you? IT IS HIS JOB AFTER ALL AND WE DO PAY FOR IT. Anyhow, he reluctantly takes us, 1. 2. A different day, same thing happens, she tells him where and he says he will have to sit in traffic, she argues that's where she wants to go and he reluctantly drives us. Apparently, they are taxi drivers in one of the most populated cities in the world but they hate to drive in traffic. Should somebody at taxi school have mentioned this to them? My 3rd and final example is last night. We are walking home from dinner and decide to get a taxi, a guy pulls over and Lauren tells him where she lives and he says he only wants to drive straight on that street and Laurens address requires him to make 1 right turn, so he drives off. Let's put this in perspective: They have lots of competition, they don't get paid much, when they wait in a taxi line at the airport or hotel they will literally get out and push their car up in line to avoid using gas but yet they are particular about where they will drive you. Interesting?

That's all I've got for now. More later.
Love ya,
Karen

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