Ni Hau

Beijing was such a blur I feel like I was hardly there. What I mostly remember is that the Olympic rings are recreated, well, everywhere. There is a huge countdown clock on display as you leave the airport showing the exact number of second until the opening ceremony. While I didn't see the "birds nest" stadium, I hold high hopes that I'll get a better chance to explore another time (if we get lucky, the actual Olympics!). I stayed about one block away from Tienanmen Square and didn't get to see it. Such a bummer.

Lunch today was Beijing duck. "Peking duck?" I asked. "NO!" it was quickly clarified. I guess this is a somewhat sensitive issue. I'm told the duck is specially roasted with special wood smoke, although they were unsure what kind of wood exactly. The restaurant was hugely popular -- we ended up on the fourth floor, everyone eating the same damn duck. They give you a little card so you know what number of duck you ate. I ate 1,150,252,875 (they have been serving proudly since 1864 you know). There are many ways you can eat the duck (skin slices like chips, the meat with the skin on wrapped in a flour tortilla, a soup made from the juices, and the head cut in half). Let's just say I tried 50% of the options, and I'll let you guess which.

Our ride to the Beijing airport was somewhat eventful. My coworker was accused of trying to pass of a counterfeit bill to the driver, so we blocked three major lanes of traffic while the argued about it. The driver behind us actually got out of her car and screamed at me. A year ago I would have died of embarrassment. Today, I shrugged and waved. Funny thing, the exact same thing happened when we got to Shanghai. Apparently, her money is actually fake. I can't tell the difference, but these cab drivers have an eagle eye!

The only other item of note is the funny rating system they have in China's immigration system. You can rate your immigration officer using buttons that range from an extremely happy face to an extremely mad face. Call me crazy, but I'm really not that interested in giving a sour rating to the person who's deciding if they're going to let me into a Communist country. Not my idea of a good time.

I'm in Shanghai for the rest of the week, so I hope I'll get a little more time to explore.