Day 2: Beijing - Wandering the Streets

We had the day to ourselves so we headed out to explore. Our hotel could not be better located and we were able to walk to The Forbidden City and Tiananamen Square. We'll be going back with the Tour Guide later in the weeks so we just tried to blend in with the locals (haha - no way!) We do stick out with my hair color and we we're the perfect mark for lots of people hoping to make a buck on a typical tourist. We only ended up being drawn into one little gallery by an "art student". It's like being drawn into the back rooms on Canal Street for the "real" Luis Vuitton bags.


The sun came out brightly and there was a perfect blue sky and no sign of smog today. Lots of people do walk around with a face mask - not sure if it prevents them from breathing the pollution or if it keeps the TB in. The city is immaculate - there is not a single piece of litter or graffiti. We are in an area that is a cross between their Times Square and Fifth Avenue. The stores and malls are very upscale and everyone is dressed beautifully. People are stylish and neat.


There is no sign of crime at all. And although there are 16 million people in Beijing, the streets around here are not that crowded. We'll see how that changes as we go to different areas.
The food is great! Lots of little animals on a stick, dumplings and dim sum-looking things abound. They have these lunchtime salad bar type things where you get raw food and you sit at a bar and dip your raw food into boiling water to cook it yourself - sort of a Chinese fondue. There are a million stores selling exactly the same kind of candy and bags and bags of dried duck in a bag. (See photo)


Shout out to Becky again for posting these blogs for me. There definitely seems to be a google block between China and US.


Hasta manana!