One last day in beijing before I head to Sichuan. Don't worry, bie ku. I'll be back in Beijing in a weeks time little fella.
the ineffective subway bag scanning station at every station was implemented for the 2008 beijing olympic games. It looks like since then that more and more people have learned that you can just bypass this and even if there is a guy holding his arms out you can just walk through his arms because he/she is not going to fight you. So basically this has become an opt-in thing now. I found a great website while in China on this trip that i wish i had found when i lived here. it's
he's a very smart guy, down to earth, funny writing, and puts things in laymans terms. He tossed his old management consultant life to travel asia and i guess he's still at it. His site has guides on everything from etiquette, to bargaining, to tourism, to shopping, to travel insurance, etc... What i found most interesting on his site was the section "understanding the chinese mind". There is a part in there that talks about how in China there is a culture of breaking the rules. I saw it so many times on this trip. I suppose there is some psychological necessity for them to break some rules and feel like they have some sovereignty. This bag scanning station is one such example. smoking on the bus is another. i'm sure everyone could many more. anyway check out China Mike's site, it's quality stuff.
i'm guessing russians. p.s. how stupid do they look? really great art direction going on here.
by guomao. if this was my commute everyday i would probably catch the next donkey out of town to grow radishes too.
guomao station, one of the most horrible subway stations. it hot. did you remember how i previously said there are a sh!tload of chinese people in china? still applies. i feel like there are even more people riding the subway now than in 2008 when it was kind of new. Now in Beijing things are getting pretty bad. it's hard to flag down a taxi even when it's not raining and riding the subway is always a crowded sweaty affair any time of day. The traffic is so bad owning a car or taking a taxi takes longer than the sweaty crowded subway. what's a guy to do except get an electric bike/bike/scooter/donkey? no but seriously some kind of bike is probably your best bet these days.
all kinds of ominous government offices in odd corners of beijing.
Li Qun roast duck pecking duck restaurant in some small hutong. this place is old and really famous but i've been here 3 times and didn't think it was that great compared to Da Dong, or Made in China for example. I feel like its a little better than an average duck place. I still vote for Da Dong!
wood for roasting those bad boys.
Qing who i met in London. she's bouncing between Beijing and London these days.
Looks like a Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell in front of the apple store in Sanlitun
QQ's still in Beijing.
Xiao Yu (little fish, not her real name but that's what i call her). She's from Macau or something like that.
Sanlitun bar street has a ton more mala tang vendors now and looks like its packed in even more bar streetness somehow.
lamb kabob place on the corner of gulou dong da jie right in front of the drum tower. This family was very nice and enlightened to a new possibility. I talked to them for a little bit and obviously my chinese isn't that good so they asked if i was from Hong Kong. I had never considered that as an option of where Mainland Chinese people would think i'm from but it makes sense cuz a lot of Hong Kongers can't speak mandarin but look Chinese/Asian. that's a new one.
i miss these so much.
back at the hotel. WTF!!!! is that a mosquito? you could strap missiles to to and use it as a drone. it looks even bigger in real life.
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