Observations in Beijing

From my journal on my first day in China.

Observations in Beijing:

• Lots of traffic (I'm stuck in a taxi right now).
• Many guys--young and old--pull up their shirts and expose their stomachs while walking down the street (a method of cooling off, I assume).
• People don't seem to pay any attention to me as a foreigner [this proved not to be true--over the next few days several university students came up to me while I was walking down the street and started talking to me in English].
• China reminds me some of how Japan looked when Japan was booming in the 1980s.
• There is an energy here. People seem eager.
• Lots of traffic. And honking. [Rules for honking in China. 1. If the car in front of you is too slow, honk. 2. If the car in front of you is stopped to pay a toll, honk. 3. Basically, if there is a car in front of you, honk.]
• Lots of concrete and grey buildings.
• Some nice cars on the road (Mazda, Volkswagen, Audi). [The nicer ones seem to all have licence plates with 8's and 9's on them.]
• Not as many scooters as I thought. [There were many more in Xi'an. There I often saw women riding side-saddle on the back of scooters without hanging on to anything!]
• Not as many bicycles either. Mainly cars. Lots of cars.
• Lots of new construction around the Forbidden City. Upscale hotels, etc.

Here is a picture of a typical taxi. At 25 yuan ($3.65) for a 20 minute ride, I thought taxis were cheap, until I realized that buses cost 1 yuan.

China seems to have about everything the West has now--yes, even a Hooters. Way to go, China (said loaded with sarcasm).