beijing...

We're leaving Beijing for Shanghai tomorrow. I know I haven't been too descriptive with my impression of the city, so here are some random thoughts:

1. The Chinese cities we've been visiting have been getting increasingly large in population. With this, there is a commensurate increase in rudeness. From the kind of backwards Guilin people being mega friendly to the aggressive salesman snot-rocket firing residents of Beijing, this has held true.

2. Chinese people, when they get frustrated, start yelling. Basically anything can trigger this. I have no idea why. Being surprisingly conservative myself, I often find myself immediately wincing and looking the other way.

3. Beijing is totally losing its mind over the upcoming Olympics. The city is essentially ripping its own guts out and rebuilding a brand new city so that in 2008 when a bunch of people come they'll marvel at how new and modern it is. For example, when Cynthia and I were crossing the street in a major mall area to buy Simon a card for his phone, it felt like we were in Afghanistan:



Also, construction is going on 24/7. Here's a video we shot at like 11:30 PM and people are still diligently laying down brick after brick of "New Beijing"... I get the feeling that the population of Beijing is working around the clock shifts to create a new gleaming city:



4. We spent a night with Simon's uncle showing us around, and he took us to Hou Hai (basically Expat central) and all the bars are totally corny. However, 2 things stuck out in this sea of America-aping bars/nightlife. 1, this band fronted by a punky chick sang a rock version of "Muo Li Hua," a traditional Chinese song. It sort of blew my mind, they were like the best parts of Jefferson Airplane with none of the bad. 2, there was some suspect talent show being held in one of the bars and they had this kid reciting some scripture and playing this traditional percussive thing:



At one point you can hear me say "if I had done this as a kid it would be like my dad's wet dream."

5. Great Wall, motherlovers! We were like Mongolians climbing that junk! Of course, I guess you could argue that the dozens of old white women in fannypacks could also be considered Mongolians by that logic, but whatever, we did it without collapsing in a heap!



6. Buying bootleg DVDs is a total crapshoot. They cost roughly $1.13 per DVD, and you never know if it's going to be a good copy or total crappo. Also, when you're rooting through a suitcase full of completely random DVDs there is kind of a thrill of the unknown of what you're going to find. "Party Girl" with Parker Posey? Sure I'd pay $1.13 for that! "Grindhouse"? Didn't even know that was available yet! Also, the Chinese do a pretty good job replicating the DVD covers. Why they don't just scan and print them I'll never know:



Tomorrow is Shanghai, playas!