WOW it's China

1.3 Billion People...........It is inconceivable!!!

Even being here it still seems inconceivable.

I am amazed and so surprised with the moderness and efficiency of Beijing. Almost 13 million of those 1.3 billion call Beijing home. There is wall to wall people everywhere. The sidewalks begin to bustle about 6 am and it doesn't slow down to well past midnight. Judy says that Beijing is what she was expecting, but not me. A fast and modern subway system, a transit system that is apparently very good and efficient, clean, modern, and unfortuneatly not very "Asian".
We are staying in a 3 star hotel, which really is a 3 star hotel. Mini bar, satellite television, internet and business center. I thought that a Chinese 3 star hotel might be a little on the scary side. Nope! Our hotel too is very modern and westernized. It could have been Manhattan or downtown Dallas or....... Vancouver..........

The Chinese are on their countdown to the 2008 Olympics and they are taking that challenge very seriously. Western people that are living here tell us that if they're gone overseas for more that a month, they have difficulty recognizing Beijing on their return. Change is SO RAPID in this city. There are certainly plenty of smiling faces in Beijing, and why not.......There's tons of money to be made, and they're making it.

There are not a lot of English speaking people here in Beijing, and we seem to be somewhat of a novelty. Two gentlemen entered the elevator that Judy and I were riding. Uninhibited, they both scanned me from head to toe several times. My guess is they were not used to being in the presence of someone my size. (I wonder how Ming Yao deals with that in China)

Prices also caught me by surprise. It seems to be more expensive here than other countries in Asia. We were buying bottled water for equivelent $1.25 a gallon in Thailand. We are paying equivelent to $2.00 per gallon here. A kilo of oranges were about fifty cents in Thailand, they are about 75 cents per kilo here. Not outrageously priced, but none the less, surprisingly more expensive.

We head out to the Great Wall of China next and we'll try to get some information up about that. Till then!!!