We arrived in Beijing last Monday afternoon, going through Dubai again. It's Saturday morning now, as it's taken a while for me to get a post in. Windows Live Writer - a Microsoft program I actually like - wasn't able to connect to my blog. Maybe the government here thinks I'm saying bad things about their food. So I'm finally able to just access Blogger directly.
Almost every time I've come to China, I've packed some gummy bears, one of my favorite treats, based on the advice of a friend many years ago who spent a summer in Russia and said to bring a part of home you know you can't get when you travel. For him it was peanut butter and toilet paper. For me, it's Haribo gummy bears. With the way Beijing has become such an international city, I'm sure I could find them quite easily here, but it's easier to buy in bulk at home. This time though, I didn't have time to get any before leaving, so I picked some up in the Dubai airport. In addition, I was in the mood for Skittles, my second favorite way of creating cavities.
I've found that Coke tastes way better in Europe and Asia. Skittles, on the other hand, do not. Though the packaging is pretty cool.
We're leaving a week before the Olympics start. This city, and the surrounding areas, will be a nightmare to navigate with all of the security and traffic stops. And, in a way, been there done that (pardon the horrifically unreadable layout, it was only 1996, early in the interwebs years....). There's definitely a lot of nationalistic spirit here, and although the air is still covered in a thick haze, the stale odor that's usually ubiquitous/omnipresent/all over the friggin' place is so minimal you barely notice it. Granted, I'm hardly an athlete, but as a visitor it's a nice change from past trips over here.
More foodie posts soon... While I've been gone from home, our house was struck by lightning, frying our brand new TV, satellite receiver, DSL modem, alarm system and sprinkler system. So some of my time has just been calling home to help wife find all the right stuff to work with the insurance company. Will be a fun way to spend the first few days home.