Beijing by Daylight

Actually it was daylight when I got here yesterday, but I really didn't feel like doing anything about it. Last night I unpacked, wrote a chronicle of the day events for this blog, and hit the sack.

My travel companions are Peg Hart and Bob Carpenter from RMD Source Management at SAS, and Michael Guerin, Peg's husband.

This morning the ritual begins.

I'm up about 6:00, only woke once during the night so feel pretty rested. However I am a bit groggy and as I move around that is not going away. It is probably the jet lag that will be with me for a couple of days. I piddle around the room and about 8:00 head our for breakfast. Bob, Michael, and Peg are there.

Our first stop of the day will be Wal-Mart. I to pick up some survival supplies. Bottled water and Coke. Hopefully some peanuts. They will buy bicycles. They will be touring the city for the second week of our trip and it's cheaper to buy bicycles than rent them from the hotel. At the end of the trip they will be given away to someone either in the office or to folks we meet at the hotel or in other contacts. A new bike, with baskets and bells added, costs about $40. Cheap investment.

I get busted in the Wal-Mart for taking pictures. They ask me to stop. Why, I have no idea. But I stop. Lesson #1 for the trip. While the D200 is a great camera, one needs a stealth camera here. Something less obtrusive for these situations. No matter. I got enough shots and a receipt to prove I was in the Wal-Mart in Beijing. I actually looked about buying a stealth camera here but decide I can't tell if the prices are good or not. I imagine cheaper, but not sure. We'll probably write this up as lesson learned for the future.

But the picture of the day above is one of those pictures from Wal-Mart. It is what the well dressed Chinese Wal-Mart greeter is wearing these days. It's a little blurry so forgive. But you'll get the idea.

And it is a Wal-Mart. Crowded. But they have everything. Multiple floors here. It's a Supercenter so it has food and everything else. You want duck? You can buy one cooked here just like rotisserie chicken in the states.

After we return, Bob, Peg and Michael are off for a bike ride. I elect to remain at the hotel. I have a sore foot which was bothering me a bit before I left home but seems to be especially tender this afternoon. And I'm the one who still needs to get work done before I meet with the staff tomorrow.

I am confused about what time it is at home. I wonder this morning how the church slide show went, but finally realize it will not take place until I am asleep tonight. I usually do this time conversion the other way.

Really spend the afternoon working from the room except for a few short breaks for a walk outside. Went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Order a hamburger. Not a particularly good experience for me. Ground beef patty was not so much a patty as a blob. And of course there was the ever present fried egg that appears on virtually every sandwich in the place. Ended up eating the thing with a fork. Won't be trying that again.

Met my travel mates for cocktails about 5:00 and we decide to go over to a dumpling house for supper. We order 4 plates of food; a shrimp dish, a chicken and mystery meat dish, and two plates of a vegetarian dumpling. It is while eating here I am reminded of another reason that I may starve in Beijing. Chopsticks. Sometimes I can do them sometimes I can not. Tonight I do OK. Who knows what tomorrow will hold.

Back in the room I try to do some prep work for the sessions with staff tomorrow, but after a few minutes I can barely hold my eyes open. So its off to bed. Work will have to wait until tomorrow.