"Massage and more"

So after I did all my work stuff on Friday, I finally got to become a tourist. I was awaiting the arrival of my classmates by having a beer and finishing a book (Born Standing Up - Steve Martin, good book actually) in the hotel lobby. By my estimation, they were supposed to arrive by 7 p.m. but by 7:30 they hadn't shown up yet...or so I thought. I was heading back to room to drop off the book and I ran into a couple of guys from my class. Turns out they got in about an hour before and somehow, still a mystery to me, they got past me in the lobby (like I said, it was a good book).


Anyway, they had all agreed to head to this restaurant called "Peking Duck" (I'll let you figure out what the specialty was) on Friday night instead of the next night. Anyway, we were bused over and sat down at our large table. The table is really cool and in China, when eating with a large party, there's a huge lazy susan in the middle. All the food is placed on this and moved around when you want to have something. So we started with some appetizers and tea then the food started coming. And then more food. And then more food. And then the duck (which was awesome). And then the soup. By the end of the meal, the lazy susan was completely full with plates. They even combined some plates to make some room. It was an incredible meal aside from most folks in the group who greatly struggled with the concept of the chopstick (and travel abroad for that matter).



After dinner, we came back to the hotel and sort of decided to walk off dinner and explore around the hotel a little. On the way back, everyone wanted to stop in this hat store and since I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do less, I just headed back to the hotel by myself. It was only a few hundred yards to the lobby from where the group split off but looking very American and being by myself, I guess I was a walking target. A target for what you ask? Well, I was propositioned by this nice looking lady who was holding a card with a picture of a girl on it and the promise of "a massage and more." I've been propositioned before...maybe some of you remember my psychic hooker story from Vegas...but it's still funny to me.



Being my first night in Beijing with my Elon classmates, it was fairly uneventful. Tomorrow, we'll be touring all day by starting at Tiannamen Square then on to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and finally, the Olympic Village (which I very much look forward to). I imagine I'll be posting some pictures then.



Oh, I should mention that I got a drink in the hotel bar before I headed to bed . It just so happens that this bar has karaoke. Fulfilling a promise I made to a friend, I wanted to check their book and see if they had the song. Sounds bad but they did...David Bowie's China Girl. Yeah, that might have to happen.



Fortune of the day - some people don't deserve to travel to Milwaukee much less China.