Stay in Beijing

What a wonderful city, truly wonderful…
It’s the Charm of china in a clean, organized cosmopolitan city…(well, maybe not all that cosmopolitan…)
The hotel we stayed-at, a holiday inn downtown had nothing too downtown about it but the room was clean and the breakfast buffet was very western and was Rox’s reason to get out of bed in the morning. (I’m not joking ~ her nickname now is Cartman from the South Park show)
We picked-up a city guide magazine and ate at interesting restaurants (can you tell, I think that I have become food obsessed…) The only true sights that we took in was the Forbidden City and Tian’an men square. The Cite Interdite is certainly the highlight of the trip to Beijing. I never thought it could be so large and grandiose. Unfortunately, several palaces are under renovation so there is staging around many buildings. Nonetheless, I’m really glad we got a chance to go. There was a short hail storm the afternoon we were there and so we took refuge under one of the temples… It was quite something to think that maybe once, several hundred years ago, a Concubine sat down at that very spot pondering on her future…or maybe hoping that the emperor doesn’t eat too much garlic that night…
Of course, we spotted the Carrefour to get some western shopping done. Olives, Cheese and Tampons are on the list of things to buy on our way back to the Hole (via Beijing again).