Safely back at the Naviblog headquarters, headphones plugged in listening to some cool tunes, my mind focusing on the matters at hand, unconsciously I drift back in time to about a month ago. Almost the same situation, headphones plugged in, listening to cool tunes at my desk in the Naviblog headquarters but checking the internet for hotels in Beijing, China equipped with broadband internet connections. But unlike that day more than a month ago, today I sit here as a different person... I've been to Beijing and back. Looking back at Beijing, my feelings about the place are not entirely clear. So many mixed emotions... Maybe my emotions are so mixed because Beijing was like no other place I have ever visited before in my life. I mean, Beijing wasn't anything like I had imagined. I had expected the PLA on each street corner enforcing the rule of law with a heavy hand. So many uniforms around the city, literally at almost every door, gate or entry way. If there were any military guys running around, I couldn't tell you.
I kept my passport in my backpack for the first week expecting to come face-to-face with some plainclothes officer who would demand it at any moment... strangely enough it never happened. I expected condensed blocks of homes and office buildings like here in Tokyo... lets just say that the Chinese are making good use of all that land. I can't imagine Tokyo having that much space to play with. One thing I didn't expect to see were the Fulong Gong guys out demonstrating around the square... I didn't see any.
What I did find in Beijing is that the gap between the rich and poor is instantly apparent once you leave the airport and are in a taxi for about 15 minutes. Large neighborhoods with villa-type homes built over unused golf courses with the slums right outside the entrance gates... such a stark contrast. Judging by all the Mercedes Benz's, Porsche SUV's, Rolls Royce's, BMW's and a host of other expensive cars, someone is definitely making a lot of money. But also judging by all the people hanging around the streets playing card games at 1pm, the beggars in the underground walkways, vendors selling fruits and vegetables on the street, taxi drivers trying rip you off with almost each trip, extremely aggressive salespeople, and the dirty and tired day laborers crammed into the back of flat-panel trucks speeding across town, someone is definitely not making a lot of money.
I won't even comment on how the Chinese drive... just believe me, as Mandali said before he left for Tokyo, the only way to describe it is, "controlled chaos".
All in all, I do have to say that after 4 weeks in Beijing I was ready to leave but felt a slight tug... that tug being a small part of me that wanted to stay longer. Hey, the place was starting to grow on me... basically I had gotten used to it and even started to enjoy it. We met a few people who showed us around the city a bit, the offices that we were set up in were roomy, quiet and the staff were extremely nice to us. By the time we were set to leave, Morimitsu-san could navigate us around the city in a taxi with minimum effort, complete with turn left/right here and stop. Though our Beijing city maps were in tatters by the time we left, the last week we barely used them. We had finally earned the title of "Beijing Boys"...
To all the guys we met in Beijing, if you are reading this blog entry, I want to say thanks for helping our stay in Beijing end on a high note. We had fun.
To all the guys here in Tokyo reading this blog, a bit of advice on Beijing... don't waste a trip going out to the zoo to see the panda's during the summer months. Unless of course you are doing research on panda sleep patterns.
- Mike
Peace out...
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