Where have all the spitters gone?

It's Sunday evening here in Beijing, the end of our second full day here. We both arrived without any real problems (my flight in Tokyo was delayed an hour and a half, but so what). Yesterday was gloomy and hazy and we walked down to Tianamen Square, then up through the Forbidden City. It was certainly less exciting for me to see it all a second time--and I find the vast spaces kind of uninteresting anyway. I think dad felt the same way.

When we went for coffee in a cafe, I asked for a Cafe Americano with some milk and the waitress let me know in no uncertain terms that Cafe Americanos are black coffee and that was that. We had a good laugh at how she taught the dumb American what a Cafe Americano is. But when another waitress brought the coffee I was able to ask for some milk and she brought it. After that, I did my best to make sure the first waitress had a good view of the small glass of milk next to my coffee cup. Showed her.

Later, we went up to the Lotus Lane area and had lunch, then walked around the lakes. Nothing eventful happened the rest of the day. We were mostly just tired. I was thrilled to go to bed around 10 and I think I passed out in a minute.

Today we both feel much less jet lagged. We took a tour up to the Ming tombs and the Baoling section of the Great Wall. Part of the tour was a scam; we were taken to a jade factory and store where we got a "tour" and then were given plenty of time to look at jade stuff before lunch. Dad and I went and had a cappucino. Then we went to the Great Wall. This part of the Great Wall is the most touristy access point, so it was packed with busses and people. We went up to the top in some sort of train thing that was really more like go-karts on tracks. It was kind of odd. Up on top, a girl wanted to be photographed with dad "for good luck." Her boyfriend got his picture taken with him, too.

Coming back into Beijing, we drove past the Olympic Village, so we got to see the "bird's nest" stadium and the swimming pavilion. They're both really cool. Then we were taken to a silk factory for more shopping... Dad and I were deadset against this so we refused and left and took a taxi back to the hotel.

All in all, we're having a good time, though it's a bit colder than we'd like. But everything's going smoothly. The hotel is really nice and they've been very helpful. One pleasant surprise is that there's a lot less public spitting than I remember from two years ago. I guess the government's anti-spitting campaign (and the fines) is working. I guess there are some advantages to totalitarianism.