I knew that I was going to crash last night. We got back to the hotel at 6:30 and by 7:00 I was out like a light. I awoke at 1:30am with all my clothes on and the light’s still on in my hotel room. It was nice to finally get caught up on some sleep. The Chinese decided they would give us Saturday off in exchange for us working on Sunday.
I had planned to visit a few famous places around Beijing and shoot some video. I have worked enough with Bob Sharrett, our video guy at CES, to know how to use the HD camera that he has loaned me. The director of the training center is picking me up at 9:30 am and has volunteered to drive me around. The first place he takes me is this giant outdoor park where hundreds of people are doing all kinds of exercise. He explained to me that belonging to a commercial gym is very expensive so all these people come to the park and do some form of exercise. Now, let me tell you, I mean all kinds of exercise! I saw Tai-Chi, swing dancing, calisthenics, fan dance, synchronized racquet forms, all types of people playing musical instruments, martial arts, gymnastics, checkers, carioca, and every other kind of exercise that you can and can’t even imagine. Old and young, in shape and not in shape, the Chinese definately know how to enjoy the outdoor environment and all their surroundings. One of the coolest things I saw was an old man using a big paint brush painting a poem on the sidewalk in Chinese characters using water. It was really beautiful and the old man told me he has done this for 20 years for his exercise. It’s pretty amazing how creative and ingenious these people are.
Next, Mr. Lee and Mr. Lou took me to Tiananmen Square. It’s a very famous place here in Beijing and a lot of history took place in the Square. I took some great video and enjoyed walking around watching people and haggling with the street vendors. I have traveled enough to know how to play that game.
They returned me to the hotel around 2:00 and we had lunch. We had deer, lamb, eel, and shark fin, just to name a few of the dishes that my host ordered for us. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of REAL CHINESE FOOD!
Tonight my host is taking us out for a dinner of spiced crab and scrimp. We are eating dinner at this very famous restaurant that serves seafood and where all the celebrities who visit Beijing come to eat. They have photos of Yao Ming and many, many, other famous athletes who have eaten crab here. The food was actually very, very, good and I really enjoyed tonight. We had a meeting back at the hotel around 9:00 with a Chinese businessman who wanted to visit with us about some opportunities here in China. I finally went to bed at 11:00 and I’m hoping for another good night’s sleep.
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