Beijing

Reporting in from the "Silicon Valley" of China

Soon leaving the office to explore the ex-pat hang outs in this spread-out city of 16 million people.

Top 10 Things that Surprise me that Shouldn't:

1. Beijing is really, really big
2. Chinese is really, really hard
3. The air is really, really polluted
   
4. Car names and Coca Cola cans are written in Chinese (including American cars)
5. There are Buicks everywhere
6. Most people don't speak English (remember, these are things that shouldn't surprise me)
7. The food is very different from Chinese food in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US (including authentic food like Cupertino Village)
8. The Sheraton is crappy (as is, apparently, every Sheraton in the world)
9. There are no animals in the streets (thanks to India for that expectation)
10. There are some trees in Beijing (although still not many)

Top 5 Things that Surprise me that Should:

1. It is cold here even though it's the middle of May
2. The streets aren't nearly as crowded with people as you would think
3. Thanks to rain, the weather is much clearer than normal and you can actually see the sky through the haze
4. The city is very spread out and doesn't really have a core center of tall buildings like Hong Kong
5. The airport was clean, new, extremely efficient and the customs people were really nice
   

More to Come Later...