After spending 10 days in Beijing, I have gotten the first spell of a stomach problem during this trip. It was after a night of a giant fish head and possibly too much bai jiu [Beijing’s famous liquor).

Although having some downtime, I have some time to write my thoughts about Beijing. I have to admit, everyone said that going to China is going to be an eye-opener. This was quite true.

There are a couple of key things to recognize about BJ:

1) Cleanliness: It’s not that is very dirty, it’s just certain culture things are new to me. The sound of spitting/hoarking is something to get used to. The Chress game of saying “Awesome” when you hear it makes it more fun.

2) Traffic – Cars will always have the right of way. As long as you understand that they will stop for you (or swerve around you), then you can get around Beijing pretty easily. The car-culture is something to talk about, since it is recognized back at home that asian’s maybe more “aggressive” , but to get around in Beijing you have to be aggressive.

There are a ton of great things about Beijing which I think would still make it a great trip, cheap eats, cheap transportation (subway costs 2 RMB each time…that’s like 33 cents), and a ton of sights to see. I am glad that we visited under the help of Chress to ease us into the Beijing lifestyle.