Mao's Place

Nathan at Tiananmen Square

We saw Mao this morning. He's looking pretty waxy, actually. Compared to Lenin I would say a little less waxy, but he's had 50 years less of the formaldehyde bath. Now I just have to see Ho Chi Mihn and I'll have completed the embalmed socialist demagogue trifecta. Hopefully they won't give Fidel this treatment... I might not be able to get in there for awhile.

Gate of Heavenly Peace

In the afternoon I went to the Bell Tower, a old Ming Dynasty tower north of the Forbidden City. I climbed to the top (not that high) but there wasn't much to see... too much smog and that sort of thing. It's a good bit colder today, unfortunately.

Gero approves of the food, but worries that he eats too much of it. We didn't try anything too exotic at the street vendors... at least not on purpose. At one point we got some sort of meat product that we though would be barbecue pork but it was some kind of weird fish. That was rather disappointing. Breakfast buffet this morning was a bit steep (36 RMB) but rather tasty. They have these seasoned strips of bean curd that I am a big fan of.

men playing ping pong in a park