I'm in Beijing.  Living in the tourist bubble, for the most part.  The muzak in the hotel lobby seems stuck on "hotel california."  Which is ok, I guess.

The trip so far:

Monday: BOS to JFK to dateline (crossed near north pole)

Tuesday: Dateline to PEK.  Flew across siberia and mongolia.  Ate dinner, went to sleep.

Wednesday: Tourist bubble.  Summer palace, temple of heaven, forbidden city, tiennamen square.  Spiel at national pharmacy.  Took a cab to walmart, cabbie dropped us off farther from walmart than we started.  Walmart was a lot like american walmart.  Bought a camera.  Hit a bar in something like americatown, I guess.

Today (thursday):  Tourist bubble in the countryside.  Great wall, jade gallery, ming tombs, cloisenne gallery.  I'm pretty exhausted.