Beijing: Monday, September 5, 2011:

I need to get some Chinese sleeping powder for Karen.

I enjoyed my usual breakfast of coffee, juice, cereal and fruit. I am really liking the dragon fruit.

It is a free day today so I watched a couple of films in the hotel room from which there is a very hazy view, due to the smog, but this tends to disappear later on in the day.

We are planning to wander near the hotel to get our bearings and one of the party, Alison, is also tagging along so there is safety in numbers.

As we wander I shoot various street scenes of the traffic and the people going about their daily business.

We stumbled across Molly Malones which is an Irish bar. It is bizarre that you can smoke in pubs, for which Karen was quite pleased, and we enjoyed cheeseburger and chips for lunch.

Crossing the road is like Russian Roulette but the best tip is just to to follow the locals.

We wandered along an alleyway filled with little workshops and kiosks. The air is filled with the sounds of banging metal combined with the smell of cigarettes and alcohol. I feel this is the authentic Beijing rather what is presented for the tourists.

Later we talked to a nice older couple and we appreciated the work of the gardeners.

Outside the hotel people gathered with singing caged birds. Later I went to a bar called The Den with a few of the others and people were dancing in the street by the workers stadium.