Going to Beijing for the Olympics? We had the chance to visit Beijing beforehand and these are some of the things we experienced.

On the taxi ride from the airport to our hotel located in the heart of Beijing we noticed policemen stationed at the highway access ramps. At first we thought this was a typical practice but as we got closer to the center of Beijing we saw more and more police patrolling the streets. Finally we reached a point where the police were directing traffic out of two of the eight available lanes. We thought there might be a wreck ahead until an escorted convoy of black Audi's raced by high speed, each one sporting a pair of those red Chinese flags. After they passed, all lanes were reopened to traffic. There may be some notable exceptions but from the perspective of an average citizen or tourist, China is nowhere near the police state that it is sometimes portrayed to be. This became even more evident as we traveled to cities farther away from Beijing.

more pictures of Beijing

In fact, none of the police we saw on the trip even carried any side arms and security seems like an easy job. For example, in one bank lobby the security guards were playing a game of pins using their night sticks and a chair as the target. In another bank at lunch time most of the staff was playing "kick badminton" using what appeared to be a regulation net setup in the lobby. It made us believe that what we were often told was be true - the threat of crime is low. Still we saw some areas where it looked like unescorted tourists might be in for trouble.

At our hotel the restaurant menu included items such as bird's nest soup, buck's blood, frog ovary, duck head (or just the tongue), and various fungus based dishes. We could tell there was an effort underway to be more international. For example, the menus they gave us had recently been translated to English and there was always at least one English speaking staff member around. Still the total experience left us with the impression that not many tourists actually stayed there. When we sat down to speak to the young lady staffing the "Guest Information Office" she could tell us the schedule and price for the single bus tour offered at the hotel but little else. She was unwilling to help us find other tour choices or spend anymore than the absolute minimum amount of time with us. The whole time we were there she was instant messaging someone on her cell phone. She left us with the impression that the job in general and we in particular were interfering with her personal life.

The price of the room was very reasonable for a 4-star hotel and it included the hot breakfast banquet which is common in this part of the world. It beat the coffee and bran muffin "Free Breakfast" available in the lobby of many US hotels. The suites were spacious and in good condition. The quality of the food was acceptable and the preparation was adequate but nothing spectacular. Beer and wine were available and the 'Great Wall' medium red wine is surprisingly good. No mixed drinks seemed to be available anywhere we went although had we been able to speak the language we might have had more success.

On a Friday evening we took a short taxi ride to the "silk district" As soon as the cab driver dropped us off we were swarmed by vendors of socks, Rolex watches, 5 year old pick-pockets and assorted beggars. The area did have some good antique shops and a few nice but pricey coffee shops. The cost of a taxi from the hotel there: 15 RNB, the cost of a taxi back to the hotel 70 RNB. Any other taxi we tried to negotiate with "didn't know the way" back to the hotel. At the time of our visit the exchange rate was about 7.96 RNB to the US dollar.

All of mainland China, an area only slightly smaller than United States, belongs to a single timezone and in Beijing during July the sun rises before 5:00am. The skies were almost always overcast and the air quality around the major cities is even worse than in Los Angeles. Over a period of two weeks the sky cleared enough for us to see the sun one time. Motorcycles are not permitted in Beijing as part of an effort to protect the air quality. It is not unusual to see hundreds of bicycles parked together and bicycle theft is said to be a common problem.

In Beijing early on a Sunday morning there were three different medical advice call-in shows playing on separate channels simultaneously. Each show had nearly identical sets consisting of a centrally located counter behind which sat either two or three panelists. Behind the panelists in the wings - on all three shows - sat a pair of ladies in nursing uniforms typing away on computers. It was hard to tell if they were really doing anything useful but it looked as if they were there to lend an air of scientific credence to whatever the panelists were saying.