Day 4 in Beijing

Found a Wal-Mart here in Beijing.  Woo Hoo.  And Guess what!  They even sell live turtles!  Unfortunately not as pets but rather to eat.  Yuck. Took my first cab ride today.  It was peak hour so cabs where super scarce.  Took me all of an hour just to get one!  I kept stopping caucasian people to ask, first, if they spoke English (all of them did) and then, asked their advice on catching a cab.  One guy told me  to go to a hotel to find one.  I asked what I should tip the doorman for getting me a cab and he said people don't tip here in China.  I love that!  The idea of tipping drives me crazy sometimes.  I love a society where you don't have to think about that.  Of course, I did end up tipping the door-person when she got me a cab anyway.  Just didn't feel right to leave without doing it.

Met up with my long time friend for dinner.  I have him to thank for my crazy cab experience.  He refused to meet me at the subway station because he never takes a subway in Beijing.  Snob.  I'm determined to change that in the 3 months I'm here.  He's been living here in Beijing for about a year now and he introduced me to a really cool area of Beijing called Sanlitun.  I was so close to it last night when I stumbled upon that local market and bought my brown rice, but I must have been walking in the wrong direction.  It's a real gem of an area with all kinds of western shops and even a Starbucks.  Can't stand Starbucks  actually.  I'm surprised that it can even be in business here.  They must sell more tea than coffee in China.Tomorrow is my last class of the week as the Chinese Independence holiday begins on Friday and most work and schools close for a whole week.  I'll have to try to figure out what to do while I'm not in class.  I'll probably go back to Sanlitun to grab a tea at Starbucks.