cloudburst

Last night, Beijing turned from a desert into a swamp. It amazes me how the right weather condtions can make almost any Asian city look and feel like Bangkok. Of course there's no 24-hour pad thai around the corner from here, but there are some pretty decent Chinese restaurants.

What about Chinese food in China? What's scary to me is to see the rapid proliferation of KFC (Kill for Cash) and MacDonnie's springing up all over the face of a land that for so many thousands of years, prided themselves on their good taste in food. What does this say about the Chinese, and what does it say about the human race in general?

Sometimes it seems as if the only thing 'Chinese' about the China of the future will be the color red in the McDonald's decoration scheme....

Back to the thunder and lightning...big,Volkswagen-sized drops of rain drenched the inner courtyard. Our poor little thirsty goldfish were probably out there with their little gasping dry mouths to the heavens; just the same day, I had noticed that the larger ones were forced to swim on their side, just in order to navigate the shallow pond...

Now the morning has developed quite nicely, it looks beautiful outside but I'm still trying to decide whether I should register with the police, as per the law (Chinese law says foreigners must register within 24 hours of arrival..not very practical if you've come off a long flight and don't speak the language). It's such a pack of complete nonsense, this whole business of registration- they would have me spend most of my vacation time fooling around with this kind of nonsense...