More Beijing

A quick post tonight, because it's late.

A long time ago, the emperor of China used to employ a box of sticks like this for "polygamous activities":


We were guests at a restaurant today that was founded by descendants of the imperial family, who have adopted their ancestor's box of sticks and turned it into a menu. You pick what you want to eat by pulling the sticks out of the box.

Here's dad and me at the restaurant in our matching outfits:


Here's a photo of a bird at the restaurant that could speak Chinese. Seriously. I can't even speak Chinese, and I'm not a bird.


Check out this crazy building we saw today. When it's done it will look like this, but for now it looks like it's going to fall over:


Can you spot the guy breaking into an apartment? Just another day in B-town:


Tonight I went with our friends Steve and Jenny to a Chinese foot massage palace, which is a very Chinese type of experience that is hard to translate into a blog post. Everyone needs to experience it at least once. It was the kind of massage that makes you sore the next day. I've never been handled so roughly. During the massage we sat in huge recliners and watched Chinese soap operas and infomercials. The massage lasted for an hour, included shoulders, feet and head, and only cost a few bucks. Here are my feet in the pre-massage soak--does anyone know what this mystery liquid is?


Tonight on the way back from the massage palace Tiananmen Square was lit up with spotlights. I held the camera outside of the taxi so you can all see how cool communist propaganda can look. The video is here. (note: shaky camera warning)