China - Beijing - 3/7/2005

Ok, Given the technical difficulties I'll try writing this entry again.
Today I think that the jet lag is slowly fading. I was able to wake up close to the normal time necessary, though still a bit tired from last night's partying a-la-Chinese.
Our day begun by going to the US Consulate's Commercial Section, where we learnt about the services provided by the US Embassy to help companies enter the Chinese market to sell products in the Chinese market. Maybe the most important lesson learnt during the session was that companies that fail their market entry efforts usually do so because they lack an entry strategy, these companies have the mistaken idea that just by establishing a presence here they will succeed and conquer the Chinese market, yet they usually find themselves in deep trouble after spending millions and getting their products ripped off.
After that session we went to lunch at a very upscale mall that had stores that seem very expensive even by American standars, like Sony Experience and BMW Lifestyle. For a country with an average yearly income of 1000 dollars per year the stores seem to sell very expensive products, and they do seem to move their products in the market. We had lunch in a Chinese style food court, where we got to eat a lot of excellent food for a very little price (about a dollar for a full meal of pepper steak and noodles).
After lunch (walked back to the hotel to digest the food), we went shopping to a department store full of knock-off stands, where I managed to practice my negotiations skills to purchase two watches. Will have to see in other places if this was a good deal, but for now I like them, and I'll wear one of them until it dies on me (or I find a nicer one). As a student it's great to be able to buy nice looking things for so cheap!
After shopping we came back to the hotel for all of 20 minutes before heading out to dinner to have the "Best Peking Duck in all of China", the duck WAS great, and I once again ate a lot! Whomever said that I would lose weight on this trip was probably very wrong.
Luckily we got to walk a bit more to a Chinese "Variety" show, that was as boring as watching paint dry on a cold, wet day, maybe it'd have been better if we had had some sort of translation, but since we didn't we were VERY happy when the show ended.
Given the slowness of the show and how it put us all to sleep, there was no partying tonight. So now I get to go to sleep early....