China - Beijing - 3/8/2005

I guess the Jet Lag is still with me since I woke up at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep, even though I went to sleep the previous night around midnight.
Today breakfast was the same feast we've been having at the hotel, which includes noodles, fried rice and sushi. Although I finally found where they keep the breads and went for that too (meaning less sushi and rice on the plate :)
During the morning I also got to experience what I think was my first direct exposure to censorship. I was watching on CNN news about the Taiwan anti-cessation bill when all of a sudden CNN went blank for about a minute or two and then came back to the wrap up of the story. I'm not sure if it was a satellite glitch or not, but the timing seemed quite good for it to blink out.
After breakfast we headed to the Bank of Beijing where we visited with one of the VPs, since the president was doing a "tour". Later we found out that today as part of a surprise move the board of directors had decided to shuffle all the senior management positions in something that seems to be very common in State Owned Enterprises. Even with all these changes the VPs we met with answered all of our questions very calmly and accurately. We returned to the hotel to change out of our suits and get ready to head out to the Great Wall of China.
The ride to the wall was long, but it passed by quickly hearing to the stories being told by General Lee (our guide in Beijing). He told us some stories about the discovery of the Pekin Man and the building of the wall, that Daniel found amusing since they didn't seem to be very accurate, but the rest of the group found it amusing and it kept our minds and eyes off the crazy drivers around us.
The actual wall was amazing, because of its size as well as the terrain over which it was built. According to General Lee it spans about 2000 Km from side to side, and it took 10 years to build by millions of people. To make matters even funnier right behind us we had several buses that brought with them a Marching Band from a high school in California, that came down in their full uniforms with all their instruments to play by the Great Wall. So we got to climb the wall with our own band playing in the background.
The climb up the wall was exhausting, because it was very steep and the steps were totally uneven, but I was the second who made it up all the way. And as a way to celebrate the feat I was able to get myself a beer for less than 60 US cents. So now I can say I've had Chinese beer on top of the Great Wall.
On the way back to Beijing we were all exhausted after the long climb and the cold wind that had been blowing, so the trip back was very quiet.
The alumni reunion proved to be very interesting, with 6 UT alums living in Beijing visiting and having dinner with us. By now I'm having the feeling that all the restaurants in Beijing serve the same types of dinner (at least for us foreigners), so while at first it was all great, I'm now sticking to a smaller selection of dishes (which may be a good thing for my waist).
After dinner I was too tired to even think about going out, so I stayed in the hotel with a couple of other people hanging out in the lobby bar, and the weird disco in the basement of our hotel. I have yet to figure out what that place is all about.
Well, tomorrow we head to Taishan so I may be unable to connect for the next 3 days.