02 December 2007

Cool City Update

After spending the weekend in Beijing (Haidian district) I have to say that it is pretty cool place to hang out. Good food, beautiful women, very lively atmosphere. Haidian is kind of like the Times Square or Shinjuku area. Still, it doesn't really hold a candle to either Tokyo or NYC for over-the-top awesomeness.

Strange thing here in China, the people are a mixture of very liberal/accepting and very conservative/frightened.

One interesting story happened today. I was hanging out in a cafe drinking a cup of coffee with a young lady and her daughter (just happened to be sharing a table together.) She spoke broken english and had no problem with my leather outfit, long hair or earring. She even approached me and started the conversation. The "one child" rule seemed to have hit her pretty hard. She claimed to have come back from the countryside about six months ago after giving birth to her son, her second child. She didn't know his name because she had to give him up to a peasant family. The whole pregnancy and birth was hidden, without a doctor. Otherwise the government would have forced an abortion. Pretty harsh.

No comments: