I want to eat my shaving cream!

I bought Gillette Shaving cream the other day. It's lemon lime scented, which is good; but it smells too much like lemon pie and makes my mouth water.

I've been taking things easy for the last few days. It looks like I'm not going to actually get to go inside the forbidden city (out of time), but I know what it looks like from pictures.

I've been lounging around a lot. recuperating from leaving Korea and getting ready for my trip.

I went to a club on Saturday night, chatted with a few people... some Chinese and some French. Dancing was a lot of fun there. I liked how the crowd smiled and cheered for songs they liked... It was a lot less serious than clubbing in Seoul.

I met a cool guy at the bar named Jia Qi, who I met up with the next day and hung out with until this afternoon. He's just finished his University degree and is in Beijing for an internship. I visited his cousin's house where he was staying for the durations of his internship. It was in the suburbs where the rich Beijing residents live. His cousin and his cousin's wife live in a German-designed townhouse which has three floors, a basement, and which I though to be quite nice.



I met Jia Qi's aunt and uncle were also staying there. They were down from Chengdu, where the whole family is from. I was met with extreme hospitality... offering tea, oranges, candy and nuts with no lack of enthusiasm. I felt like I had stepped out of China and into North America... Jia Qi and I watched some music videos on the BIG FLATSCREEN TV in beautifully furnished basement.

Before we left, I made sure to get a picture with the beautiful dog in the front yard. His name was pom pom and he was a friendly and cuddly Foo dog (Lion dog). I have never met a cuter or more gentle dog. He wasn't overbearing like English setters can be wanting you to pet them until your hand falls off. Apparently, someone had offered Jia Qi's uncle 240,000 yuan for Pom Pom. That's 30,000 USD for a dog!



This morning we headed north of Beijing to a park called the Fragrant Hills. After eating some Chengdu food, we headed into the park, which was full of maple and ceder trees. it was a bit weird for the forest bit, because of speakers around every corner producing the same atmospheric music. I felt like I was inside a role playing game walking up the hills. We eventually chose a shortcut straight up the hill, which steered us clear of the speakers. After spending the better part of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon hiking around, we headed back into Beijing where I picked up my train tickets to go to Mongolia.



I said goodbye to Jia Qi a few hours ago, and wished him luck on his internship, which starts tomorrow. It was so nice to meet him especially where he was interested in seeing parts of Beijing too (he'd just moved there from Chengdu)

My Internet time is almost up, so I should head back to my hostel and get ready for the early morning departure tomorrow. Maybe I'll shave with my mouthwatering cream again.