I don't think we should be here.

Two days ago the wanderings of Karl and myself took us out on the town. In our night journey we managed to end up in a clearly western and expensive area of northeast Beijing. While traversing from one store and pub to another we encountered a jazz club that looked warm and inviting in the bitter cold night of Beijing.

As we entered the Jazz club that we believe was called 50's we noticed that not only were we not attired correctly but that we were the only men present under 50. Not wanting to pass up the warmth of the building and the good company of music (the beautiful hostesses were not a factor) we stayed for a drink. As our eyes slowly adapted to the darkness of the jazz club we also noticed another point of interest. Everyone was staring at us expect a few of the older gentlemen present.

With both of us noticing this peculiarity our regular conversation about world hunger and other pressing concerns were put on hold. We slowly started to evaluated our current situation for possible errors in our judgment. A cursory glance at the other males present revealed that none of them appeared to be short of money or power. It seemed that the center cluster of them was like a giant gravity well pulling all the power and clout in the room to their center. This observation by my esteem colleague and myself confirmed that perhaps we had stumbled on the watering hole of the more influential members of the none political world.

After finishing our overly pricey drinks Karl and I decided that another venue was calling to us. On our departure from the warmth of the club we noticed something that we had missed on our entry.....not a single car present was cheap by any standard. Our vague suspicions now confirmed we decided to exit the scene expeditiously via the subway.

My first venture on the Beijing subway was beyond pleasant, it was actually quite humorous. The safety videos presented to the captive audience always reference the red-headed cartoon as the ever vigilante and always noble hero. Riding the subway was like riding New York's or London's only cleaner and with better (at least safe) in car entertainment.

So my review...in your wanderings of Beijing read the surrounding environment and enjoy the wonderful and amusing cartoons present on the wall of the subway cars.