Beijing was not at all as I imagined. Somehow, I had a feeling that it would be cramped and grubby, but I was delightfully surprised. The streets were wide - I mean, really wide! We're talking 4 lanes of traffic, on the smaller roads, with 2 side roads on each side. The centre lanes are the expressway, with the side roads as feeder roads, to get onto or off the expressway. And then additional roads for the tuk-tuks and bicycles. And yes, there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing! Traffic seems to consist of organised chaos, and crossing the road is not for the feint hearted. But in all of the mayhem, I was astounded by the lack of accidents or dents to motorvehicles. Somehow it all seems to work!
And apart from the smog, it was very clean! The roads are spotless, and we witnessed many road cleaning vehicles as well as people with dustpans and brushes cleaning the streets! Not a discarded piece of paper in sight!
Although english is neither spoken, or understood outside the hotels, the people are more than willing to try to understand you, and figure out what you want. We spent many hours in the local shops and markets and they made it very easy for us to part with our money!
China is definitely the place to head to for cheap rip offs, and bargains in general. Way cheaper than the same goods in Hong Kong or Singapore! You have to be really good at bartering, as it's expected. In general you can expect to pay about 25% of what the initial offer is! And expect the odd english refrain of: "you're killing me here!" when your counter offer gets closer to the mark!
Don't expect to watch any TV in China. You may find the odd Jackie Chan type movie, but don't expect to understand anything other than the grunts!
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