Return

The silence is broken.  I blame China, and the iron curtain that blocked my blogspot.  Current status is the Hong Kong airport.  Making the transfer from my Beijing flight to the flight that will take me to the Middle East. Beirut via Bahrain.  

But oh China how you filled me with wonder, and multiple times horror.  1 week in Beijing and some of my biggest take-aways were baby shit in the streets, (imagine half a billion babies sans diapers defecating at their leisure through slits in their onesies.) More people than I have ever seen in one place (it makes Manhattan look like a rural intersection.) And of course the tangible take-aways, an opium bottle, a one armed sweater and a Mao pocket watch.  For my purchases I blame the Chinese people who follow you with said Mao pocket watch and one-armed sweater until all you can do is cave and by the useless propaganda, the impractical winter-wear.  

What I can say with certainty is that China is out of control.  The Great Wall is great as promised, the people do a lot of flem hacking, and the art is fascinating. 

I can also say with certainty that I am homesick for Americans.  "Lost in Translation" (though about Tokyo) hit the nail on the head.  Walking through the streets of Beijing one gets the sense that every person in the world is Chinese except for you.  That is about 1/6 true.  

But the Chinese seem excited by Americans.  Our rumored weight and naivete.  Our cutthroat image and good ol' boy look.  The Chinese even seem excited about Obama though perhaps for the wrong reasons.  Oba-Mao? So they say.