I tried to walk back to our hotel with these guys, but I screwed up...I went the wrong way. So I got in a cab to go back to my hotel, and 5 yuan later, my cell phone had been left inside and I didn't have a receipt. I went inside my hotel and tried for thirty minutes, passing the phone back and forth between me and the receptionist, to get them to ask over the radio who just dropped a foreigner off at my hotel, but they refused. Then I called my own cell phone, and one the second try the cabbie answered. I asked him to come back and he said ok, then some other stuff I didn't understand, to which I replied I'd give him some money for his troubles. I was planning to give him about 20 yuan, around 4 times the base cab rate, which seemed more than fair. After about 15 minutes he returned with his face completely changed and demanded 300 yuan ($38) to give me back my own cell phone. I yelled and yelled and eventually, for some reason, he said we should go inside and talk with the receptionist, as if she could make me understand why I would pay him more. And, in fact, she was of no help to me (her customer). I ended up paying 80 yuan ($10) for the privelege of getting my own cell phone back. Since then, in all situations, no matter how rushed I am, I always, always, always get a receipt. If you have the receipt, you can call the cab company. If they don't help, you can call the police, which usually just the threat of can scare any cabbie straight. But without a ticket (and when the cabbie returned, he took off his medallion so I couldn't figure out the cab number) I was more or less helpless. I was told it could be worse, other folks had just had their phones stolen straight out (and mine later would be in about a month), but nevertheless after this I cursed Chengde as full of cheats. The vendors trying to sell us tea and water at sky-high prices just furthered my distaste for everyone in the town except the folks I met at the dance hall.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Night over, everyone poses in front of our insane" hall.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

After the club closed (at 12pm, in accordance with the PRC rules that no one follows in the capital of Beijing) we hung around a bit on the roof. The youngest of the French girls took quite a liking to the guy on the right, and they danced together all night.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The guy's coming over to tell me pictures aren't allowed. I'm not surprised, since I tihnk the walls are ramshackle construction put together on top of the building's roof, where the club is.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

A sigh of relief from the girls and their chaperone, no longer to be in a brothel, but instead an "undergound" dance hall. Every 30 minutes, they'd brake for Karaoke. The French girls found this all very confusing.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

But luckily help was on the way! After some French-Chinese translation we ran into these two locals home from college. We told them we wanted to go to a non-brothel discotheque, and they happily obliged by taking us to one of the shadiest looking places I've ever see. The place was located on the roof after a five story climb up outdoor stairs. And it was legit! And it was awesome!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We had dinner across the river (which was widely viewed as the worst one we've had in China...I think the honor goes to the meal at the gers in Inner Mongolia, but everyone else was too drunk to care. As I was there, I ran into a group of four French high schooler and high school graduates who had been in China the last few months, and we swapped numbers to meet up later. They called me in a mild panic and told me to meet them here. They though it was a discotheque, but it's actually little more than a brothel.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

All the kids are doing it!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

All the kids are doing it!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Water shooting cars. That's right, man.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

and, Nate asks, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
EAP China! Robert Klein.

They had the kiddie bounce thing...
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We stumbled upon the town amusement park.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

These folks were fishing on the river. Across the way is the road we came in on and the train station further down the road.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

A bunch of us decided to take a walk by the riverside, which was quite beautiful, although, again, very difficult to photograph.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Looking down the creek.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Just down the street is a creek with waterwheels. It was hard to get these shots to come out as nice as they looked, but you get the idea.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We stayed here, what we were told was the best hotel in Chengde, and it was really quite nice, with fountains and other nonsense in the lobby and big heavy wooden doors for every room.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Now they'res a couple of MeiNu (beautiful girls)!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The bridges of miyun county.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

It's downright pastoral for Northern China.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Believe it or not, this is Beijing. In fact, most of the municipality of Beijing is farms, which is why the government used dry-ice rockets to create rain nearly every day this month as a form of irrigation despite the current drought in the north.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The itinerant French exposition for the vulgarization of the modern body in China, 2006. I suppose the government thought putting it in a place people would actually come to see it would be too Avant-Garde?
EAP China! Robert Klein.

And then there's this new building going up, very out of place in this far out suburb of Beijing. What could it be?
EAP China! Robert Klein.

There's some sort of "France" theme going on here, with a "Paris" style building next to one with an Eiffel tower up on top.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

One of Miyun (in Beijing) county's many fancy-looking buildings.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Feel like some Yanjing Beer? Turn left. Hey, you can even go to Napa and Irvine, too! Go Anteaters! Go really bizzare place names in rural Beijing!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

For anybody who's ever been to the real Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this "Big Piney" seems a bit of a stretch. There's a number of these fancy new apartments springing up on the ring roads near the Olympic Park.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

That's right folks, it's time for another EAP trip, this time to Chengde and the Great Wall at JinShan Ling (in Hebei province) and SiMaTai (in Beijing). That means, of course, that I'll probably have long gaps in between posts which will make following the trip unneccessarily difficult for my readers, but I'm sorry, I'm studying!

That being said, here's the Olympic stadium under construction as of July 27, 2006. Originally, the plan was to finish all the Olympic venues a year early, in 2007 just to show how much Beijing had it together better than Athens. But everyone decided to hold their horses and now some of the venues will be completed as late as early 2008.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Back home at Lanhui. In China (Beijing especially) it seems almost all delivery is done by bike.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This is the southern reaches of the XinJieKou neighborhood, where the closest subway station to BNU (JiShuiTan) is located. This is another great spot to buy clothes, though in a few year I think it will all be torn down (now it's mostly hutongs) to build stores like this. The just built a pink monstrosity of a supermarket across from the subway station. It's godawful.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

On the way back home, I took the 22 bus all the way back, and passed by an official Adidas store a little less than halfway between Xi Dan and BNU.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Awful shopping here, though. General rule is if you see a McDonalds, put away your wallet, you'll get ripped off.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Behind us is the Xi Dan technology market, another bust. You have to go to Zhong Guan Cun for electronics, though if you want a cell phone Xi Dan's not bad.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Inside one of Xi Dan's big malls. Vaguely interesting, but horrible places to shop. Air conditioned, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

It was real hot. Whenever the sun actually does come out in Beijing, it's a scorcher.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Ryan bought that Germany World Cup shirt for 10 kuai. This lady's not interested in bargaining, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Help wanted. I asked them what the starting salary was. 500-700 RMB per month, about $65-$90.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

My roomate digs "Huan Huan." Huan Huan is also very, very expensive. The prices in this official store are higher than in the US for comparable goods. The only place I've seen Olympic fakes are with small mascot trinkets like keychains in subway stations.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

The cola battle rages even in the middle kingdom.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

I'm not really sure what's going on here. Since I have come to China, I've seen more and more US Army clothing. I think that since the war in Iraq has taken such a downhill slide, they're selling off surplus production in China.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Waiguoren! Waiguoren!
EAP China! Robert Klein.

We got in and out of here, mostly because the pink was so horrific.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Yours truly posing in front of racks of cheap clothing. The security guard behind me kept staring at us, it was a little disconcerting.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This really epitimizes Xi Dan.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Mmm. I actualy didn't eat much after this, because I got scared. I was new to China! I love it now, though.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Xi Dan street food is some of the best in Beijing, especially if you like seafood. This guy isn't that good, but some of the other places are just delicious, and you can get fresh seafood and veggies fried up "mala" (incredibly spicy) style.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

Xi Dan is a great mix of old and new. Much of it is old hutongs that have been gutted to make shops and food joints. I recommend getting milk tea in Xi Dan, it's cheaper and better than the (marked up) bottled .drinks
EAP China! Robert Klein.

They really love this dude in China.
EAP China! Robert Klein.

This street is actually the best place to get bargains. These are mostly Chinese brand names, so you get high quality with rock bottom prices. Really, rock bottom. My friends bought button-up shirts for 19 kuai (about $2.50).
EAP China! Robert Klein.