Tiananmen Square

Since it was raining we decided to go to the National Museum that is right next to Tiananmen Square. Unfortunately, the Museum is being reconstructed, so we were out of luck. We decided to look at the square, even through the drizzle.

The square is the size of 61 football fields and can be see from space. (says my guidebook)

Right now there are many flower arrangements commemorating the Olympics.






At the base of the square is a giant 3 story KFC. We decided to use the bathroom. The handicap accessible one on the first floor was closed for cleaning, which meant we were out of luck for western toilets.

On the way to the 2nd floor, I saw a small boy in split pants squat and poop on the stairs. His parent was trying to get him to wait, but it didn't work. By the time we came down, it was cleaned up.

Of course, we were not going to eat at KFC. We decided to go to the Hot Pot place we had seen the day before. After a little maneuvering through the subway we came out at the right spot. As we crossed the street, we realized that the dumpling place Xiaobin had thought was there the day before - was right next to the Hot Pot. We had missed it. (I only saw it because the people at the window table had steamers this time.

Since the weather was still crummy we went back to our room to rest before the conference reception. Normally, these things are pretty nice. This one was sponsored by "Big Pizza" and was both weird and awful.

We had boxed pizza, chicken nuggets, fish cubes and spagetti with meat sauce (at a stand up buffet!) To drink there was water and grape soda.

Even the Chinese were amazed.

This counted as supper, so went home to bed.