It's time for your daily update. I almost can't remember what I did yesterday to update you on that part. Hm. Oh. I went to Tiananmen Square in the morning and toured Mao. It was raining cats and dogs, so I retreated quickly to a teahouse I read about on the Web that is located just outside the west gate of the Forbidden City. Y picked me up from there and we ate Japanese food. After that, we returned to the house.

Later we went out for cake and coffee and then Y made hotpot. Two IT guys from Ireland are visiting to upgrade all the computers in A's office to XP. They came for dinner.

Today, after the rain, the skies were clearer than I ever thought I'd see them here. I watched the debate on TV and then went for a run. People stared at me, which you'd expect. A bunch of old guys on a 3-wheel flatbed yelled hello and then giggled once they'd passed. It was funny. I took some pictures along the route.

Lunch downtown in a trendy Brazilian place. Whee!

Then I went to the Great Wall. Oh man. I got lots to say about all of this, including being the guinea pig for Y's new driver (had to show him how to drive the car, and later he ran a scooter off the road which was HYSTERICAL [you know how I get]). I arrived at the Wall not long before sunset and it was spectacular. It was so clear that mountains were visible in layers upon layers and even the skyscrapers of Beijing could be seen. And as a testament to how rapidly and how far China has developed, the freakiest thing of all was getting a call on Y's cell phone while I was out there. There I was, walking the down the steps, talking on the goddamned phone. I could've been a commercial. Anyway, the Great Wall is one of those things standard on everybody's lifetime list. I think the only thing left really is the pyramids in Egypt. Someday.

Back into town and then out to dinner at a fancy Italian place. Then a bar where expats like to hang. All this with Y, A, and the two Irish guys. It was a good time. I think it's good for me to hang with A because it reminds me of the possibility of multitudinous and personal commercial connection. A is man who gets things; he does this by mainly by getting to know people.

So now I'm back and tired from drink. I think I've drunk more this week than I have in the last half year. That's what you get for going Irish.

Gotta hit the hay.

I'm sitting on the Great Wall. The sun is setting in front of me. This is the best time to be here, when most have gone and the stones of the wall absorb the parting daylight. The wall rises just to the right, higher than the sunlight now, becoming narrower until the shrubs overtake it.

It is an exceptionally clear day. The sky is as blue as blue gets. Hawks soar overhead. Beijing is visible to the south, and the rugged mountains fold out of the plain and crenellate to the horizon.

Then there's the cacophonous wails of desperate commerce barreling up from the valley.

It's cold. It's hard to write, cold.

It's time to go. The sun goes down with the last tram. Wouldn't want to miss that.