We are just back from a quick trip to China! My husband had a conference he had to attend in Beijing, and I got to tag along. Beijing is a very big, very busy, very modern city with a very, very big air pollution problem. Blue skies are almost a thing of the past.
We had a great time visiting the main tourist destinations; The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, etc. Luckily for us, the conference hotel was in the “Olympic City” so we got to see the new Olympic stadium and the water sports arena. A lot of the area didn’t seem to be quite finished yet, but they are working at a mad pace to get it all done in time. Our hotel was shiny and new and fancier than I am used to… it was the kind of hotel that provides bathrobes and slippers and fresh flowers in the bathroom. Not just fresh flowers, but as you can see here, orchids!
You might also be able to see that there is a little sign by the faucet saying that we couldn’t drink the water. We were provided with two complimentary bottles of water every day, along with several additional ones that we could buy. (I just despair about bottled water…I keep picturing our grandchildren wading around hip deep in empty water bottles.) And every day we were greeted by this:
Yup, orchids in the toilet. My first inclination was to fish them out, but I quickly recovered from that thought, and let them find their own way out.
On our trip to the center of Beijing to see some the last remaining fragments of the old “original” city, we saw this guy rolling along. His cart says “Clown Fresh Flowers”. I couldn’t help but picture putting on a clown costume and pedaling a bicycle full of flowers to hotels where they are flushed down the toilets.
And you thought your job was silly.
We had a great time visiting the main tourist destinations; The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, etc. Luckily for us, the conference hotel was in the “Olympic City” so we got to see the new Olympic stadium and the water sports arena. A lot of the area didn’t seem to be quite finished yet, but they are working at a mad pace to get it all done in time. Our hotel was shiny and new and fancier than I am used to… it was the kind of hotel that provides bathrobes and slippers and fresh flowers in the bathroom. Not just fresh flowers, but as you can see here, orchids!
Yup, orchids in the toilet. My first inclination was to fish them out, but I quickly recovered from that thought, and let them find their own way out.
On our trip to the center of Beijing to see some the last remaining fragments of the old “original” city, we saw this guy rolling along. His cart says “Clown Fresh Flowers”. I couldn’t help but picture putting on a clown costume and pedaling a bicycle full of flowers to hotels where they are flushed down the toilets.
And you thought your job was silly.
Oh I love that pic of the flowers in the toilet. How funny! And the clown on the bike, it's great you shared the story of that one. I never would have guessed. Neat pic, neat enterpeaneur!!!
Posted by: tess1960 | May 30, 2008 at 09:53 AM