2 places I generally avoid at home are Wal-Mart and McDonald’s. I prefer almost any other burger place and do almost all my shopping at SuperTarget. And yet here, it’s just refreshing to be able to get a burger that tastes exactly like home (for way cheaper than at home) and to be able to just grab what you need at Wal-Mart. The area that we are living in is obviously an affluent area and the Lotus Center grocery store has prices that are much like America. And the rest of the Lotus Center is a fancy mall with stores like Nike.
We took the subway for the first time last night to go to Wal-Mart. On the way there we passed many stores that are just like America including a 3-4 story mall of places like ESPRIT. Walking down the street to the subway station I told Mike I felt like I was in Vegas with the smoke everywhere, neon lights and expensive clothing stores.
The subway system here has been revamped and all new lines have been added for the Olympics. I am confident now that with my handy map I could get all over Beijing with no trouble. It looks like we will have to take 3 different subway lines to get to the Silk Market for shopping, but I am ready! We are very close to the zoo and the aquarium and I hope to take Nadia there soon. The weather is supposed to get into the upper 60’s later in the week.