Hotel room in Beijing, Shangri-La's Kerry Centre Hotel
Twisty mountain roads on the way to the Great Wall
The Huan Ya Guan site of the Great Wall near Tianjin.
The zig-zag foot path up the steep hill to get up to the Wall. Looks like an easy hike, but the uneven steps tired me out very fast.
Rebuilt parts of the Great Wall and ruins further down
Taking a break after the tiring climb up (not in shape)
The ruins on top were not frequented by visitors, which meant I had to have a look.
For the lazy ones, you could take a horse to get up to the wall.
Another one of those "This Is China" pictures. We did come across some massive rocks in the middle of the road. Instead of worrying about rock chips in your windshield, how about a boulder chip!
TEDA, Tianjin
I played some Badminton with my Chinese colleagues and what a tiring game that is. Sooo much fun.
Sport Bikes in China. These were all smuggled out of Japan at the piece part level in separate containers and then reassembled in China. Some of them look like they've been crashed and others are probably stolen.
Sweet! I found me self a Gixxer. It's a 2001 600 and un-negotiated price was around $7000. Dont worry, I would never buy it, cause I wouldn't be able to trust the guy who put it together.
There were lots of Beemers there. This one was about $15,000. Similar price in the States, but.... walk away... Note the little pocket rocket on the right. These looked to be very popular.
The Motorcycle Dealership Alley. Draws a huge crowd from young kids wanting to be cool and rich kids buying them to be cool.
The Motorcycle Parts Store. "What you want? Gas tank for 2004 Gixxer? No problem, I get for you tomorrow!" Yeah, they'll probably steal it for me overnight in Tokyo or Hong Kong.
At least they got Rossi on their store front...
Shenzhen (southern china, near the Hong Kong border)
Yes, that's a bus overtaking on the shoulder! Driving here would be mad for foreigners. There's no respect for the rules and patience has to be very high. There's lots of cutting off and heavy braking involved.
My room at the Crowne Plaza. It's a Venetian themed hotel and is done up really nicely. Finally, a firm bed. Good for me back.
One of the nicest bathrooms I've seen on my trips to Asia. You can see the Winged Lion (symbol of Venice) in the reflection.
View from the balcony
Live frogs at the local Wal-Mart meat department. Mmmm, tasty. Not. We went there to get some cheap booze (some things dont change) and had to walk through this area. I wouldn't mind eating frog, but I don't want to see my lunch in this state.
V Bar at the Crowne Plaza Shenzhen and Happy Valley Maya Carnival
The V Bar at the Crowne Plaza is one of the big hot spots in Shenzhen and is a pretty rockin place. We hooked up with some Brazilian Carnival dancers who were performing at the attached Happy Valley theme park at the Maya Carnival show.
Can you say "Booty"!!
Them on stage was like adding gasoline to a fire
The whole crew: 2 Motorolans (me and the guy with glasses), 5 Brazilian dancers, 1 Portuguese businessman and 1 Ugandan.
Marcello, Kelli, Jason, Georga and moi
The Maya Carnival show at Happy Valley. It was a water park with a wave generator that had a 30 min show on stage every hour and then a live music band into the night. Not a bad setup actually.
Some Malaysian dancers (I think) during a variety show
And the main event, the Brazilian Carnival dancers.
At the end, everyone was invited to dance on stage with the dancers and take pictures. The funny thing was that, because Jason and I were hanging around Georga and the other dancers, some of the local Chinese must have thought we were part of the show, as well and they asked to take pictures with us. No problem at all. It was fun being a supa star, albeit for like 10 mins.
With the beautiful Georga. They go back Brasil in a few days and there's lots of celebrating to be done.
I keep reminding myself that I came here on bizness... Don't want to imagine what coming here for pleazure would be like...
