Caught in the rain.

I promise, there won't always be this much blogging. School hasn't started yet.

I got the interweb turned on in my room. It's about $1.20 per day. It took about 10 seconds to turn it on, so I'm thinking that if my roommate didn't bring a computer, I'll just pay for it on days when I need it. Really folks, you can't expect this level of attention every day.

My free flickr only allows 3 sets, so I attempted to blog today's photos inline. That was a pain, so I'm just going to make one big set for now. So click here to see today's photos. (hey rolodexter: keep your pants on. And who are you? blogspot won't come through here).


Well, that didn't work out either. Obviously folks can see these, because they've already been viewed by someone. But I can't see them to organize them. So I'm going with picasa instead. The only odd thing I found in the Picases setup was that I couldn't use my own GoogleID, I had to change it a bit.

So I had lunch back in the compound, had a bit of a rest, and decided that instead of heading to the Old Summer Palace, I would escape the heat of the day by doing a little shopping in air conditioned luxury. Besides, I was in desperate need of a map. So I headed to the Haidian shopping district, which is directly to the south of campus. There is a large bookstore, as well as a book dealer 'mall' of sorts. On the way I stopped by the 'Silicon Valley Computer Mall'
5 levels of stalls selling everything you could imagine--except software. Although someone outside was selling 'educational' copies of stuff. I didn't see the prices.

L: I can get you a Windows CE handheld with a keyboard for $50.

The bookstores were a hit. It was a pleasant trip. I rested for a bit afterwards with a 'coffee shake', studies my new maps, and then attempted to set off for home. Instead, I almost got caught in a violent thunderstorm and ducked into a restaurant that I had spied earlier
for an early dinner. I think the waitresses thought I was weird. A consequence of the hot day was that I just wasn't very hungry, so I didn't eat much.

So enjoy the photos. It's the beginning of another day. I have to make an appearance on campus today, but I think it's just to sign in. After that, I think I'm going to try to tackle public transportation and head to the Forbidden City and Tianemen Square.