Eric's Beijing Diary

Olympics must be over. The beggars are back. They disappeared for awhile, for some reason. Place feels like normal again. But my favorite sidewalk bicycle mechanic disappeared before the Olympics, and I still haven't seen him. And the sidewalk merchants haven't come back yet. But I have faith in China; they can't stay away forever. Boy, this place was so tidy there for awhile, I almost thought I was in Japan. OK, that was an exaggeration. Anyway, slowly, but surely, China is becoming Cbina again. The Olympics did it's damage. Lots of those dumpy, hometown restaurants were cleaned out. But others keep popping up. There's a Yunnan restaurant down the street toward Peking University on Cheng Fu Lu that has very good food. And countryside prices. You have to look for them, but they're there.