Alright friends, I've confirmed that Livejournal is blocked over here. I remembered that when I was out and about today and my brother confirmed it with me. This will now be my journal while I'm in China! I tried to make the address easy to remember.

While we're here, a few observations while I was wandering around:

There are a lot of recognizeable cars on the streets. Mainly foreign (in the US sense), although I did see two Fords and one Chevy. The most common car on the street: Volkswagen.

Everyone smokes.

Looks like I can get just about anything I need here: head and shoulders shampoo, Renu contact solution, Adidas body wash. Common brands: Nivea, Neutrogena, Dove.

Most surreal experience: It'd be a toss up between standing in a grocery store looking at items that I recognized while Norah Jones played. They had Friskies cat food (somewhat ironic I think), Kingsford briquettes, tide, A1 steak sauce (in case that cat just isn't tasting good...), and anything else under the sun. The other would be eating lunch and listening to Johnny Cash.

There is a Starbucks nearby. Prices are similar ($2 on the dot for an iced drip). Looks exactly like a store back home.

I'm trying to stay active and eat at regular times (although I'm not that hungry). Tomorrow I should meet up with everyone.