Beijing odds and sods as mother would say

Some random musings about our time in Beijing:

• The map we used throughout our time in the city had, funnily enough, all (?) the McDonald's listed!  Turned out to be very handy for us as we did not see any restaurants in all the areas of the city we visited and that was a lot.  I do know how positively ridiculous that statement must sound to you, the reader but Steven backs me up on this one too.  We saw thousands of food stalls but not sit down Chinese food restaurants so we ended up going from one McDonald's to another for meals and ice cream cones; the latter were only 3 yuan each so cheap and yummy.
• McD's btw had no self serve drinks, condiments, napkins, etc - all were doled out at the point of purchase; obviously the Chinese know nothing of removing their trays after eating as we've been so well trained or indoctrinated in the US and Canada to do; busers had that job in Beijing.  Had read that a fast food place was the place to go to use a Western bathroom - we must have been in all of the wrong McD's b/c they all had the squat style!  Plus no t.p. either - we knew enough to carry that with us always.  Very odd/freaky to see the same McD's tile floors in the Beijing franchises as we see back home!
• Virtually no graffiti or litter anywhere; saw street sweepers everywhere and I'm not talking trucks either, but rather men and women using very long handled brooms often made of narrow sticks.
• I probably saw no more than 10 pregnant women our whole time not just in Beijing, but our entire time in China;  I asked Bryan, our tour guide in Xian, about that so more on that later but the lack of pregnant women was very apparent.  Perhaps all the more so for us coming from Mongolia where there were SO many.
• Have never seen SO many very skinny men before - don't know if it's a matter of lifestyle choice or lack of food?  Did see though a number of very pudgy kids, esp at McD's.
• The yuan is the currency in China - very easy to know what you're using b/c it's like Canadian money in the sense of each denomination is a different color; each bill though had Mao's face on it.
• At major bus stops where many buses would stop, individual bus numbers were painted on the street, so you knew exactly where to line up for up for your bus.
• Shopping stories in a store not market: at this point in the trip both Steven and I were both running out of deodorant - not a happy place to be when we were out bustling seeing the sights every day all day in the hottish weather!  Had found a large grocery/dept store just a 15 minute walk from our hostel and looked for deodorant there and other places as well only to find out that deodorant is obviously not a product that the Chinese use/wear.  It was available at a price ($2.75 each) in travel sizes only and that was the ONLY product available in a travel size much to our dismay.
• I went back to the same store close to our hostel one evening by myself as Steven wanted to rest; I was a little leery about going off by myself when it was dark (my eyes are bad so I hate being out more than I have to at night) and through darkened and very crowded streets even though by then I knew the area well but I managed just fine.
• I wanted rolls and fruit for breakfast; being able just to be able to potter about to my heart's content up and down the aisles there for a bit was a treat though.
• I also wanted to buy the smallest size shower gel and asked the clerks for assistance.  (Can't begin to tell you how many clerks there are just standing around in every store available to help with anything you may need - they weren't stocking shelves etc - just available for help.  Sure wish our stores in the US adopt this policy to make them more consumer friendly even though it adds to the bottom line, I know.)  Initially I was shown lotion of every sort - it was quickly apparent my acting and pantomime skills were sadly lacking!  I found some but not travel size but I love the scent.  I then asked (!) for a small plastic plate and ended up with 3 clerks and 2 customers helping me to find the elusive plate.  I should have realized by then of course that plates are not used as far as I can tell - only bowls.  I ended up with a fairly garish pink soap dish with sides - fine to use on train journeys as long as no one knows what it's really used for!
• Don't think I mentioned our hostel's rates before - it was 1208 yuan ($33 a night) which was a great price since as I know I mentioned before we had our private bathroom, boiling water and theoretically breakfast too; had no internet access in our room so went to the common room each time to use the computer which was fine and dandy; no kitchen though which was first for us this trip and hard adjustment not being able to make our own meals at all.
• Having our laundry done at the hostel was expensive by our standards at $8.33 for a very small load.
• Went with a tour again arranged by the hostel to a Kung Fu show at a local theater - really nice to be dropped off right in front and not having to worry about getting to and from the theater at all by ourselves at night.
• Sorry if you're expecting photos but this post doesn't lend itself to photos!