I started November in Thailand, spent the middle of the month in Korea, and finished it in China. Its been a long month.

Cool! I wonder what that couple is thinking as they look at you. Good thing you can't read that sign above their heads!

He's OK. Looks like a cigarette on the sign. Good thing you weren't choking on a pack of Pall Malls.

PS- What's the Chinese phrase for "Ugly American making big stink"? 😉

I should qualify that statement. "Ugly American" is a general term used to describe the hubris applied to said countrymen (and probably countrywomen, as well).

Not to be in any way, shape or form meant to imply anything about Igate's appearance or overall makeup.

Carry on...

Cool pic... What type(s) of smokes do they have in China?

Okay the wall is made out of stone...what's the "No Smoking " thing for. Jeez.

Nice pic....I doubt I will ever see that particular wonder of the world.

Judging from the expression of the two to your left, I think they are looking for a cop to rat you out to.

I wonder what the punishment in China is for violating the sign. Didja light it up??

The Great Wall of China is actually falling due to the huge amounts of tourists that walk it every day. Imagine, something large enough to see from the moon is falling apart...

You didn't squeeze their necks after the pic was taken?

China was very interesting. The Chinese are marketing socialists now not communists(what ever), and we are no longer the running dog capitalists. The two chinese behind me were looking at a couple of Korean tourists that were scratching their names in the wall. A police officer took them into custody. They were fined 10% of what they had on their person (diamond ring, cash, credit cards). This appears to be the standard fine for tourists.

Bejing has 5 or 6 cigar clubs, the one I visited was a jazz club called CJW (cigar jazz wine). Cuban Montecristo, Romeo & Julieta, Cohiba, and Partagas were available. The price range was 50 RMB ($6) to 250 RMB ($31).

Wow! A great pic of the Great Wall. Mag

I was there several years back.
A very nice experience, but humbling to some degree.
After a VERY tiring walk up the uneven steps to the top of the wall, I took about 15 minutes to catch my breath...only to see an old (almost elderly) Chinese woman and her grandkids selling t-shirts from their push cart!
The shirts stated "I climbed the Great Wall".
I didn't have the strength to stand straight, yet these under-nourished locals carried a cart up the same steps.
Time to get into shape....

I saw a documentary about the wall a while back. Seems they are always rediscovering a new section. How do you lose a section of wall? Did you steal that cigar from that lady Gates? You look really smug and she looks pissed!

Yo! Pauli!

I think she's pissed 'cause he wouldn't give her a toke. Or it could be due to the fact that he showed her a picture of a Chinese acrobat and asked her if she could "move like that."

Perhaps she looks that way because the seat of his pants is cut out. It looks cold too. Talk about rosey cheeks!

Its been along time since I posted this, but it still pisses me off.

....better than being pissed on......

Whatcha pissed about Gates? You were on the GW with a fine cigar! I guess you couldn't smoke it though huh? Did that lady give you hell?

That is cool!

lgates5,

Great pic... You look very familiar. Were you ever in the USAF? Stationed in Korea?

Cheers