Random Scrap:
The same day I visited the Summer Palace while still wearing a suit. There were just a few of us getaways. Rather than staying in the building of the Beijing university we decided to explore what the city had to offer. We took taxi everywhere, felt the freeze of Tianman Square, visited a bar with whiskey and Chinese rock'n'roll karaoke. Being driven back by a lady in white gloves. Melanie, one of the girls with us, used to study in Beijing and spoke great mandarin so she first managed to convince the taxi driver that she was his cousin and then made with him a twenty dollar bargain to drive us for an all day trip to the remote non-touristy part of the Chinese Wall. We heckled at the silk market and dined the best Chinese food around. The Olympics were coming soon and the old buildings, their rumbles, were giving a way to the new modern ones. When I phoned phone late at night from the hotel lobby still being slightly drink from a mix of Chinese brandy and coke, Dad asked if I hadn't checked the email. I responded in silent anticipation of the news. "Grandpa had died."