Beijing: Land of abundant, cheap eats

A part of me is in love with this city. This part of me is also a sinner guilty of gluttony. Besides having every type of Chinese food imaginable, the recent years of Chinese borders becoming more porous have also invited a wide array of foreign foods into the fold. And when considering these eats whilst earning a salary (/unemployment check, whatever) in US dollars--even though the dollar ain't what it used to be--it's all damned cheap and delicious.

Case in point: I just had half a Beijing duck with all the fixins for Y29. That's like $4.15. Then I followed with a bunch of lamb kebabs at Y1 a piece. I don't care if street meats are a recipe for disaster; I'm armed with Immodium. I wonder how it is that the girls here are generally stick figures. How can they deny themselves these simple pleasures that this city has in such abundance? Sigh. Oh, and home beer delivery at Y2 for a 600ml bottle. Score.

Stomach aside, the rest of me is really not that fond of this city. It's too large, flat, dirty, and ugly. Communist bloc architecture? Not so hot. Also, this city is definitely not pedestrian friendly. None of China's larger cities seem to be. Someone ought to sack the people in the city planning departments for prioritizing the car-owning minority over the walking majority.