Chinese Chings.....

~ The police in Beijing work in teams, one carries the gun the other carries the bullet (which would you rather be?)
~ Urumqi has 3 million people, it is the 35th largest city in China; Chicago has 3 million people it is the 2nd largest city in the US
~ The toilet as we know it, does not exist here, it is all about the squatty potty - think of it as an in ground pool versus the above ground version. Avery does not like the hovering technique.
~ Did I mention you have to bring your own toilet paper too?
~ There is so much smog here because they still burn coal as fuel for the cities - natural gas is too expensive for their budget (don't they practically own the US though??)
~ These people can park anywhere, sidewalks are their favorite.
~ They have a bill in the amount of 1 RMB (yuan) which equals .0015 of one US cent
~ Their version of "to go" is to literally toss your food into a plastic bag and hand it to you. This includes soup. The bag is see-through too, so your food looks super appetizing on the walk home.
~ They have no silverware in the fast food restuarants. Everything is finger food.
~ Beijing introduces over 2000 new cars a day into their roadways. Traffic is a problem.
~ There is no McDonalds allowed in Urumqi because the head official of the city is Muslim and does not like the pork products sold by those westerners.
~ We have yet to see either orange chicken or wonton soup on a single menu.
~ If you choose to have a second child, you pay the government the equivalent of $10K, if you have 3 children, the "penalty" is $30K (which few Chinese can or would want to pay)
~ The reason the Chinese language is so hard for westerners is you need to train your voice to "travel", our voices are stuck at one location.
~ You can buy an IPhone knock off here for $100 and the only difference is the missing Apple symbol and the much higher price tag.
~ The low cost of Chinese laundry is so misleading - the hotel laundry charged us $3 for a pair of children's socks (could have bought 10 pairs for that price), the chinese laundry on the street generally will not even wash your socks and underwear (and this is exactly what you need done the most urgently).
~ Split pants are their way to potty train - just what you are thinking, split right down the middle - just squat and there is free access. There is little modesty here.
~ Women on the street have a strange sense of fashion - pretty much anything goes. It has been a long time since I have seen a leather vest with men's tie, knickers and red wedge high heels.
Oh, and by the way, no typhoon - it decided to visit Vietnam instead.