Sanlitun

It's my 2nd night back to Sanlitun... It's an area on the northeast of Beijing. Lotsa cool stuff, shopping, markets, DVDs, drinks, food and people of all races, most of whom we don't see in daylight. Rusta man, hippies, middle-aged aunties who'd sit in alfresco bars to enjoy a beer and a cigarrette.

So les and i were hanging out with a friend when suddenly a whole buncha cops came in trucks to raid some roadside DVD stalls. No one was arrested, assumingly the sellers got wind of the cops arrival and abandoned their stalls.

On a random night, along a random street... a 5 to 6 piece Mariachi broke out into song... This dude looks pretty happy.

Shortly after, a bunch of neighbourhood security- oddly enough consisted of kids around the age of 18 -came rushing down in an attempt to stem down on the "noise" pollution. But then later on they kinda chickened out when they saw that the band were angmohs.

Here they are standing around wondering what to do.

Beijing is experiencing this weird energy as the Olympics draws near. Suddenly, everyone is out of character, the whole city is undergoing redecoration. Beijing definitely wants to be prepared when every camera in the world points at her.