Beijing Mac

My site is hosted on the Mac Dot Com website. All sites hosted on that service are blocked in China. I do not know why China chooses to block that service but I would guess it is because there are a lot of blogs hosted on the site. China does not like blogs and blocks many of them. The internet here is slow if you are trying to access sites outside of China. Wikipedia was blocked until recently. Many other sites are blocked, including ones that talk about the earthquake.

If you were in a tall building, you would feel the building sway. I didn't even feel it, nor did my wife. We thought it was construction site accident.

Tiananmen is two blocks away from Wanfujing, which is probably the largest shopping area in Beijing. There is a large underground mall called the Oriental Plaza which is Beijing's largest shopping mall. There are hundreds of places to eat. All restaurants in the mall are clean and inspected. In four years, I have never gotten sick eating the food in Beijing. Also, most restaurants are now rated by the government. They receive a rated A, B, or C. An "A" rating is mostly for 5 star hotels. A "B" rating is very good. I wouldn't worry about eating the food here.

All of those places are good. The Courtyard is very nice but very expensive. The other places are cheap. If you want to know the best restaurants in Beijing rated by the people that live here, go to www.thebeijinger.com. They have a list of the best restaurants. My favorite is Annie's. There are several throughout Beijing. They have great pizza and Italian food and it is very reasonable. BTW, if you want a great burger, the cheapest place in town is the Burger King at the new Terminal 3 at the Beijing airport. It's the only Burger King in China, as far as I know. There are McDonalds everywhere in Beijing.

There was heavy pollution a few days ago. It was unhealthy for everyone to be outside. The last two days were very windy which blew the pollution away but brought in a lot of sand from the North. Competition would be suspended on heavy pollution days. Hopefully, things will improve by then.

My name is Steve McIntosh. I am an American from Santa Barbara and my wife is from Beijing. We moved to Beijing in 2004. It is my home. Beijing is an incredibly exciting place to live — it is safe, it is friendly, and cheap. I can look out the front or back window of my apartment and see workers planting trees, fixing sidewalks, building buildings, all in preparation for the Olympics. I live right next to the Olympic venue and it is a great time to be here. I have done many interesting things and I have met many fascinating people from all over the world. I love the US, and I miss the culture, my friends, the food, and my language. But right now, Beijing is an exciting and fascinating place to live. I love it here – Beijing is my home. I know the best places in Beijing to eat, sleep, and have a good time. I also know the places and things to avoid. I know the city well. I am here to help.