Quote from Baudelaire, 'the real travelers are those who leave for the sake of leaving ' Did the Chinese invent toilet paper? In the fourteenth century they were making perfumed paper for the bathroom (it was three inches square) for the Imperial family China - my heart is singing - a land full of culture, a people full of intelligence, not affraid to work hard and fast (China had to slow down work on the Olympic village for fear of showing up Greece) a country from Beijing to Lhasa with one single time zone. One of my expectations has been shattered; nowhere, so far, resembles the Chinatowns of London, New York, Sydney or even Singapore. The real China, in Beijing anyways, is sophisticated, modern, happening - a city preparing for the Olympic Games. 1197days, 3hrs, 56mins, 33secs to go - this, care of the countdown clock in Tiananmen Square. The main Olympic stadium is being built directly north of the Forbidden City. Significance is given to the directions of the wind - or did I get that from Ma Jong? It is perhaps more accurately attributed to the points on the compass. The 'point' being the importance of placement of old and new national buildings. I heard that many families were given two weeks to vacate their residence to make way for the Olympic constructions. Who knows what provisions were made for them - it's not good to ask such political questions; it can be awkward...I learnt this when searching for copies of the lonely planet to China here in Beijing. Only one shop out of maybe five I tried had copies - a stack hidden away in a cupboard. I wanted to know why. Most shops gave me a very stern negative but this one, Foreigners Bookshop, told me "political". You can buy the lonely planet to Beijing with sensative passages whited out and now under the table without.