So, I'm going to start out with some random pictures of what China life was to me, the places aren't particularly important and most were just local areas in Beijing, but these summarize life in China to me (don't worry all the awesome touristy pics are soon to come).
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27 downloadsDid I get your attention? Teehee, as strange as it seems oftentimes on the streets in Beijing little children would bathe outside, some would even just randomly go to the bathroom against a tree. Toddlers in China oftentimes do NOT wear diapers, but rather they have a slit in their underwear so that they can poop on the side of the road (with their parents bringing along wipes to clean up the mess after it happens).
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25 downloadsLooks like fun right? Surprisingly enough due to the predominance of elderly in Beijing there are a lot of public parks in the city. In these small parks are a lot of very simplistic work-out machines such as you see here. This way the elderly can get their daily exercise without having to pay a lot of money to go to a gym (it helps that the machines are a lot of fun too!).
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21 downloadsI want Nobody Nobody but YOU! Karaoke-ing (or going to KTV as the call it in China) is another favorite pastime in Beijing. Movie theaters can be really expensive as can malls, but there are so many different karaoke places in China that it is INCREDIBLY cheap. You better have a good singing voice though because Chinese people LOVE a good ballad. A lot of the karaoke rooms are also incredibly high-tech, including touch screen computers to choose a wide variety of songs (including English and Korean songs too).
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21 downloadsYes did I mention that these karaoke establishments are INCREDIBLY nice. This picture looks like it's from some 5 star hotel or something right? But no, this is just the entrance to one of MANY different karaoke places in Beijing. Not bad right?
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16 downloadsOk after showing off my awesome Nobody skills in the above pic I just HAD to include this picture of some graffiti on a local subway station wall. It is quite obvious that kpop is fairly popular in China, most especially Super Junior.
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11 downloadsSPEAKING of subways, they are an incredibly important part of everyday life. If you can't figure out how to read the subway map you might as well stay at home. Beijing's streets especially are jam-packed with cars, and in fact the government regulates who can drive on what days as a way to decrease gas emissions. This means that a large percentage of the population gets around solely by using the subways or bus systems.
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10 downloadsLast but not least the night scene is an important part of Beijing life. As in America, a lot of Chinese people will go to bars to wind down and relax with a couple of beers. As a way to attract more people however bars will sometimes pay pretty girls to come dance at their establishments, or they will pay magicians or other entertainers to put on shows. Beijing is fairly progressive on the night life front and even boasts a couple of Gay bars.
