... in a capital city far from home.

In no particular order, these have caught my eye in the past two days:

A bevy of dwarves (or little people, if you prefer - but the setting is so unbelievably exploitative, I don't think correct terminology is going to help) who wear identical tuxedos and solicit for customers outside a fancy restaurant near Beijing Central Railway Station every night of the week;

also

a 50 storey building that I was gazing at in the wintery night that suddenly lit up from inside like a jack-o-lantern with scores of blow-torches all working at once. Huge waterfalls' worth of sparks were falling down the building's exterior like the debris scattered by large firecracker explosions;

and then there have been

tiny dogs wearing bright pink puffer vests; aged Chinese matrons with Anna Kournikova-style blonde tresses; and prostitutes in 'hair salons' still open at midnight;

there's also my perennial favourite, which is

apple-cheeked Chinese bubbas with front and back splits in their pants instead of nappies - whenever nature calls, the kid just lets everything out onto the footpath. The sight takes some adjusting to, but most concerning of all is how COLD they must be with the icy wind whistling straight through ... eek!