Day 3 was a lot of walking (more than 14 miles) while visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was interesting to see how citizens we’re regularly required to present their government issued ID to police and have it scanned so they could be tracked as they walked around different parts of the city. Every few blocks people would just line up and walk through a checkpoint as police scanned a little portable credit card reader looking thing. Since I was obviously not a local (I stuck out like a sore thumb walking around Beijing) they just waived me through without any checks. On the first day while driving to the Great Wall I also noticed what looked like red light cameras flashing at us along all of the roads. I asked the guide about this and he said it was not red light or speed cameras, but rather just a system that tracked all vehicles as they travel around the city. He commented very sincerely that it was a good thing and that it was for the safety of everyone. A very different perspective on privacy than we would have in the United States.
It was a great day of sightseeing, followed by a very early morning wake up to head to the airport and board my plane for Switzerland.
