Toni and Guy and the Forbidden City

Went to Beijing yesterday for a 4 hour meeting.

I expect it is an amazing city although I didn't see much of it.

What did depress me though was that from the limited view I did get of the city, I could have been anywhere.

The Grand Hyatt is located in a morass of marble and fountains. There's a huge angel of the north type sculpture and if you didn't know where you were, it could quite easily have been Manchester, Newcastle or any other trendy new city gleaming with glass and concrete urban redevelopment.

It didn't help that the shops outside the hotel were - Toni and Guy (really can you believe it - in China) Burberry, Chanel and some Italian posh shoes Ermingnio something or other.

So all very international and well known luxury brands but all rather depressingly homogenised.

Next time I go I'll go to the Forbidden City and Tianemen Square - but no doubt there will be a Starbucks right outside.

J