Enlarge this picture My sister, Tracy (left), and I at the Capital M restaurant overlooking Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

There are some familiar European manufacturers here at ISH China — Danfoss, Buderus, Grundfos, Uponor, Viessmann, Bosch, REHAU, Wilo, Caleffi, Baxi, F.W. Oventrop. And some familiar U.S. names — A.O. Smith, Calorique, Heat-Timer, Kohler, Watts Water.

A few solar panels, a little radiant infloor heating, lots of panel radiators and decorative plumbing fixtures.

There's not too much activity on the show floor today, and no other activities being held, so let me tell you about dinner last night...

Some of the press were treated to a fantastic dinner by Messe Frankfurt's Hong Kong office — special thanks to Penny Troon and Angel Ho for organizing it.

Capital M, overlooking Tiananmen Square, is owned by an Australian woman. The cuisine is international, so I tried the Iranian duck stew, which wasn't stew in the American sense of the word but was wonderful anyway. Oh, I did have the seafood bisque for starters. (I was told not to eat salad by the travel medicine doctor who gave me the polio, typhoid, Hepatitis A and tetanus/diptheria/whooping cough shots I needed to travel here.) My meal was topped off by a dessert featuring mandarin oranges used in three different ways — a sorbet, as filling for cannoli, and some other concoction I'm not sure of. 

Can you tell I loved the food?

The wine was excellent, too — a pinot and a cabernet — as was the company. The journalists hailed from Korea, Turkey, Italy, Singapore, Germany, China and the States (yours truly). We didn't arrive back at the hotel until midnight — if you're ever in Beijing, I highly recommend this restaurant.

Miscellaneous ramblings:

Enlarge this picture The Kohler 'booth' at ISH China 2010. (Photo credit: Kelly Faloon/Plumbing & Mechanical.)

— The dual-flush toilets at the airport were Toto. But at our hotel, located in the Olympic park, American Standard dual-flush toilets, sinks and tubs are installed.

— Taxi drivers are the same all over the world. Ours from the airport didn't know where the hotel was, even with the address written in Chinese. He did stop to ask for directions — twice. I would never want to drive over here.

— I haven't seen much of the city yet. My sister is traveling with me, and we will be spending some extra time in Beijing visiting the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, etc.

Zai jian, Kelly.

To read about Kelly’s experience on her first day in Beijing, click here for her blog.