There Were 5 Million Bicycles in Beijing

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As the song states "There are 5 Million Bicycles in Beijing"...However, in the past few years Beijing has changed-for the better or the worse is the question??

Known as the city with rambling bicycles and intertwining markets, it is now becoming a booming world trade center and a massive Olympic development. I will admit that the city exudes charm with smiling Chinese mingling in the streets, opportunities to bargain with anyone, and a night market that still sells exotic foods of scorpion, worm, and sea creatures. However, its uniqueness has been spoiled from the development, restoration, and knocking of "old Beijing" and its original beauty. Expecting to see bikes galore, more people are driving or taking taxis continuing to change even with the increasing gas prices.

But, memories of Beijing are my first impression of the "real Asia"...watching our group of guys play soccer with Chinese boys in a car park, trying beetle and chicken heart, children wearing easy-access clothing with holes to pooh and pee, beautiful silk dresses, walking down bar street and watching its' random entertainment of bands and belly dancing, wandering the garden of the Forbidden City, haggling with the market people for the best price, getting lost in the Summer Palace, walking down the last of old town's shop-lined alley-ways, watching the talents of the cyclists carry loads of various items on the back, getting blown of the secret wall, and trying to figure out the best herbal remedy for a cold.

In 2 more years the Olympics will take place and in 2 more years the bicycle population will most likely dwindle...there are no more bicycles in Beijing.

Pictures are to come...

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