Intro to Beijing

It's Tuesday morning, the beginning of our 3rd day in Beijing. With Doug as our travel guide and translator, we have been to several of the "must-see" sights already: The Forbidden City (forboding), Tian'amen Square (lovely at night), some upscale hutongs. We're also experiencing the life of a young teacher in the city: chinese breakfast of stir-fried veggies, porridge and steamed soy milk, the crush (literally) of riding the subway with the masses, a 7-course dinner for 3, complete with beer, at the local hole-in-the wall for $10. What a fascinating place this is!

Bicycles are indeed everywhere in Beijing. They surely outnumber cars 3 or 4:1. The typical bike is a gearless, single speed vehicle of considerable vintage, with a wire basket on the front and a rectangular support on the back which sometimes holds a passenger. Riders are young and old, bare-foot and high-heeled, jeaned or suited, and all are equally oblivious to the cars (mostly taxis) swerving around them with millimeters to spare
Whatever control the Chinese government purportedly holds over it citizens, it does not extend to traffic. Cars, bicycles and pedestrians share both the r.oads and the sidewalks here. You are almost as likely to see a car on the sidewalk , or a pedestrian in the street as vice versa.
Major intersections remind me a bit of Lake Washington after the hydroplane races, with well-lubricated boaters trying , and mostly succeeding, to avoid each other . Bikers slither between cars with abandon, pedestrians wander in to traffic at will, and I do believe taxis are prohibited from using their brakes.

The air is gritty here. The haze is better or worse, but never gone. I think some of it is due to the constant demolition and construction in the city. Nary a block is without some building being torn down and reinvented. Walking down the street leaves you dodging wheelbarrows, stacks of bricks, and the occasional welder dripping sparks from above. They say the city will be all put back together by the Olympics. I suppose if anyone can do it, the Chinese can. Jim and I climbed to the top of the ony hill in Beijing yesterday to view the city. We could see approximately 3 blocks in any direction. Doug says this will likely improve when the rains come....maybe.

Security Guardsare also ubiquitous. Many are private guards, and it seems to me that the Chinese eliminate unemployment by paying lots and lots of people to stand around and avoid smiling. Downtown in the major tourist sites the police are out in force. These are young, baby-faced men in starched uniforms and braided caps who stand or walk in pairs, and are as synchronized as the swimmers in the Olympics. They demand and recieve respect, and are not fond of being photographed. I certainly did not try.

The hotels here have devised an ingenious way to save energy. When you arrive in your room, you insert your key card in a card reader just inside the door. This activates the electricity in your room. Lights, a/c, TV, all come on. When you take your card out as you leave, everything goes off. Pretty smart, eh?

We are staying in the "university district" of town, near where Doug lives and teaches. It is the home to at least 9 major universities and both Google and Microsoft are nearby. Jim and I took a walk through one of the university campuses, and it felt very familiar. The sports arena here was for volleyball, but it looked a lot like the basketball arena back home. Student dorms, a gaggle of professors, the local bar were all easily identifiable. We found a nice park with a pond, and joined the locals on a Sunday afternoon stroll. There was a large outdoor basketball court with at least 20 hoops filled with (mostly short) guys, and parents playing badminton with their kids (often sans the net). Very nice.

We are off to do some more sight-seeing today. More later..........

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