My week in Beijing is over.
I must admit that I enjoyed the city much more than I thought I would. Coming from the beat-up cement cities in Russia and Mongolia, Beijing seems like it's straight out of the future. Roads are spacious and clean, buildings are often attractive and public spaces are well-kept by hordes of sweepers and trash-emptiers and traffic wardens.
In fact, it's tempting to say it's a clean city but for one thing: the smog. It's plain fucking gross.
Today was relatively clear, so I guess clear days do exist (and I was told by a friend here that summer is much more clear and that the central heating was just turned on by the government which produced the thick blanket I experienced), but Adam and I saw some pretty hideous days.
It go so bad, friends, that while bicycling through some alleys, I had to stop and buy a face mask. It's a black mask with purple designs. Hello Kitty designs. It was a desperate move, but if you saw the yellow haze that obscured the next block, you'd be wearing a Hello Kitty mask too.
Strangely enough though, almost no Beijingers wear masks. Maybe they're just too fashionable.
Anyway, Beijing is a nice city. There is a lot of history, a lot of modern architecture, a lot of cheap knock-off goods to haggle for, a lot of scams to avoid, and a lot of food to eat.
Our first dinner of Peking duck was mediocre. Not that we knew what to expect, but I wasn't exactly blown away. Our second dinner of Peking duck was much better - and more expensive - and even came with a duck ID number so we can trace it's history via the Internet.
There are a lot of tourists here too, and us honkeys aren't the only ones. Most of the tourists are Chinese, and they take the opportunity to get a photo with us foreign folk whether we like it or not. Some are friendly and ask you, others just film you like you're an animal in a zoo.
Beijing is good, and I certainly don't expect the rest of China to be as accommodating or organized, but if Beijing is supposed to be China's face to the world, I think they're doing pretty well.
I must admit that I enjoyed the city much more than I thought I would. Coming from the beat-up cement cities in Russia and Mongolia, Beijing seems like it's straight out of the future. Roads are spacious and clean, buildings are often attractive and public spaces are well-kept by hordes of sweepers and trash-emptiers and traffic wardens.
In fact, it's tempting to say it's a clean city but for one thing: the smog. It's plain fucking gross.
Today was relatively clear, so I guess clear days do exist (and I was told by a friend here that summer is much more clear and that the central heating was just turned on by the government which produced the thick blanket I experienced), but Adam and I saw some pretty hideous days.
It go so bad, friends, that while bicycling through some alleys, I had to stop and buy a face mask. It's a black mask with purple designs. Hello Kitty designs. It was a desperate move, but if you saw the yellow haze that obscured the next block, you'd be wearing a Hello Kitty mask too.
Strangely enough though, almost no Beijingers wear masks. Maybe they're just too fashionable.
Anyway, Beijing is a nice city. There is a lot of history, a lot of modern architecture, a lot of cheap knock-off goods to haggle for, a lot of scams to avoid, and a lot of food to eat.
Our first dinner of Peking duck was mediocre. Not that we knew what to expect, but I wasn't exactly blown away. Our second dinner of Peking duck was much better - and more expensive - and even came with a duck ID number so we can trace it's history via the Internet.
There are a lot of tourists here too, and us honkeys aren't the only ones. Most of the tourists are Chinese, and they take the opportunity to get a photo with us foreign folk whether we like it or not. Some are friendly and ask you, others just film you like you're an animal in a zoo.
Beijing is good, and I certainly don't expect the rest of China to be as accommodating or organized, but if Beijing is supposed to be China's face to the world, I think they're doing pretty well.
need picture of you on bike rocking a hello kitty mask. thank you!
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