beijing on a bike

a very belated update, but one that has to be rushed out before school starts simply because beijing was too wonderful not to blog about

so, the moment i ended work for good, i hopped onto a night train and reached beijing the next morning. didn't read up beforehand, didn't plan anything, just went there with a blank slate. i call it free-style :P

and my lovely hostel had bikes for rent so we rented one each. and went off to explore what the hostel guy said was within cycling-reach... and further.

Beijing on a bike turned out to mean...

taking photos of Tiananmen from across the road because we didn't know how to cycle over
taking photos of cute little girls over the railing

seeing Qian Men and Zheng Yang Men from across the road because bicycles weren't allowed on their grounds

taking a photo of the countdown to the Beijing Olympics 080808 at 8.08pm over the heads of others

ending up at a bicycle repairman after colliding with another bicycle and attracting a whole crowd of people - a crazy (and not wholly unexpected actually) experience and a huge lesson in human nature

meeting an adorable paper cutter with, yes, 'lowest price all over the world'

being cooperative - you can walk, you can ride a bike (like us!) or you can SWIM... but you just can't drive down a nice old hutong...
developing cyclist-to-cyclist camaraderie

showing our love for beijing the entire day :)