Bike Ride Beijing

Full to the gills of tourist Beijing, we switched gears (almost literally) for day two. We rented some bikes, and headed northeast.

Beijing is a surprisingly bike-friendly city. Every street has a wide bike lane on its far right side. For the most part, cars and buses adhere to this traffic adjustment (even as they disdain nearly every other one). So, riding down the streets is fairly nice and relaxing.

The tricky part comes at the intersections. And, with six lane streets common and some twelve lane streets out there, they have quite a lot of pavement to get across. Initially, it looks totally like chaos. Someone is always out in the intersection, using against the light. From a rider's perspective, the first hazard comes from people, bikes, and trolleys in the crosswalk, even when their light is red. Next come the omnipresent cars and buses travelling the same direction as you, turning right. They seem to think they have a permanent green arrow, and bikes are somewhat invisible. Third are the cars and buses coming at you that are turning left. They, too, wait for no one, not even the oncoming cars. There is always a spurt of cars turning left as soon as the light turns green. Fourth are cars and buses from the right that are turning right on to your street. These are often concealed behind the traffic waiting at the light to go straight. They rarely hesitate. The fifth and final barrier are other bicycles and motorbikes on your right, both turning right to join your lane and going straight, perpendicular to you. Wow.

It turns out, however, that there is a rhythm to it. There are also crowds, and so the venture across the intersection becomes much safer if you leave with a group of bicyclists and motorbikes, who are always there to provide cover. We got a ton of practice at this on our ride out.

Along the way, it was great to see the greenery on the streetscape. Many streets have sidewalk trees, some of which provide a canopy across the roadway. There are also several rivers that break up the concrete jungle.

After about 90 minutes, we reached our destination: 798 Art District Beijing. This place was cool!

This abandoned multi-building electronics factory has been converted into an art colony, full of museums, galleries, and cafes dedicated to the Beijing art of today.

It was such a great afternoon that we planned a return visit for the following week, when we would be back in Beijing. Here are some shots of some of the wonderful sculpture and street art there. Definitely recommended for a visit.

The ride home was much like the ride out there, though a bit easier as we were more used to going with the flow. One crossing of a bridge yielded this cityscape.