Foo - My commute photos are up!

Hey, Foosters! I said I'd post photos of my commute, and I have now done so. I started a thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=3271087) over in the commuting forum, but you can just go straight to the pictures (http://www.brezhnev.net/2006/10/26/72.html) from here. Hope you enjoy them!

hehe...fun!

Well done!

That's some cool ****. I'm jealous.

That brings back memories. I went there on vacation 10 years ago.

how far is that commute?

sweet

Beautiful pics! Looks like a fun commute with a lot of pretty scenery! :) Thanks for sharing! :)

how far is that commute?
5.86 miles

Awesome photos, I envy and admire you. I do not have the courage to move to the other side of the world.

Never seen a bicycle jam before.

Very cool pictures

Never seen a bicycle jam before.

Very cool pictures

...or a bike lane big enough to drive a bus through!

great pics.

Did you know the amazing race was there in the forbidden City??

Nice pics very cool.

Sometimes China can look so Chinese, it's ridiculous.

:roflmao:

Great blog, man...:D

I thought it was pretty cool, but a little too much concrete for me.

I always thought China looked Chineese too, at least from pictures.

So thats about 6 miles? Wow looks like it's about 60 :D

Do you find that traffic is orderly, people are polite, and its a safe commute?

Very cool pictures, thanks for sharing!

Cool Beans, thank you for sharing. I am surprised the traffic is fairly light.

Steve

...or a bike lane big enough to drive a bus through!

great pics.

Thanks! One day I'll post a picture of the bike lane in Tiananmen Square. It's so big that I can't help giggling and doing massive figure-eights every time I ride through there. :D


I always thought China looked Chineese too, at least from pictures.

So thats about 6 miles? Wow looks like it's about 60

Do you find that traffic is orderly, people are polite, and its a safe commute?

It's a lot of pictures for 6 miles, but it's a fun ride! Traffic is "orderly" in its own way. People drive badly, but most drive badly in the same way, so it's fairly easy to predict what cars are going to do. Generally, I plan for cars to do the most annoying, selfish thing, and I work around that :D. Now that I'm used to it it doesn't really bother me. It's a safer commute than my old one because I'm not constantly battling with busses and the bike lane is relatively free of cars.

Glad you all enjoyed the pictures! It was fun taking them. I've shown you mine, now show me yours! :D


Edit: Mirona: Concrete is kind of hard to avoid 'round these parts. One of the reasons that I like this ride so much is that there is a lot less concrete than I'm used to. Sad, but true.

Edit 2: These were taken between about 9:15 and 9:45 -- not the middle of rush hour. An hour earlier and the traffic would likely be much worse.

I'm amazed how clean your new neighborhood is.

Not a stray chicken, cat or dog to be seen for miles!;)

I'm amazed how clean your new neighborhood is.

Not a stray chicken, cat or dog to be seen for miles!;)

Ah, but you can't smell the public toilets ;)

I'll have to post more pictures of the neighbourhood itself sometime. It's a cool place to be, and there's a great Chinese Muslim restaurant down the street with fantastic lamb noodles.

I figure Foosters are smarter than those guys over in commuting, but just in case you didn't bother to read the long-winded introduction, here's a Google Earth map (http://www.brezhnev.net/bikeforums/commute.jpg) of the commute.

I was impressed by how clean the streets and alleyways are in all parts of the commute. All the new buildings are also impressive, are they tearing down the whole city to re-build? I've seen construction sites in Taiwan that used bambo scaffolding, this looks much more modern in your pictures. I enjoyed this very much, thanks, you saved me a trip!!:D

Great pics. While on a business trip back in about '98 I borrowed a bike from the hotel and rode around Bejing. There were so many bikes, bikes tended to rule the roads. A whole new group riding experience. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, although I nearly got very lost. I couldn't read any of the road signs, spoke no chinese and no one spoke english. There's something about exploring a place on a bike, much better than a tourist bus or wandering round on foot.

Looks like the city has changed a lot in the years since I visited. Loved the size of the bike lanes.

They're tearing down huge chunks of the city, yes. I'm lucky to live in one of the few areas that's protected from massive development, but even around here there's a lot of gentrification. Some is good, some a bit Disneyish. Bamboo scaffolding isn't used in Beijing -- I assume it's more of a southern thing, since they still use it in Hong Kong, which is more wealthy and modern than Beijing.

There are thousands of street sweepers employed to keep the streets clean, and they do a good job. Unfortunately, that also means that people have no qualms about random littering.

ianh, I think you'd find it easier to make your way around now. A lot of the street signs are now bilingual in preparation for the Olympics. Beijing is a great place to explore on a bike; it's too spread out and grid-like to make walking fun, and you miss so much in a car when you're not stuck in traffic.

The only downside to that is, the obvious grey smog air pollutants that rival Los Angeles.

Damn the pollution.

Can you get any good Chinese food over there?

Can you get any good Chinese food over there?

I understand it's just called "food" in China.:rolleyes:

The only downside to that is, the obvious grey smog air pollutants that rival Los Angeles.

Damn the pollution.

That day wasn't actually so bad -- I think it was slightly higher-than-average humidity, so that emphasized what pollutants there were. We've had a bunch of gorgeous days recently. But yes, Damn the Pollution!


Edit: Actually, looking back at a bunch of pollution data I've collected, we're doing much better than average for this time of year. Don't know why, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

Can you get any good Chinese food over there?

Nah, it's mostly Tex-Mex ;)

Thank you so much! I've never been and was completely fascinated. I love the building shots (the architecture is so cool). Please post more when you can. :)

You're welcome! I'll be posting the alternate North Korean embassy route soon. If I can get to bed early tonight, I'll try to do that tomorrow.

Hey gbcb thanks for sharing the wonderful pics. I thought the surroundings were going to be similar to here but I was very wrong. I especially liked the lake area.
Steve.:)