My bike is my new best friend. It takes me any and everywhere I need to go. Last Friday, I biked from the post office to a photo developer in Dongcheng District. I arrived at 4:25 only to find out that it closed at 4:00. Then I biked to dinner with a friend, and from there home, for a total of around 15 miles. It was a great bike ride, I saw many things. The downside is that I have inhaled an unfathomable amount of smog that blankets Beijing on most days. My bike route Sunset on East Chang’an Ave Chairman Mao is never alone The restaurant Trying to get seated An empty Tiananmen Square
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Earlier this month, my roommate Julia and I found used bikes online. Problem was, they were across the city and you cannot bring bikes onto the subway. So, we thought we’d go on a bike adventure back from our pick-up spots! Below is a photo of central Beijing. My commute is the blue line, and Julia is the green line. We met up at a point on third ring road and continued together (purple) all the way home. I believe the total distance I biked was around 22 km (13 miles). Although biking many miles in one day after an extended period of inactivity may not be the smartest thing to do, our bike adventure was worth it. I have to say, biking in Beijing is so different from the subway or taxi. In the subway, I see nothing but the faces of the commuters around me and hear nothing but the bilingual droning of the subway voices announcing which stop we are approaching, and how we should prepare to get off. On a bike, I feel closer to the things I pass. I see the expressions on people’s faces as they cross the street, wait for the bus, or
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Last Saturday was my last day in Harbin for a while. I need a break from freezing my ass off. The American students took the train Saturday night I woke Sunday morning to the melodious voices of propaganda infotainment about the wonderful city of Beijing. After a long haul of heavy, overstuffed backpacks and suitcases to and fro, I was ready to settle in to my new apartment and new life. In the past week I have spent thousands of yuan on rent, furniture, and appliances with my great new roommate and fellow Fulbrighter, Julia. This includes haggling over the prices of plates and bowls, spending about 6 hours at Ikea, and begging the owner to buy me a desk that isn’t 24 inches wide (think about it, that’s tiny). It’s been tiring physically, mentally, and financially, but things should improve rapidly. I also look forward to using our full-size built-in oven that is so coveted in China/Asia. To say the least, I am in love with my new Beijing life (except the air quality part), and hope these next ten months are fulfilling.
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(image of bicyclists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square via nytimes) The UN Environment Program released a report last Thursday (side note: good typography, color choices, UN!) about the thick clouds of smog and soot over Asia and the likely effects it has on health, food security, and environmental changes. Due to the unprecedented nature of these noxious brown clouds, the exact consequences of their presence is not confirmed. Regardless of the consequences, it seems like countries are dilly-dallying around until the human/environmental toll is too hard to ignore, which may be years away. By then it will be too late. The world needs to get on this shit, pronto. And seriously this time. On a related note, though I may not be dying, I am still suffering. Now that I have finished consuming about 200 pills in the past two weeks, I don’t feel much better. I don’t really want to continue taking these pills. For one, I can’t bring myself to trust Western medicine produced in China. Second, I don’t like eating too many antibiotics over a long period of time. I mean, what if I created a mutant bacteria and created the next Avian Flu? Anyways, every time I
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