Nia Hao!

Well twowheelswhirled have made it to the next destination in one piece - we reside in Datong near the Inner Mongolian border. We have had an eventful day and are both quite beat. Last night we wanted to get some posts out but the computers were down in the hotel so we spent the time in preparation for today's excitement.

So, what is it like to ride a bicycle in Beijing I hear you cry?

We cycled amongst people of different ages and abilities. Many people were ruddy cheeked from the chill in the air or from the wind burn and dust hitting their faces. Sensible people would cover their mouths with surgical masks for fear of increasing their respiratory problems or gaining an unwanted one. Most people rode bikes with one gear, their legs turning the cranks at 20 rpm. Some would turn their toes outwards on the pedals causing their knees to stick out at a 90 degree angle as they slowly ambled down the cycling lane causing people to swerve into the traffic in order to get round them. Others chatted on mobile phones unsteadily holding the handlebar with one hand and cycling far from a straight a line as a result.

Young men would fancy themselves as being the fastest and would tear through the crowds, quite often excited that they could race us foreigners even though they had a passenger sitting on the rack on the back - a no holds barred race to the end of the road. They would wobble, risk traffic dodging manoeuvres in order to maintain their lead only to look back and see K and I calmly and steadily following behind without the hint of a sweat or willingness to participate in their challenge as we closed the gap and would often overtake. Even old men would accelerate at the sight of us and hope to overtake us even though we had whizzed past them. Working bikes with heavy metal boxes welded on the back transport goods, we saw three in a row - somebody was moving house. The carts were loaded with beds, tv's, clothes, a chest of drawers, it was pretty amazing to see it manoeuvring through the traffic. Electric power assist bikes would overtake everybody, on board sat the frames of tiny women straight backed and confident. The electric bikes had the worst brakes, more often than not they would squeal and screech painfully in your ear. A chorus of bicycle bells at rush hour challenges the sound of blasting automobile horns as you approach the first ring road.

Nobody wears cycling specific clothing or helmets. Most people wore big heavy coats and jackets, some older men wore navy coloured woollen Mao type jackets with caps to match. There were uniforms of police and army as well as tracksuits which served as school uniforms. Construction workers wore hardhats camo fatigues (their uniform? they all wear them). The fashion conscious wore funky jeans, the business man wore his suit - only K and I wore day glow rain jackets with reflective piping purposefully designed for cyclists, our highly visible white helmets and our cool glasses.

The blend of people on bicycles is as numerous and varied as the people walking in the streets or bundled into buses. Quite often we were an object of interest, noticeable as being different by our equipment and a cause of much curiosity as a result. At intersections (the congregating point) we would all wait for minutes at a time, K and I would often be a topic of conversation, the brave would even try and converse with us in Mandarin - all that we could do in reply was 'hen hao' (very good) or 'nia hao' (hello). Today there was much thumbs up given to us as we rode to the train station with our loaded up bikes.

Ahh, I have loved to ride my bike in Beijing, passing old hutongs as well as futuristic constructions. Along wide avenues and tree lined streets, amongst the chaos of rush hour traffic and sometimes gleaming at being separate from it in the cycle lanes. Cycling takes you amongst people wherever you are in the world. You are not hidden behind a window as though watching TV but are rather in the thick of it, slightly vulnerable at the newness of your surroundings but confident in the familiarity that your mode of transport brings as well as it's accompanying freedom - if you are a fellow cyclist you will know exactly what I am talking about :-)

Thanks for reading :-) :-) :-)