Biking Beijing

Pictures: Craig's / Mary's


Friday, we rented bikes for the first time. It's the perfect way to get around Beijing if you can find a comfortable bike (Mary's seat was a little hard). Biking amongst the traffic is not as daunting as it might seem. There are bicycle lanes everywhere and in the busy areas, the bike lane is as wide as three car lanes. The only problem is that buses share the bike lanes when they need to stop at a bus stop; which can lead to some squeezing situations.


We biked to the Lama Temple and wandered around leisurely. The temple was full of tour groups, all with their red or yellow hats. The palace was complete with an 18 meter Buddha, carved from a single piece of sandal wood - the official Guinness record was posted outside.


Then we biked to Jingshan Park, which has a great view of the Forbidden City...if it's not smoggy - but the weather has changed for the worse and visibility is poor. It'll be nice to move on soon, hopefully finding more blue skies.