Riding Forever

The last few days have been fantastic, mainly due to the fact that I am finally getting a chance to take a breather and just get focused on what is important to me. All of the train-hopping, apartment-moving, hostel-staying of the last two weeks really sapped a good bit of my energy there for a while, so staying in one place for over two days has been a dream come true.





Scot's apartment is quite nice, equipped with a western-esque bathroom, big kitchen, sitting room, and beds that beat hostel beds anyday.





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One of the main perks of staying with Scot has been the extra bicycle that he has: a blue woman's bike with the word "Forever" written across its body in big purple letters.





(Don't mean to sound sexist by saying "woman's bike", but the fact of the matter is it's designed for girls...)





Yeah, I know you're jealous..... few people have what it takes to handle such a beast, but I manage to keep 'er under control.





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Anyway, the last few days have consisted of me and Scot biking around town a bit, which is much cheaper and faster than any other means of transportation around here.





Biking on the streets of Beijing is new to me. I won't lie, it's a little scary due to the fact that I never have any idea what anyone is going to do at any moment. Sometimes people seem to be giving you the right of way, waiting until you are just about to pass in front of them.... and then they decide to start going, thus nearly eliminating you.





Other times, which is actually the majority of the time, as I am riding straight towards someone coming the opposite direction, we both begin to do the "don't know which direction to go" stutter, and end up almost colliding head on, before finally branching away from each other in the end.





And so far I'm just talking about other people riding bikes, by the way.





Cars are a whole different story, one that I will touch on some other time.





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Yesterday Scot and I biked down Dongzhimen Outer Street 东直门外大街 to an art exhibition going on at the Beijing National Agricultural Center.





The exhibited artwork was mostly of the modern variety, and mostly all Chinese as well, though there were some westerner's there displaying their works.





One piece that I saw that I really loved was titled "Green Dog". I'll try to post a picture of it into this entry....

There... added it to the beginning of the entry. That is actually a different piece than what I saw, but it is in the same series. The one at the exhibition was a bit more "out there"...you might say.

Anyway, it's hard to beat a good art show.