Riding a bike on the streets of Beijing is exhilarating, exciting and only a little bit dangerous. You see, not too long ago, these streets were owned by Bicycles. When I was here only eight years ago, bicycles were much more common than cars. I remember getting stuck in ‘bike jams’ not traffic jams, it was much more common to get in a tangle with another bike as opposed to a car. Unfortunately that is not true anymore. Cars rule the roads now, I heard a figure that 1,000 new cars hit the roads everyday! NOOOOO!!!

However, there are still plenty of bikes and for the most part, it’s a pretty bike friendly city. Just don’t pull out in front of a car or you WILL get run over. It was dangerous coming from the super pedestrian friendly streets of Boulder, I had to learn quickly the we absolutely do not have the right of way.

I cruised around the busy main streets for awhile, but quickly grew tired of the chaos. Four lanes of speeding traffic on my left side did me in. The Hutong was my savior. These ancient neighborhoods are the only remaining traditional neighborhoods in Beijing. Most of them have been bulldozed to make way for skyscrapers and highways. Progress progress progress! These charming alleyways are my favorite aspect of Beijing. It’s common to see old ladies walking, kids playing and groups of men huddled around board games. And the annoying sounds of the city all but disappear in this area. It’s like there’s an invisible magic wall that blocks out all the chaos. I got lost many times in the maze of alleyways. I wanted to be lost though, it felt good to escape the city.

Riding in a Taxi is alway an adventure in Beijing. It’s not the crazy driving that makes me nervous, it’s the fact that I never really know if the driver knows here he is taking me. This is how it works, I get my destination written in Chinese before hand, give it to the driver, he nods and begins speaking to me in Chinese, I then hold up my hands with a bewildered look and say, “I don’t speak Chinese” Usually we get lost, Beijing has grown so quickly that many of the drivers don’t recognize all the areas. When we get lost and if I’m lucky to be with someone who has a cell phone, I have them call the place where I’m going so that they can hash it out over the phone. I feel sorry for the drivers this week, they have to deal with so many non-Chinese speaking people. I’m surprised they even stop for us, but then again, it’s china, and they are unbelievably hospitable.

I tried to scalp for tickets last night to see the men’s 100m final. It didn’t go so well. The scene outside the stadium was a madhouse of tourists taking photos and scalpers hawking tickets. Unfortunately, there were no Track and Field tickets for that night. However, I could have had my pick of Handball tickets, yeehaa!

Nobody seemed to care about the Police busting them, and the Police didn’t seem to care about doing any busting. There was no hiding, everyone was out in the open, doing their business. I was impressed.

I may not have found my dream ticket, but I did meet a super nice girl who wanted to GIVE me a ticket to the USA women’s soccer semifinals. I didn’t believe her at first, usually there is a catch…not this time, it was a pure, good hearted gesture. She had hoped that China would be in the semi but they lost so she then decided to go on a mission to find an American who would enjoy the game. I was touched. I gave her a hug and said no hanks, I’m leaving on the 18th, boo hoo.

I found out today that the ‘Great Wall’ is only called ‘Great’ in English. In Chinese it’s just the ‘Long Wall.’ To me though, it’s the ‘Tourist Trap Wall.’ I couldn’t believe how many people were visiting this place, and they were all Chinese too. I saw only one group of foreigners, maybe the rest were all sleeping off hangovers from the cheap beer. Anyway, I thought we would beat the crowds arriving at 7am, but to my dismay, an army of tour buses awaited us.
Every tour leader had a little colored flag and they organized us into a neat single file line to go through security. I chuckled as I read the entrance sign, no plastic explosives or hand grenades. Ahh bummer.
In we went, or waddled I should say, it was shoulder-to-shoulder getting up the first flight of stairs. I need to learn, “excuse me” in Chinese. It wasn’t the huge crowds that bothered me most. Every 50 meters there is a little shack selling souvenirs and other junky items. The vendors yell at you as you walk by, “You want T’Shirt ?” “Hey Mr, come here, take look.” It was like battling through the seven gates of hell getting by these carts. “NO NO NO NO!”
All annoyances aside though, the wall is breathtaking. You can see for miles as the crumbly white wall extends in the horizon. It runs along the steepest mountain ridges for as far as the eye can see. The morning was crisp and clear, and for the fist time on my trip, it wasn’t blazing hot with a side of mugginess. The blue sky actually reminded me of Colorado. It was really nice to escape the hectic city and breathe in some fresh air amongst the fog-covered mountains. Ahhhh!

Last night I went to my first event, USA Basketball vs. Greece. I totally lucked out with the tickets. I happened to be on Facebook and my old friend Leon popped up on the chat, “Hey, you’re in Beijing?” He mentioned that he had tickets and I mentioned that I really wanted tickets and POOF! He gave me a ticket.

I didn’t really pay much attention to the game, my Basketball loving brother would kill me, but I was more excited about the half time show (Chinese Laker Girls and goofy mascots running rampant on the court).
The crowd was mostly Chinese, and let me tell you, the Chinese are very well behaved. Sometimes it felt like I was watching Golf or Tennis, you could hear a pin drop. There was no raucous cheering or booing like I’m used to at American sporting events. I also noticed that we (Westerners) were the only ones drinking beer (only $1.25 by the way) This helped us to liven things up, USA USA USA!
They golf clapped when they saw slam dunks and three pointers but the biggest reaction came when one of the inflatable mascots fell down on the court and couldn’t get up. I must admit that this was my favorite part as well.

I’ve been hearing a lot about empty seats and it’s true. There were TONS of empty seats! Good seats too, large sections down by the court where you could high five Carmelo. I was told that these luxurious areas are reserved by corporate sponsors and they usually don’t come close to filling them. Bummer.

I was glad to be there rooting for the USA but we actually rooted for everyone, we even shared the love with teams that weren’t playing (Go China Go China!) Our friendly seat mates beside us likes this one and they countered with a ‘We love USA!”

I got home today at 1am after an amazing USA-Greece basketball game–Yes, I actually went to an event today, or yesterday, whatever time it is. It’s 3:30am now, I slept a solid two hours and we’re off on another adventure. First to watch the flag raise at Tienanmen Square and then off to the Great Wall. Right now I have a great headache, let’s hope the wall is so amazing that I forget about not sleeping. There’s no time for rest here, too much to see and do.

Stay tuned for photos and videos of the USA game, yes, they let in my video camera. I know who won but I won’t tell you