Beijing Is Wearing Me Out

Square

Yes. I am getting run down and I’ve only been here for three days. Fortunately, instead of taking a 2 hour + bus ride to the Great Wall tomorrow, we’re just going to relax a little – and I’m going to work on my reports that I really need to get done for work. So that should let us get charged up.

Breakfast – a quick clip of just us at breakfast eating food? ha. Ummmmmm….

Even more exciting is Leah @ the Night Market – we went over to one of the more popular night markets, and ate some food… weird stuff, but this clip was taken using again my regular camera – we have a good amount from the camcorder but apparently I need a DV chord which I do not have with me – I guess it’ll just be saved for our China SlideShow Party in July.

Below are some more photos – we’ve taken SO many that it’s hard to even upload them all to Flickr – it just takes too long. But here are a few – and these aren’t always even the best.

Beijing can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t ‘buy-in’ to the system of chaos. More than any American city, but much like many other cities around the world, it’s just constant chaos and everyone knows how to act appropriately – by attuning their own level of chaos to interweave with everyone elses. Driving in the US seems to rigid now. What’s all this business with staying within the same lane for any amount of time? What are shoulders but another lane? I used to think that my friend Calvin from high school drove like a maniac – now I realize he just drives the same way people do here – with the exact knowledge and feel of how big/small his car is – and squeezing into the tightest possible spaces between a car and a bus while merging and switching lanes.

Food is everywhere, people are everywhere, construction is everywhere. The old and new and poor all live together, often with nothing more than a cinder block wall separating them – if even that much. It’s very interesting to witness, and to be surrounded by everything that is Beijing. A big difference between this city and others is that, although it is considerably huge and chaotic, it does not feel very aggressive. I don’t get any sort of meaness or any vibe of that nature from any of the people.

Goodnight.

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2 Replies to “Beijing Is Wearing Me Out”

  1. Yeah, driving in the mid-east is the same… wheelchairs and bikes and cars and buses all sharing a road, eight cars across three lanes, that kind of thing. It looks crazy, but it all works!

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