Beijing City Life and City Traffic

Frequently Asked Questions
Great Wall of China - Badaling Section
great wall of china - badaling section
Suzhou - Fisherman's Garden, Master of the Nets Garden
Forbidden City - Former "white house" to the Emporers of China
Suzhou Humble Garden
Beijing Hutong - 700 year old neighborhood with rickshaws and labyrinth streets
beijing lacquer and woodcarving factory
Ming Tombs - 400 year old excavation of the final Ming Emperor
Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Section
Sacred Way, Sacred Path - Ming Tomb garden of stately and animal statues
Funny Signs Gallery, funny chinese signs, funny warning signs
Suzhou silk factory
Suzhou, China
Summer Palace - Former garden of the Emperors on a lake
Suzhou, China
Temple of Heaven - former Chinese Emperor worship area
Tiananmen Square - memorials, governement buildings, Mao's tomb
Suzhou, Tong Li - Little Venice water city
Beijing, China
China driving, Beijing traffic, beijing builldings
Beijing, China
suzhou, tong li - little venice water city
Beijing Cloissonet Factory - lavishly decorated copper, kiln-fired urns, pots, and plates
Forbidden City - Former "white house" to the Emporers of China
Great Wall of China - Badaling Section
Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Section
Beijing Hutong - 700 year old neighborhood with rickshaws and labyrinth streets
Ming Tombs - 400 year old excavation of the final Ming Emperor
Sacred Way, Sacred Path - Ming Tomb garden of stately and animal statues
Summer Palace - Former garden of the Emperors on a lake
Temple of Heaven - former Chinese Emperor worship area
Tiananmen Square - memorials, governement buildings, Mao's tomb
Beijing Lacquer and Woodcarving Factory
Suzhou City Traffic
Suzhou City Traffic
Suzhou - Fisherman's Garden, Master of the Nets Garden
Suzhou Humble Garden
Suzhou silk factory
Suzhou, Tong Li - Little Venice water city
funny signs gallery - funny chinese signs
Trip Preparation
Frequently Asked Questions
Micktravels Home
MickTravels to China - Beijing, Suzhou
Trip Preparation
Micktravels Home
MickTravels to China - Beijing, Suzhou
Welcome to Beijing. Here's what it looks like to drive or walk around in the capital of China. Try not to get killed crossing the streets. Each picture has something that will make you take notice - look at each one!

The joke is that the national bird of China is the crane - construction crane, that is. It's everywhere. The photos I have of the cities will be obsolete in only a couple of months given their rate of development.

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A brand new apartment complex stands waiting to be inhabited. I don't think anyone is living here yet because typical living quarters have laundry hanging from the windows or other obvious signs.

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Bad traffic - see how the white car is turning right by threading himself in between the cyclists. Yikes.

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A cool Beijing building. None of the buildings appeared to be more than 25 stories.

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I don't know what their going to do with all the construction cranes in about 5 years. I'll bet you could buy a few very cheap.

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More incessant construction.

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More incessant construction.

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I liked all of the huge Chinese characters on the buildings.

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Notice that they have special traffic lights for cyclists. This road even has its own cyclist lane, which is as big as a regular car lane. For some reason they don't want pickup trikes on this lane.

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Lots of electronic ads.

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A subway station. They currently have 3 out of about 13 lines build and operational.

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Hey! More construction!

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Another cool building.

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Another cool building in Beijing.

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Tiananmen Square from our car.

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Tiananmen Square from our car.

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Guards at the Beijing equivalent of our White House. It's where all the country's political bigwigs live.

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Sign outside the "New Forbidden City." I don't know what it says, but it's important enough to have an exclamation point.

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My driver, Mr. Su. He reminded me of Telly Savalas. He was a very agressive driver, yet very skilled and professional. He used his horn constantly, and took advantage of every 1/2 car-length opening he could so that he could advance the car that much closer/earlier to our destination.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel. Notice there's always some women carrying umbrellas to protect them from the sun.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel.

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The wait to get on the bus was perpetually this long. I never saw a bus that didn't have people standing up because the seats were full. These people are spilled out into the bike lane.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel.

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Outside the shopping mall around the corner from my hotel. Notice that people don't really care where they are walking -- a woman in a blue dress prances down the bike lane. She's followed by a man and someone riding a pickup trike.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel.

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A shopping mall around the corner from my hotel. The sign on the storefront says, NewYork NewYork Wedding Photos. There was a similar wedding photo store just down the street.

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These beat-up old pickup trikes were everywhere in the big city. Notice the special bike lane separated from the main road by a large median.

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Parking for the mall near my hotel. They also had underground parking.

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Several things to notice in this picture:\n\nFirst, just the number of cyclists ready to cross the road.\nSecond, see how 3 cars are turning RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BUS!!!\nThird, of course there's a construction crane in the background.

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OK, notice how the walk/don't walk signal is red, but that's not stopping a ton of people from threading their way through traffic.

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OK, notice how the walk/don't walk signal is red, but that's not stopping a ton of people from threading their way through traffic.

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Now this is incredible. The red car is turning left RIGHT IN FRONT OF AN EMERGENCY VEHICLE!! And he's not quite aligned with his eventual lane (see his location compared to the blue down-arrow?), so he'll have to drive against oncoming traffic for a few meters before making his turn. This was completely typical behavior.

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Huge ads adorn the sides of shopping center buildings.

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Huge ads adorn the sides of shopping center buildings.

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Across the street and down a ways from my hotel. Notice the pickup trikes. Also notice that most of the people are young. The next picture shows a worthwhile closeup of the woman's pink shirt.

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It's all western wear in the China cities. But most people can't speak English. Unless it's a simple logo, any shirt with English writing on it usually didn't make any sense. See if you can comprehend what in the world this shirt is trying to say.

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The right-of-way guidelines in China appear to be reversed from the USA. Cars have the priority right-of-way, followed by bicycles, then pedestrians. But that doesn't stop anyone from wedging their way into any open space on the street at any time.

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My hotel is not visible on the left side of this short street. There was never a time where there weren't tens of pedestrians walking in the street itself.

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Pedestrians and cars share this short road outside my hotel. Even a mother and her baby walk down the middle of the street.

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Mom and baby walk against traffic.

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No need to get off the street if you want to have a conversation. This mother and baby spent at least 5 minutes talking to another woman wearing pink.

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Good luck finding a parking space for your bike. Or even recognizing it when you return!

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Several things to notice in this picture.\n\nFirst, the man driving the pickup trike appears to be hauling all recyclable material.\nSecond, the woman in pink behind him is wearing another strange English shirt. This one reads "fartasia." It's probably supposed to say Fantasia.\nThird, it's a beautiful day outside, but there's only one person wearing shorts. Can you spot her?

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An alley way lined with more shops. Notice the Pepsi logo on the side of the building on the right.

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