BootsnAll Travel Network



Laowai on a bike, Beijing

One of the essential Beijing experiences is renting a bike and seeing the city as most residents have in the past 100 years until the recent shift to cars. What could be more fun that putting your life in the hands of 15 million Chinese people all on a bee-line to their destination with little regard for what’s in their way?

Beijing is actually quite nice for cyclists, with huge bike lanes the size of car lanes on the main streets and the mellow Hutongs in between. The only sketchy parts are the intersections where might makes right and buses seem to do whatever they want.

Me and my trusty ’50s era bicycle had a great 6 hour journey through the streets of central Beijing, shocking the masses with my goofy grin. Laowai means foreigner, and the main look on the faces of those I passed was, “who the fuck gave that laowai a bike?” I’m starting to empathize more with loogie hocking culture of China because after a day riding through the haze I was hocking my own and my hair felt like a dust mop.



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