Beijing Extras

In many ways the city reminds me of a Latin American city; it is dirty and poor with pockets of wealth mixed in. A fancy modern building lines up one one end with a 4 lane paved road lined with other modern buildings, and on the other side with a half dirt, half paved barely single lane road lined with shacks and poorer houses.

Half the taller buildings look like typical 50's and 60's communist generic block structures found throughout the world. The other half look very modern, each one a different experiment in space, lighting, etc. Many make extensive use of fancy atriums, facades, decorative tops, and more. As there are quite a few tall buildings in Beijing, i imagine an architecture class could learn quite a bit from what's been worked with here. The cityscape is also peppered with cranes, implying that in a few years there will be even more interesting buildings.

There are many cyclists here, and lanes dedicated to the cyclists, but in practice these become largely irrelevant; cars are very aggressive and the throngs of cyclists must fend for themselves.

One final (for now) note: aqui son muchas chicas que parecen a mi prima; her nickname is truly appropriate.