The Brown Fox Dynasty: A Night on the Town

8/9/15

A word on scooters: Chinese cities are filled with scooters! Not as high density as Saigon (the rising middle class has more cars) but it still has scooters zooming in and out of traffic as if the lights and pedestrian crossings were non-existent. (When crossing the street, I notice that people just step out into the crosswalk and move slowly, putting the onus on the scooter/car driver to swerve around them). And the bikes are all different models of functionality. There were child seats built in front or in back, large umbrellas tethered to the steering column, baskets or flatbeds welded to the front or back, depending on the size of the cargo…it was great to see all the customizations! As with most Asian cultures, they do not like to get sunburned (lighter skin being more prized), so almost everyone rides around with long sleeves, hats, gloves and even oven mitt-like covers on their handlebars so as not to expose an inch of skin to the darkening sun. [NN: This is mostly only true for women.] Which seems excruciating to me in this 90 degree heat! But, clearly, they are used to it. And of course, they fit an entire family onto a single bike, American safety standards being non-existent as they are here, one has to laugh at the amount of safety precautions we are required to take and yet people all over the world survive without them.

My favorite (though confusing) scooter in Beijing

We had a free evening with no group events planned (eureka!) and jumped on the first sign of familiarity we could find: we joined the young family from San Diego for dinner at Pizza Hut and an exploratory trip on the subway to check out Olympic Park. Nick was out of his mind happy that he didn’t have to eat Chinese food (though, according to him, Chinese Pizza Hut is a far cry from the deliciousness that it is in Costa Rica) or drink Coke (three cheers for lemonade!) ;P

Ling Long Pagoda

Olympic Stadium Park was very cool at night – tons of people walking around (not something you see or get to do in L.A.), all of the stadiums and structures were lit up in rainbow colors at night, and the paths were lined with entertaining musicians, dancers, street performers, live karaoke, jump rope lessons, and toy vendors of all kinds. We were astonished at just how HUGE the crowds were, assuming it must be some kind of festival or holiday. We later learned that no, it was nothing special, just another day like any other Sunday in the massive population (21 million!!!) of Beijing.

Olympic Park Observation Tower

Beijing National Stadium

The Bird's Nest

The Water Cube

It’s crazy to think how much money was spent on all of this for a single Olympics: the Bird’s Nest, Ling Long Pagoda, Olympic Park Observation Tower, and the Water Cube, all of which is now mostly just used as giant digital advertising billboards and behind the scenes tours for tourists (we didn’t go inside) with the occasionally international soccer game or concert. A great place for people watching and endless amounts of selfies though ;) [NN: Yup, Olympics are a not a good deal for the host anymore.]