One Night in Beijing

千里走单骑

I finally said goodbye to a wad of 100RMB notes in exchange for my Merida 904 on Friday. I left her at Hailiang's place and then joined them to explore 北大 and 清华 on wheels today, before cycling back home. I am excited at the new purchase but at the same time worrying about the economical sense of it all. In fact, I am really wondering when would be the next time I would take it out for a good long ride before I ship it back to SG.

I am always like dat about big purchases, but then I spend little amounts like a tap that cannot close completely; trickling away unknowingly, steadily.

Navigating through Beijing streets was not as hard as I thought it to be. As long as I know where the sun is, I could figure out my NSEW and then heard in the general direction till I hit the landmarks or the major roads. There's only one gripe though, the 四惠桥　is probably designed by a idiot.

This is one of the first times I rode a road bike, using the clips as well. I fell sideways once because I couldn't unclip (that was when I first got the bike from the seller, and making rounds inside 北大). On my way back home today, I rammed into another biker because I couldn't reach forward in time to squeeze the brakes. Luckily I was not on clips (i took them out after I reached 北大 with Hailiang and James, the cycling shoes were too small for me), if not I will look damn silly.

Btw, 清华 is soo soo beautiful! I can't believe it is actually a school. Man ... there are parts of it that looks as if it's a garden instead. Chinese Garden is so no challenge to 清华's campus ground. That being said, 清华 is also very multi faceted ... some parts of it don't even look Chinese; some parts look American to me, some just look European. And their 'SRC' is disgustingly big, I would think they could have hosted SEA games there if they wanted. And if by any chance any of you will get to study in 清华, do invest in a bike, don't bother to walk.

It took me 1.5 hrs to get home from 北大 by cycling, on a Sunday, starting at 1530hrs. Distance covered to reach 四惠东 is 23km. I'm not exactly dead tired from the cycling but the cold weather did get the better of me; my skin was feeling cold but my body is heating up and perspiring. The Columbia jacket was soaked and did not 'breathe' as promised. (Screw u all who sell counterfeit jackets at genuine prices.) Map.sogou did a great job plotting the shortest route I should take, which, although I did not follow, served as a great reference material.

posted by taxi taker @ 8:26 PM