2025 Donna & Dana's China Trip : 04/29/25

Day 3: Beijing (Mon; 31 Mar)

Pre-log note: Post trip insights will be (parenthetical italicized).

We were up at 6 AM local time. Were our body clocks on China time already? It could happen... (it didn't). Breakfast at the hotel buffet was good; it was essentially Asian food based but attempted to accommodate westerners with eggs, bacon and "Americano" coffee. We explored the hotel after breakfast and found that there was a much more extravagant breakfast buffet on the first floor but it cost $14. Our buffet, which was included with the room, was good enough.

We set out on a walk for our first exploration of Beijing. First though, I'll transfer the notes regarding traffic and such directly from my journal to the blog (with only minor editing) as this was our first real encounter with it all (the ride from the airport, being essentially chauffeured , was just a preview...).

From my journal...

Beijing traffic is eye watering

Overwhelmingly electric sit-down scooters (like Vespas)
Normal amount of cars, trucks, buses for a big city (LA-like)
The scooters are the most disturbing

There are thousands of them
There appears to be only some semblance of rules that they follow
They ride in the streets, bike lanes, sidewalks transitioning between all of them in any direction
Only a few (~15%) wear helmets
It was not uncommon to see a mother riding with small children sitting/standing in front, a kindergarten-aged kid sitting on back (sometimes both!), no one wearing a helmet
They weave in and out of car/bike/pedestrian and other scooter traffic
There is a total disregard for traffic lights or stop signs; they only actually stop if there's a high probability of getting hit

The cars are only a bit more orderly

No red light running, wrong-way or driving n the sidewalks but right turning cars often just bull through pedestrians and don't slow at all if they get there first (it's essentially a game of chicken)

There are bicycles

About a 50/50 mix of pedal bikes and e-bikes
Bicycles appear most vulnerable

The above said, we didn't see one scooter accident and only a couple of car-car fender benders (on the freeway where the scooters aren't allowed)
It seems that the folks who live in Beijing have adapted to the chaos of getting from one place to another with minimal carnage

(Post trip note - we saw fewer accidents during our 3+ weeks in China then we see in one day driving through LA...)

So, back to our walk... It turns out that I captured much of it on my watch, which was unexpected as I thought that my watch data capture depended on my phone, and my phone was turned off for our entire time in China. Anyway, I discovered (when we got home) that all of our walking was logged but only this first walk was mapped. Don't ask why, they call them smart watches for a reason, and apparently the reason is not that you have to be smart to buy one...

Our objective was to visit the Overseas Chinese History Museum. Our planned route was essentially due north from the hotel along Dongsi N St to the Beixin Brg 3 Alley (we missed this turn because it really is an alley), east to Dongzhimen N St.

As you can see on the map we over-achieved - some cynical folks might call it getting lost. After a few missed and/or extra turns we got there only to find out it was closed! But, we did get an up close and personal experience with the traffic, in particular the scooters on the sidewalks. I'm pretty sure the first thing to wear out / break on any scooter is the horn! Another "you can't help but notice" sight - the number of electric cars. The variety of manufacturers and models by each manufacturer is impressive. We saw a few Teslas but they were vastly outnumbered by at least 10 to 1 by Chinese makes. Word on the street is that Tesla is nervous about China entering the US electric car market - they should be. It seems China is all in regarding electric powered vehicles - cars and scooters. Our walking route took us through what appeared to the a "food district" in that 2 out of 3 (or more) street shops that we passed were restaurants. Most were Chinese food (duh...) but there was a scattering of others - KFC, Subway, McD and "Hamburg Steak" restaurant. We left the hotel about 10:30 so by the time we got up the road a bit (we stopped to check out "WuMart") I think a lot, and I mean a lot, of folks were out for lunch. There is a very robust food delivery business - entirely on e-scooters. These guys seemed to be the most aggressive scooter riders.

At the museum we sat for a rest/snack break and questioned whether we should walk back or try our hand at hailing a Didi (Uber). Walking won and we made our way back by almost the same route, less (some of) the mistakes. There appeared to be much less foot traffic - lunch rush over? We got back to the hotel about 2 PM having walked about 5 miles.

We checked out a "tea service" in the 17th floor lounge and had "coffee" and cake snacks. I highlight "coffee" because I didn't know at the time that the last time I'd have coffee as I know it would be the morning we left Simi Valley...

At 5 PM we walked to the Sifi Mingfu Roasted Duck Restaurant. We got there about 5:15 and there was 20 minute wait for a table already (on a Monday no less...). Donna had picked this restaurant out while planning the trip (months in advance) and it was very nice. Big with several tables and what seemed like a 50/50 mix of tourists and locals. We had roasted duck (of course) with pea shoots and hot and sour soup, all excellent. They actually came by our table to show us the whole roasted duck then carved it table side. We saw them do this several times so it appears to be the standard procedure. Donna caught an error in the bill (I was surprised... NOT!) so they comped us some takeout desserts.

During the walk back we noticed that part of the main road we came by (Wangfujing Ave) had been closed to all but foot traffic (read no scooter dodging...) and was really crowded with people walking/shopping amongst many recognized name brand shops - Apple, Aditas, Nike, Omega, etc., etc.). The street was lit up every bit as much as New York or Las Vegas (The brightly lighted downtown sections would become a common encounter when we visited the other big cities).

During our daytime walk I think we saw 2, maybe 3 policemen, all unarmed (well, no guns anyway). The night walk was notably different. We saw several policemen, still without guns but they all carried batons and crowd shields (like those you see on TV during riots). There were a lot of people out (In hindsight this crowd was light, wait until I tell you about Xi'An and the Terracotta Army...) but we saw no signs of trouble - just a lot of people out enjoying the evening.

We got back to the hotel about 9 PM having walked 8.8 miles for the day! (Over the course of the next 26 days or so we'll have walked ~130 miles).