Beijing Bicycles

So it's winter in Beijing, and you know what that means...

Great, big, frozen spit globs all over the city? (Why do Beijingers spit so much?) No....

So little humidity that you can actually get a static shock putting your hand under running water? No...

The delightful aroma of burning coal assaulting your nostrils every time you set foot outside your apartment? No...

It's...ice biking time! Yes, the lakes are frozen solid now, so yesterday a group of friends and I met up at Hou Hai for some ice biking. Hou Hai is a lovely lake in the center of Beijing, surrounded by hutongs (or the old courtyard style houses), and overlooked by the Drum and Bell towers. We stopped in at No-Name Bar first to warm up with a "Cafe Roma"--that's a Bailey's and coffee. I'm not sure how Irish Bailey's constitutes a "Roma" but one learns to be flexible in another language.


Then onto the ice biking! You first pay 10 kuai (or RMB, if you're being formal) for the privilege of stepping onto the frozen lake. (that's about $1.30 at this point) Then you pay 100 kuai to rent the ice bike for an hour. (you get 70 back when you return it, so it's really only 30) Then you hop on and start peddling like mad, whizzing around the ice and trying to avoid the thousands of other Beijingers. Some are on skates, some are on chairs poling themselves around, and I even saw a sleigh being pulled by a goat!


Should you tire of the biking, there are a few diversions to be had...you can buy a candy treat from the guy who takes hot sugar and blows it into different animal shapes (ok, personally I could never eat candy that some stranger's breath had formed but the kids seem to love it). Or there are balloons, ring toss, or my personal favorite...watching the polar bear swimmers knock the ice out of their swimming hole and dive in for a few laps. (And George Costanza thought he had shrinkage!) A great day out and well worth doing should you ever find yourself in Beijing one cold winter's day.