Delightfully harmonious

The first day I was here I was heading into work and when the sidewalk was full of random used furniture and bricks we simply headed into the street. This kind of confused me because people don't often walk in the streets in Chicago. I started paying attention and here's what I find.

I find that the traffic in Beijing is a continuous harmony between the bicyclists, the taxis, and the people. There are the same traffic laws for the cars that we have, but I find that they are only obeyed most of the time and never by the bicyclists. In addition to that streets quickly become sidewalks whenever the sidewalk is full with street vendors and the carts full of fruit that they carry with them. Now, with the bicyclists and the pedestrians in the streets, a two way street will easily be a one way street. A lot of honking later there are no accidents and everything always seems to work out (not to mention the one way streets that are almost always used as two way streets). In Chicago, the moment a bicyclist appears in the wrong spot or a car sticks it's nose out too far hoping to make a left turn...ACCIDENT! I've only seen one accident in the 6 weeks I've lived here. It's sort of amazing.

As a bicyclist navigating the streets of Beijing I find that it's best to move slowly into traffic heading in the direction you want to go. Hopefully the cars see you and will slow down and let you in. Essentially everyone is always paying attention to avoid near death experiences of which I've had a few.