arrival, first impressions

The outside of the airport is very nice looking - very pretty. Didn't spend very much time here on the inside, as customs is so fast. Customs consists of a big sign, saying, as of February 1st, 2008, if you have nothing to declare, get in the "nothing to declare" line. This was not a line, but a door, and on the other side was the taxi stand. That was easy.

Standing there was my driver, with a sign with my name on it. Stopped for a second to get some cash, and off we went. There is a highway leading all the way into town (the airport isn't actually that far out), and the buildings just got bigger and closer together as we went. The driver didn't speak much english, but must have seen my eyes getting bigger and bigger, and he laughed. I figured out how to say "Beijing is very, very big", and he laughed at that.

Checkin was, again, trivially easy, and they gave me the keys to the apartment. It's an actual apartment, with a full kitchen, and everything you'd need. It's on the 20th floor, so I have a nice view of the buildings next to us, and the sad looking dormant trees in the courtyard. It was also really hot. The thermostat was set to 25C (78F). I turned it down to 20C - no difference. The next day, I turned it down to 17C, then 16C, which is as low as it goes, and left the windows open all day. I finally must have turned something off, because now, four days later, it's a comfortable temperature (still slightly too warm, but bearable.) The office is also warm. I wander around in a t-shirt, and I've been made fun of, asked if I'm from Alaska - the test manager here told me that all Chinese buildings are this way in the winter.

The first day, I went for a run, to explore a bit. We're just outside the third ring road - this is a highway that loops the city - think if I405 went all the way around Seattle, instead of just one side. Now think of adding I505 and I605 outside that, and a few inside as well. So, I ran out a connector road between the 3rd ring road and the 4th, about 4 miles round trip. The populated part kind of peters out about a quarter of the way there, and much of the land is just future or stalled construction projects - fancy luxury apartment complex sites that are mostly the rubble of previous dwellings or scrub land right now. Decided to run the other way tomorrow, towards the center.

Traffic is surreal. There are no rules here, except "don't hit anyone" - so far this rule hasn't been broken that I've seen, but I gasp several times a day, thinking I'm about to see a tragedy. I am slowly becoming convinced that this "system" is actually not inferior to ours (though I'd like to see stats on number of pedestrian deaths.) Every person for themself - go when you can, and there are enough pedestrians and bicyclists that drivers have no choice but to be aware and looking for them. Ten years ago, when there were many fewer cars, I imagine it was different. The bike lanes are wide, but also used as merge lanes by cars. Somehow, it works. The bicyclists are of at least three types: people riding pedal bikes under their own power, people with these three wheeled trikes transporting cargo (sometimes a lot of cargo), and bikes/trikes with a motor. Not really a moped or scooter (I don't know if I've seen a traditional scooter), but a bike with an assist motor. This is sometimes a little putt-putt 2 cycle gas motor, but more often it's actually electric, and silent. I wonder if the government banned the gas motors for the olympics, to help clear the air, and if they subsidize the electric ones. They're pretty cool - hybrid electric and person power, and allow people to go along at a pretty good clip.