When I got back to the hotel, the gate to the patio where I keep my bike at night was already locked, so I rode another 2 hours--west, and south, and east, and north--around the Forbidden City and Zhonghai Lake, past nicely-lighted temples, and Tiananmen Square, where they were apparently conducting a closed rehearsal of a music-and-banner ceremony for the Olympics.
And it occurred to me that in Beijing I have more of the particular freedoms that I want than I enjoy in American cities. For instance, the freedom to bicycle dance. To bicycle dance is to ride in a flowing, unplanned, seamless, brakeless, bikelightless, wandering way, going anywhere I please, becoming as lost as I like, then, sometimes suddenly, sometimes gradually, becoming unlost and finding my hutong and home. It is best done at night.
The roads and wide bike paths here are freer of potholes than those in any American city I have seen. The water here may not be drinkable--but it is far more useful than what is to be got from the Santa Barbara desal plant. The discreet random backpack searches at Tiananmen--the only place I have seen that done--are far less intrusive than America's sobriety checkpoints. I can ride my one-speed bike to the farthest point in Beijing in 2 hours. Try that in LA. As a long-time believer that Communism is doomed due to the inherent inefficiency of government, I reluctantly admit that the new airport in Beijing dances circles around the new airport Denver built not so many years ago. Traffic at its worst here is no worse than any Los Angeles rush hour. And Beijing can build a bridge in less time than it takes Boston to figure out where to place the blame for the collapse.
