The Good
- Most of the city is laid out on a grid pattern, making for easy navigation
- Many streets are tree- lined
- The risk of crime is pretty low, if you exclude the risk of being scammed, in any number of imaginative ways
- Some streets are pedestrianised, although many of the more recent ones are just outdoor linear malls
- Wandering around what's left of the old hutongs, where traffic is restricted by the architecture and the often winding lanes
- Plenty of free public toilets, a legacy of the time when many of the old hutong houses had no plumbing
- The extensive subway network, for when the walking gets too much
- The few Blue Sky Days, when the white haze gives way to sunshine and clear air
- The sheer physical scale - it's a huge, sprawling city, the Los Angeles of Asia (complete with smog), so distances for walkers can be daunting
- The quantity of motor traffic, and the speed, pollution and noise it produces
- A series of humongous ring roads and expressways, with torrents of traffic which can require annoying and sometimes hazardous detours
- In summer it’s hot, humid and hazy. In winter it's cold, windy....and hazy
- Sudden lack of access due to closure of footways, seemingly for 'security' reasons
- Pavements not always in a good state of repair, and there are many hazards to watch out for, such as impromptu mechanic's workshops on the footway
- Pavement parking - drivers seem to see the footway as an extension of the road, only with fewer restrictions
- The destruction of much of historical Beijing, which has taken with it much of the sense of place
- Hard- to-fathom bus system, with distance-related fares
- Constant need to avoid prodigious amount of spitting - either ground level results, or airborne expectorations
- Some gross smells emanating from side alleys
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