On Foot in Beijing: Food for Thought

Spotted whilst walking around a food court near the Bird's Nest stadium in the Olympic park. Not sure whether it's the name of the establishment, the signature dish, or the result of eating here. I wasn't brave enough to find out.

Beijing On Foot: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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 Bad

• 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

The Ugly

• Constant need to avoid prodigious amount of spitting - either ground level results, or airborne expectorations
• Some gross smells emanating from side alleys