A couple of hours ago, I got back from a jog around the nearby Houhai lakes area. That's three days in a row I've managed it - feeling stiff-legged but virtuous.
One of the best things about it is that the road around the perimeter of the three lakes that I run on is almost deserted. Usually it's clogged with weekend drivers showing off their SUVs, and with gazillions of tourists. This weekend: no cars. A few taxis and mini-buses, and few official cars parked outside one of the swanky houses up on the northeast shore - but not an SUV in sight. I don't know if the area's been sealed off to motorised traffic (something I - and numerous others - have been demanding for years), or if this is just a knock-on effect of the Olympic traffic restrictions (and the fact that an awful lot of people are just leaving town); but whatever it is, it's marvellous.
There are very, very few tourists. Yesterday, I tried counting the number of foreigners I passed on my double lap of the lower two lakes, and, until I passed a convoy of tri-shaws near the end of my run, I hadn't made it into double figures. Truly remarkable. Even the relatively few Chinese still milling about look as though they might be local residents enjoying their neighbourhood, rather than the usual hordes of shrilly babbling tourists. I'd like to think so anyway. The tri-shaw drivers are seriously underemployed, but they seem to be taking it in good part, kicking back and enjoying the sunshine.
I was beginning to doubt that anything good would come out of these darned Olympics for Beijingers, but here at last is something: the weather is delightful, the traffic is light, and the streets are semi-deserted. (It is, in fact, spookily reminiscent of the SARS summer.)
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