Hey guys,
My name is Dragriffin and welcome to today’s topic:
Scooting Around
As some of you might know, I got myself a scooter. Nothing prestigious of course. Your regular electric scooter with the cliché stickers all over it. I look like a genuine hipster riding this little guy (or girl. I don’t know if my scooter has a sex, don’t care either). Why did I get a scooter? Not because I’m lazy. Maybe a bit. But mainly, because it’s really nice to explore a city by bike and/or scooter and get to nice coffee shop like the one I’m in right now. I’ve been biking quite a bit through Beijing on one of the many different available bike companies all over the place.
Beijing is the first city that feels to me like an actual biking city. You can go anywhere by bike and the city was nice enough to put as many bike lanes as there are roads available. You heard me right. Beijing is a city that actually thought and invested in their “biking” infrastructure. Yet why is it still so polluted? Well, if they didn’t invest in it, I can only imagine how much worse the traffic would be, as would the pollution be. But I got tired of biking. Simply because regardless of my shape, covering enough distance in one day was not enough for me. I wanted more. Aren’t I an ambitious little man. Wanting to explore the city more… Big dreams here!
So I bought a scooter from my leaving roommate for the huge amount of 500RMB. She’s a girl. Why do I mention this? Simply because she was the one to put on all those stickers including a “No fat chicks” sticker…
Therefore, I’m clearing my name from any potential sexist accusations. Don’t worry, I’ll take it off eventually. When I think about it… But here’s the thing. Most people here just don’t know what it means… And THAT makes the sticker funny. Because here, no one will ever read it, understand it and do something about it. My friend sent me a picture of a girl (kid) with a t-shirt saying something along the lines of “You Fuck’n Asswhole” in huge letters. HUGE! Don’t believe me? Pictures don’t lie.
Moving on from the “lost in translation” funny jokes. I now scoot around (is scooting a verb? It is?! But it doesn’t mean what I thought it did…I’ll use it anyway. You get it.). And while I scoot around, I also get to experience the life of drivers… Oh God… Whenever I get on my scooter, I feel like a daredevil. Risking my life and doing all kinds of tricks to avoid cyclists, other scooters, cars, buses, trucks that basically all drive in their own little world. Chinese people are excellent drivers because they drive slowly. My motorcycle classes back in Canada have never been so useful. Hard breaking and avoiding surprise obstacles are a common thing here. You don’t need a license for an electric scooter here. They can still go up to 60km/h. It’s dangerous, yet exciting. I understood so much about drivers here. Lights are a suggestion. You go when you. If not, you can wait as much as 8 minutes at light. I’ve experienced it. Have you ever seen those documentary about ants where there’s a gazillion in a colony walking over each other? Well, that’s Beijing driving life. I get to cover a lot more distance, visit nice places and sit down in a nice café and work on articles such as this one. But yeah, it comes at a price. (Don’t worry mom, I’m careful! Kisses! What helmet?)
Dragriffin out!
Today’s item on the list:
Get a motorcycle and explore with it(I know, it’s a scooter, but close enough)!
If you like the blog, support it to keep it going!
—