Following Buddha

Four months ago i told myself that it was only four months left for my
trip. But that was four months ago. I am now in Beijing. The city that i have been reading about since my first geography class.
The city in which i planned to see the progressive china. The city which i had been dreaming about. I am in Beijing. (just wanted to say that again)

According to me, Beijing is just like New Delhi with many chinese people. The reason that i feel like i am in delhi is the temperature, the rush, the intensity etc. It is different because of the absence of clutter and garbage on the roads.
While entering beijing from the plane i looked like a never ending consruction site. The whole city is under construction. I am very impressed with the way construction is going on here. Millions of under-construction buildings, millions of workers, not even one road jammed because of this. I hear it is because ofthe olympics they are doing all this effort.

I went to the railway station to get the ticket for xining, and fortunately (or unfortunately) I got one for tommorrow. I was told through many sources that it will take atleast three days to get a ticket from Beijing to Xining. But I want to be in Yushu as soon as possible as i want to spend as much time as i can on the Tibetan plateau. This means only one night in Beijing. ONLYONENIGHTINBEIJING? am i out of my mind?

I am not a touristy kind of tourist. Tinnamen square, the forbidden city and the great wall with all the other super attractions can wait for me. And to justify more, i rented a bicyle today to go to the canadian embassy and roam around in the city. Beijing IS a wicked city on the bike, especially with a jet lag. The cyclists have their own lane that cars dont mind encroaching in. The disrespcted street lights continue to change colours in shame. And the traffic goes on. In the eveining the naked old men playing table tennis in an ultra-professional style was a delight. I had never seen so much spin and so many smashes. the wrinkled texture of their skin, the expressionless faces of the old men, and those incredible serves in the evening sun was something that i will treasure.

As my first day comes to an end, I feel that i am not doing any justice to the city. The experience called beijing should have been only 2 days and one night for me. The way city is growing, i am sure it will upon me and i will find myself here again in the future.