I am heading out the bicycle film festival in New York. As I am taking my trick bike along to perform I knew I cannot take the subway in Beijing. So I decided to take a taxi. That was not a good idea. There was again so much traffic jam in Beijing due to the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival and most peopel being off work for 3 days.The signs said that the airport expressway was completely jammed until outside 5th ring road. So my driver decided to first drive South and then head East to the 2nd airport expressway. That was what m any other were also thinking of doing. So were again just standing in traffic. But my driver was quite good. he knew some illegal short cuts and I actually made it to teh airport just on time for check in. When I got to the gate I realized that the flight was 1.5 hours delayed. But when teh airline started handing out free lunch and drinks I was getting worried it could be a longer delay. It was only 2 hours and we could board the plane. And I had great luck: I was upgraded to business class which si terrific for a 13 hour flight. I had great food and a long comfortable sleep. Just our plane did some artistic loops before landing in New York.
I took the subway to downtown and was happy to see a poster for promoting cycling in NYC.
I am staying in lower Manhattan between Greenwich Village and West Village.
The first thing I saw coming out of teh subway with all my luggage was 3 cyclists of which the last one was Brendt Barbur (the director of the BFF) on his BMX pass by. I was too surprised to say anything, what a coincidence.
My friend has a nice old apartment with some antique furniture.
