First Impressions

When I travel to a new city, I first notice these things: cleanliness of public areas, transportation options, pedestrian-friendliness and amount of dog poop on the sidewalk. The quality and quantity of these items make an immediate and hard-to-shake impression on me, a fan of walks and public transportation.

Paris? Surprising amount of dog poop dotting the sidewalks, which somewhat marred my appreciation of the city's beauty. If you spend most of your time looking down wending your way through them, you spend less time looking up at the architecture, soaking in the personal style of your fellow pedestrians.

Istanbul? Hilly which makes walking as my primary mode of transport a bit tough. I also noticed that women tend to travel in groups and couples, which also made traveling as a lone woman in some areas a highly interactive experience.

Beijing? Surprisingly tidy, under the persistent layer of dust that coats everything. In my neighborhood an army of street sweepers remove debris in the daytime. Decent subway system, which is great for me as the sloooow pace of local pedestrians drives me nuts. However the frequent trains and cheap 2 RMB fare is offset by some poorly designed subway stations (try exiting a station with 234234 people crammed in two narrow exit hallways or walking up, down, up again, down again, outside and inside and down and outside and inside trying to transfer at Zhichun Lu).

Qingdao, not Beijing, was the site of my first pigeon-spotting in China.

Beijing also stood out because it is a pigeon-free city. I haven't seen a single pigeon here. Other birds fly about, but not those flying rats that infest New York and many urban areas. Were they rounded up by authorities in an attempt to clean up the city, like they tried to "deal with" stray cats before the Beijing Olympics? I don't miss them, but their lack strikes me as odd (but welcome!)