Quote: (03-22-2018 09:44 AM)Ice Man Wrote:
Quote: (03-22-2018 05:58 AM)Suits Wrote:
Quote: (03-22-2018 05:55 AM)RawGod Wrote:
Rarest Celt flag. Top that motherfuckers!
That's nothing.
I've been to places that no one has been to.
A clean toilet in Beijing?
Modern Beijing would with certainty surprise anyone who knew it ten years ago. In fact, I've been quite shocked myself to see how it has changed since I first came here more than a decade ago.
The indoor venue smoking ban has been largely successful, which is something I never believed would happen. Even small little hole-in-the-wall noodle shops typically won't let anyone smoke. I'm guessing that the fines for violations are strict enough and consistently enough enforced to keep restaurant operators on their toes.
Most of the public venues in the Greater San Li Tun area have very respectable restroom facilities. Some are rather posh, while others are merely respectable, but hardly third world.
Of course, the driving is still as piss-poor and selfish as ever, but thousands of red-light cameras have taught the drivers of Beijing to actually stop for red-lights, assuming that they aren't making a right turn, in which case they still don't even slow down or perform a shoulder check.
A lot of the ugliest portions of Chaoyang are being cleaned up. This has forced out a lot of cute little businesses that were operating legally in residential zones that they should never have been granted a business license for, but the result has turned very ugly alleyways into historically accurate and aesthetically pleasing laneways. This does stop the usual army of jackasses from fucking it all up by parking any damn place they wish to, but it is still a real improvement.
The old San Li Tun Bar street, which was a thing before San Li Tun was really a thing has been largely dismantled, with the illegal portions of residential structures being torn down and the older remaining buildings covered with eye pleasing facades, which gives the whole area a much more modern appeal. While this street used to be open to automobile traffic, it's now been converted to a pedestrian only road, which makes entire area a much more pleasant neighbourhood, because it connects two very sophisticated shopping areas that feature plenty of outdoor plazas that can be enjoyed by shoppers and non-shoppers alike.
Even Shuangjing's bar street has gotten some attention. Rather than running unpleasant looking venues out of town, the city managers simply demanded that the storefronts be redone to ensure a small degree of uniformity and have otherwise left the businesses to their own devices. While Shuangjing for most of the past decade was a neighbourhood only really appreciated and frequented by those who actually lived there, it's now a meaningful attraction and offers a more budget friendly alternative to the now very over-priced San Lit Tun / Liang Ma Qiao district to its north.
You'll be happy to know that unlike in nearly every second and third tier city of China, a clean toilet is no longer a shocking surprise in Beijing, which is doing a modest job of pretending that it isn't the capital city of a third world country.
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