Beijing by bicycle

I woke up feeling a bit rough today from drinking beers last night. With my sore feet I decided that a bike would be a good option.
The pollution is not very good today and visibility is down but getting around on a bike was fantastic. This is the only way to see Beijing and although it is a little scary on the road at first you soon work out the way the road system works. There are large areas for bikes to ride in and cars some time end up in these sections too - no one travels all that fast when things get congested so I never really felt too threatened..
After checking out the moat and canals at the front, I rode north of the Forbidden City and it was great to see some of the other, larger Hutongs up there. I found my way to Beihai Park which is another massive park associated with the Emperors and Dynasties. There is a large White Pagoda in the park and quite a few temples dedicated to Buddha. It is also dominated by a lake.
There were lots of Chinese visitors here as well and I somehow managed to walk around for a couple of hours.
I had a most delicious bowl of Vietnamese Pho for lunch and then, to keep the Buddhist theme going, headed over to the Lama Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Beijing. It was home for one of the Royal Prices in the past and again was pretty impressive. There is a Buddha that is 3 storeys high - carved out of a single piece of wood and some amazing statutes and ornaments. The temple was packed with a lot of locals burning incense and cowtowing before the many statues and effergies of Buddha but it was well worth visiting. When it started to rain a bit as I left I decided to call it a day and return my bike for now..