Bicycle Kingdom.

China is a true kingdom of bicycles. In 1987 there was 1 bike for every 2 people in China, though today the traditional bikes are giving way to electric bikes(e-bikes) and motorbikes. However, China is the top producer of bicycles in the world. In 2005 it produced 80 million units of bicycles and e-bikes, of which 65% were exported.Regardless of this mind-blowing stats, a thing that I love about China, besides the 0.6 l beer bottles, are the public bicycles.With 30$ advanced payment you can get a plastic card that allows you to rent the bicycles from the public bike stations, which are all around the city. If you spend less than 1hour on the bike you won't be charged and once you decide to return the card, you get your money back.The greatest thing about those bicycles is that you can a see a range of people using them: young adults, families with their grocery shoppings, adults in suits, older people with their groceries, friends and couples taking a ride through the city together, and foreigners...well ME.It takes me 15 minutes by bus to get to work and with the bicycle around 20 min, though I don't spend any money on the bike ride, while with the bus I spend around 4 lei(about 30 US cents). And more than anything it is a good exercise.Using the bicycle made me realize the local government's efforts to make the roads and sidewalks user friendly for the bike riders, that are a humongous number both those who use the public ones or have their own. And it really made me think that it would be something that I'd love to see in my capital city:

• specially designed path for bike riders- on every sidewalk,
• wedges ramps on the ends of each sidewalk,
• short pillars at the crossroads so the riders would keep their balance while waiting for the green light(though I'm not sure that was their initial purpose),
• free of charge pumping service in almost every shopping mall, which are everywhere in China, etc.

The more I think about it the more it seems like a Bicycle Paradise to me:) So my request for Christmas this year: Dear mayor, I want public bicycles in Chisinau....and all the perks that come with it!!!!Sources here and here.