Another new friend, Mr. Chen

Mr. Chen is clearly a serious cyclist (note the fancy road bike and cycling clothes). He accompanied me back to my apartment on Thursday night following a dinner with colleagues from the US-based NGO Natural Resources Defence Council (where I met their new China team).

If I understood him correctly (which is questionable), the 53-year-old claims that he rides his bike 100 km every day...but I also thought he told me that he works from 8 am to 5 pm, so there seems to be some discrepancy there (although it was around 10.30 pm, so I guess he could have just been finishing up an evening 100-kilometer ride...)

I suppose I could call his cell phone to confirm the facts, but that will take a few more Chinese lessons!

By the way, the building in the background is the main entry gate to the Forbidden City in its beautiful evening look. It gets dark here by 18:30 already!