You Might Just Be a Beijinger if...

...you have carried heavy furniture on the back of a bike across the city.

My favorite restaurant, The Cove, closed down a week or so ago, and seeing as how I was pretty close with the owner I was able to get a chair from the place. Now you see, The Cove had a bit of a
'pirate haven' theme to it, so this is no ordinary chair, it is a pirate captain's throne. Everybody knows that pirate captains like their thrones to be tall and ornate with deep red felt as this one is.
It's also skillfully carved including a pirate ship that was sandblasted into the back. It really is a beautiful chair and would look great in my room. My only concern was just how to get it there. Some moving guys wanted 75 RMB to move it the mile or so to campus and knowing the quality of moving guys in Beijing, I would more likely find Al Capone attending a Tax Ethics seminar. So myself and the former chef of this place tore apart plastic bags to create rope to tie this chair to the back of my bike and then I walked it back to campus. Foreign guy walking a tall fancy chair strapped to a bike alongside the road.....you would have stared too.