After the Olympic Games, a fundamental knowledge of taxi-driving in Beijing should be presumed: Hand the driver your destination written in Chinese characters, for example in the form of a hotel calling card; when communicating in English, do not misinterpret a nod of the head and repeated "yes" declarations in the sense that your destination is now clear. Initially this just means a mutual agreement that you will be spending some time together in a car.

In the company of Hong Geng, a perfect German and Chinese speaking Vietnamese member of the Otto Bock team, part 1 of the tour was of course a walkover. First to the hotel of Tagesspiegel (german newspaper) editor Annette Kögel, then to the current residence of Professor Hans Georg Näder in the street bearing the wonderful name Dongsi Jiu Tiao. An interview appointment and a welcome change to the media relations at the Otto Bock workshop.
So that's what real road traffic looks like in Beijing, beyond the traffic-quieted zones around the sports centers. It's just about what one would expect in a city with 14 million inhabitants. The average speed by car here is presumably the same as cycling.

 
The excitement rises when we leave the main roads and head through narrow alleys that very clearly must have been designed for cyclists, but in spite of this are being used bidirectionally with automobiles. So there really still are these precincts with the more original low buildings, even in this city, which is not only growing in acreage but, more impressively, very strongly upwards. The residence is a Hutong, a historic Chinese homestead with an inner court, and as the door closes behind us, we are in a different world.

 
Unperturbed, two parakeets swing on their bar. No trace of the bustle of a world metropolis, and no interchangeability of international hotels either. The Berlin Paralympics correspondent has a preprint of the Paralympics special supplement that will be appearing in the Tagesspiegel and the ZEIT on September 4. The relaxed conversation flies by within the agreed 60 minutes and ends up taking 90.  In the interview Professor Näder speaks about the opportunities that these Paralympics in Beijing are offering to disabled sports. The hosts are striving towards perfection. A visible example: Contrary to Athens, for instance, after the Olympic Games it took no time at all to decorate the entire city for the Paralympics with the symbols of this event.

 
This was repeatedly noticeable even during the trip by taxi back to the Paralympic village. Hong described the destination to the man at the wheel, but was not able to come along herself. It is somewhat irritating that, after a few kilometers, the driver uses one hand to unfold his street map and the other to maneuver the car through occasionally very narrow gaps in the big city traffic. Suddenly, as if struck by spontaneous inspiration he swerves from the second to left lane (the most left lane can only be used with special permission) directly over to the right shoulder and halts at a bus stop. Fortunately he does not offer us a bus as an alternative, but asks one of the persons waiting there for the way. Apparently without success, because this process is repeated a short time later at another bus stop. A road block results in momentary perplexity, before a traffic officer requests the driver to turn around. But to this request he adds some friendly instructions, and a short time later the taxi reaches the security door system at the south entrance to the athletes' village. Incidentally, this half hour taxi trip cost three Euros. And this small Beijing trip was certainly worth that. We bid farewell in the best of moods. I leave to the quiet village, he leaves to the turbulent city.