The charm of old town is still appealing

I have an exercise bike in my apartment in Beijing and every morning I sit on it, pedaling and sweating away until I have burned off 300 calories. It takes about an hour - all that hard work for fewer calories than you'd consume by eating a Snickers bar.

It's also quite boring, although I do go into a sort of trance after a while when the endorphins start to kick in. I have my bike positioned in front of a large window and, with the air conditioner blasting cold air onto me, I look at what is going on outside. Sometimes there might be workmen doing repairs on the roof of the opposite building, or a magpie might appear and I'll hope to see another one for good luck.

But the things I most enjoy watching when I'm on the bike are the tower cranes on a building site a few blocks away. I see them twisting and turning, stretching and lifting, and marvel at the technology that keeps them upright, and the bravery of the operators doing a job I wouldn't touch even if my life depended on it.