Shijiazhuang city is laid out on a very nice, very clean, very orderly grid with very regular north/south and east/west lines. In theory it should be very difficult to get lost in Shijiazhuang. If you have a general idea of where a thing is getting there isn't that hard to do.

However...

You must first have a sense of direction.

I have a sense of a direction.

One which is normally very good. Except in Shijiazhuang it consistently failed me. I knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west, north was north, and south was south. But, for some reason, during the year and a half I lived there (and during the one week visit I made in 2005) I regularly decided that west was north and east was south.

I was supposed to be heading northeast to Beijing, east northeast. I went southwest.

It only took me about 10km (not even enough to get out of the city) before I realized this. However, by the time I realized this I decided that backtracking through the city would be boring and unproductive. Continuing would at least land me an adventure. So, I continued.

Is it any wonder I never made it to Beijing?