3. Cars
Never, ever assume pedestrians have the right of way. Cars will not necessarily stop for you. Cross with a group if possible at a designated crosswalk. A car won't stop for a single person necessarily but will stop for a group because the driver doesn't want the car to be dented. Chinese really love their cars. (emphasis added)
Never, ever assume pedestrians have the right of way. Cars will not necessarily stop for you. Cross with a group if possible at a designated crosswalk. A car won't stop for a single person necessarily but will stop for a group because the driver doesn't want the car to be dented. Chinese really love their cars. (emphasis added)
On Friday China with the rest of the world, celebrated Worker's day. Naively I thought that it would be a good idea to head out of the city to a scenic spot with clean air and big skies close to Suzhou, to see what our neighbouring towns have to offer in the line of scenery and recreation. Did I really think I was the only guy in Jiangsu province who would come up with that idea??! Well about 40million other people also thought it would be a good idea to head off to the "country" and enjoy scenery and the "slower pace" of the countryside...
Slower pace took on an entirely new meaning. Our fifty kilometre journey to Lake Taihu took us close to three and a half hours! It was like the worst rush hour you can imagine with each and every car trying to push to the front. I had about seven hundred near death experiences and my only consolation was to say to myself, "well no one is going at more than 2km/s per hour so we'll probably survive a car crash today!" We passed about twenty bumper bashings. I had high hopes of obtaining a Chinese driving license but realised that I would be limited to drive around the block at 2am in the morning.
On the positive side of things I can say that the Chinese are extremely tolerant drivers and they really love their cars, even though it feels like there is no obeying the rules, they have "the love of their cars" in common. Forget the Germans' superior technology. The Chinese have perfected the car hooter. I cannot imagine anyone venturing on the roads with a broken hooter. Driving on Chinese roads without a proper working hooter is like venturing out in your car with a flat tyre. They don't use their hooter in the normal aggressive manner that Westerners normally use it. It's not a tool to invite or inflict road rage. It's a communication tool used on every other car that comes into the driver's personal space to say: "Hey buddy, how are you this morning? Isn't it a great morning in the fastest growing car market in the world? Love your new Chery by the way...I'm pushing in front of you, have a great day! Oh and please don't bump my car because we don't want to stand in the sun now for four hours, do we?" (Each letter represents a hoot).
If the constant pushing in front of other cars, the constant hooting, the constant braking hard in front of other cars would happen in let's say Jozi, there would be such carnage with people flying out of cars and wielding the variety of traditional weapons they normally carry with them. Not one rude sign, not even a mumble under the breath of our friend and driver for the day to his fellow Chinese drivers. Just absolute patience.
Lake Taihu is really beautiful but beautiful scenery is best enjoyed in peace and quiet. I was quite surprised to see that a good old "braai" or BBQ is also big in China. Thousands of tents lined Lake Taihu while people BBQ'ed and enjoyed a really beautiful day.
We had lunch at a very traditional "inn" on Taihu's third island. I am quite an adventurous eater and like new tastes but I get really "queasy" and lose my appetite along with my sense of humour if I get a whiff that hygiene levels are not up to standard...The two funny looking dogs walking around the kitchen and washing up area, where they also kept the "catch of the day" in something that resembled an old bath tub, were difficult for me to deal with. Also, I realised that I have a problem with anything having a grey colour on my plate. Good food cannot be grey! Maybe because "grey" rhymes with "decay". The lunch was not bad, but I experienced a bit of serious mind over (grey) matter.
Our traditional country lunch
After our very traditional lunch we headed off to a place that was described as a Wild West resort with horses, fly fishing, go-carts and rock climbing. It proved to be quite a fun afternoon and the kids enjoyed the outing very much. I did not see anything in the line of fly fishing and the horse riding is not all that much to write home about, but it was fun. Thankfully on our journey back the traffic dissipated and we made the journey back in no time. We ended the day with a light dinner and a family massage.
No comments:
Post a Comment