traffic

This is our 4th year in China and I must state that very few things surprise me any more on the road. Whole slaughtered pig being carted on an e-bike? Yes, I've seen it. A refrigerator on a bicycle? Yup, seen it. 6-foot ladder on an e-bike? Seen it. A roller (you know the machine that is used for smoothing out new roads) just driving down the street. Seen it. And these are not isolated occurrences. We see unique things daily. So not much shocks us. But a few weeks ago, we started seeing these buses about the city.

Wow. I wouldn't say they shocked us, but don't they look freaky? At a standstill they are not too bad, but while moving it gives the bus a slight demon-possessed look. Seriously freaky. And I am not even sure what they are advertising.

Then on the way home we experienced some crazy traffic. We dropped friends off at their house. They live right next to the Darenfa (a HUGE grocery store -- think a super Wal-Mart with about a thousand people inside. And this would be one of those times where I am NOT exaggerating). We like to call this store the Fa. And Fa traffic? On a weekend? Is crazy and best avoided. This was the sight out the front window:

This should be 2 lanes of cars going in the same direction we are. In front of the yellow car, do you see the car facing it? Yes, that would be a car on the wrong side of the road. There were about 10 cars trying to turn left into the Fa and all of them were just blocking traffic. Head-on into our lane of traffic. We sat through several light cycles. In fact, can you see the green light just ahead?

Like I said, this is 2 lanes of traffic. Plus a lane that is going to turn left just ahead. Do you see all the cars angling in, trying to turn into the Fa?

To get out of this mess, Andy had to pass the blue taxi on the right (in the first picture) and drive in the bike lane. All the while he is dodging bikes, e-bikes and pedestrians.

Let me count the reasons of exactly why I don't drive in China. . .