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. . .

Evil 85

Humored by this license plate. So the guy driving didn't look evil. But as Andy told me, plates in Suzhou have to start with "E" which doesn't leave a lot of options. Not sure if they have to be four letter words or not. In fact, I am having a really hard time thinking of a good one. EGGS? ENDS? EVEN? ETSY?

Dive bomber

As we were on the top of the Bell Tower, it provided a great view of traffic. At this traffic circle, the bikes would generally cross at the crosswalk and then continue on in the bike lane. Now this is not always the case. In Suzhou, bikes and e-bikes seem to be in the thick of traffic a bit more. But in the center of Xi'an, it seemed that most bikes were staying in the bike lane, except. . .

But there were some rebels that took on the full traffic experience. Now it is a common sight to see more than one person on a bike or e-bike. And I have seen the person on the back doing all kinds of things: putting on make-up, holding an umbrella, . . . But I think if I was the woman on the back of this bike, I would be paying attention and not texting. But maybe that is just me.

The Wedding car

A wedding is a big deal. Each culture has unique traditions that surround this important day. While there is much that I am still learning about weddings and the Chinese traditions that go along with them, there are a few modern traditions that are common. When people get married in China, they often rent cars to transport the bridal party to various places on the wedding day. The cars are decorated with flowers and ribbons. The car containing the bride also usually has extra flowers on the hood. We have nothing on the Chinese when it comes to decorating cars -- they do it right! But the thing that humors us is that in the wedding entourage is a car that proceeds the whole assembly and video tapes the whole process. This car is usually one with a sunroof (or a convertible, though the sunroof is more commonly seen) and the person doing the video is standing up and sticking out the sunroof. And yes, they even do this on the highway. Can you see the man in the first car who is the video guy? (He is a little hard to see because of the trees in the background).