Which is slightly more exciting than Delaware (please get my Wayne's World reference). We arrived Thursday afternoon Beijing time and made it pretty effortlessly over to Jon's apartment. We were greeted at the airport by one of those cab drivers holding a sign with your name on it. But this time it had my name on it. Weird.
The drive was about 30-45 minutes through freeway traffic. Since I was expecting Thailand driving and Thailand traffic, I was pleasantly surprised. Which doesn't mean these people are great drivers or that the freeways are safe, necessarily, but Thailand was certainly a whole different beast.
The driving method here: stay generally in the lanes but feel free to float between lanes at your leisure with or without signaling. Go ahead and drive on the shoulder if you are so inclined. Honk at other drivers for any reason at all just as long as it's with great frequency. Nudge pedestrians or bicyclists out of the way with your car if you so choose. Generally don't give a crap about anyone else, but be more passive/aggressive about it than, say, a New York driver. Dad, I think you would like it.
The main complaint we've had in our 24+ hours here is the pollution. It's nuts. Officially known by the government as "fog", the stuff is ubiquitous and relentless. You are literally walking around in a cloud of soot all day and all night long. If you clean your house, all surfaces are immediately covered in a layer of gross (if you've opened the windows). The cars on the street look a bit like they've driven through a volcano zone if you get close enough. And it certainly inhibits the views of what would otherwise, I suspect, be a relatively beautiful city.
Ok, my friends are starting to get savvy to the trend of waiting on me... more later. Off to the Olympic Park today!
2 comments:
Yeah, that is pretty much what a tennis player friend from China said. She won't go back to China. You are having a two week experience. Enjoy the culture and history. Kiss the ground upon return.
Yeah, kinda sounds like NYC. That might be fun. Good call. Sounds like that fog is pretty unbearable, though.
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