More observations from China that require no further explanation
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 04:54 PM

The car horn in China is used more frequently to communicate "I'm going to pass you on the left" or "I'm not going to let you merge" than "What the hell are you doing you stupid jerk." When we first arrived, it confused me, as often it seemed that the driver was honking at nothing at all (with no cars ahead of him in the lane, and seemingly nothing weird happening around him). The Chinese driver always drives with one hand on the horn.

Headlights are brighter in China. Even in big cities where there are streetlights, it seems like everyone is driving around with their brights on.

During our trip, Beijing implemented (or tested?) a new driving policy: every other day, only half the cars can drive into the city, depending on whether their license plate ends in an odd or even number. This was inconvenient for us, since the car we took to the Henan province was the wrong number on the day we needed to return. We had to swap cars with a driver on our way back.

Everyone everywhere is all about the Olympics. The day after we arrived there was a huge celebration in Tienanmen Square, as it was exactly one year until the Olympics. Every day you hear countdowns on TV, radio, etc., and there are advertisements promoting clean air and discouraging littering, all for the Olympics. On the news, they discuss new driving policies which will be tested, allowing only buses, taxis, and official vehicles into the city for four days to see what it will do for the air, and how the city transit systems will hold up under added weight. Downtown there are entire city blocks, and huge areas which are being constructed just for the Olympics—housing, fancy hotels, green space. In some areas, you can see more cranes than you can skyscrapers.

Instead of paper napkins, the Chinese use what Americans think of as tissue, or Kleenex, which comes in little packets at restaurants, or wrapped in a big plastic package at home.

The Chinese don't eat chicken breast, and restaurants often discard it. It is considered too dry and stringy to be good to eat.

Women's public restrooms are essentially stalls with holes in the ground, though these holes have porcelain basins with textured places to place your feet to keep from slipping. The idea is that this is "cleaner," since you don't have to touch anything, but in actuality it smells awful (despite plumbing, flushes, etc.), you can't avoid stepping in or getting piss on your shoes, and there is rarely toilet paper or soap at any of these locations. When there are "Western toilets," whether in homes or nice restaurants, they usually don't flush very well.

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