Saturday, December 14 - Traffic Rush

Now, the road to El dorado may be paved with gold but the roads in China could be paved with pedestrians. If you’ve ever played the Traffic Rush app, or enjoyed a game of frogger, you’d have some idea of what the view is like out of our hotel window.

 Because our hotel room overlooks the corner of a large intersection just down from busy Wangfujing street , traffic is fast and frequent. Compound that with buses, bikes, tuk tuks, and any number of scooter like apparatuses carrying boxes, bags, baskets or the occasional family of four, it makes for an interesting and nerve wracking scene. 

 Not only do drivers have very few rules to follow, they seem entitled to break whatever rules that may exist. Any one on foot is at their own risk and everywhere you go the sounds in the air are punctuated with the sound of cars honking their horns at people as they bob and weave their way across the road.

Knowing what the traffic was like, as we ventured on an outing to a restaurant across the street we moved quickly and carefully and looked several ways and waited before we walked across . The pedestrian light turned green but we had only taken a few steps when a black car turned right towards us without even looking at us. He skimmed so close past us that we were less than a few centimetres from getting hit. Todd hit the top of the car  to let the driver know how close he had come to running us over. We continued walking, only to find ourselves being screamed at from the car as it turned the corner. 

I was a little unprepared for the verbal assault as the man pulled over, rolled down his window and began to shout. I don’t have to know any more Chinese than I do to know he wasn’t calling out an apology. Todd called back, told him to watch where he was going,  but the man continued to yell and yell. I was anxious to go, people were starting to slow down and stare and I was becoming a little concerned as to what this man might do as he seemed more than a little enraged -- at what though was beyond us. 

Obviously it was okay that he hit us with his car, but not that we hit his car. A subtle but significant difference apparently. Thankfully he drove away, and any further incident was averted. We talked about the experience as we ate. Whether or not we were in the right didn’t make a difference. We are guests in this country, and so even if we don’t agree with how they drive it isn’t up to us to enforce. Thankfully none of us were hurt and it was a good reminder to be cautious, be respectful and careful,  and to remember the proverb that Grandpa Shipley always closes his letters with: Slowly Walk.