Today we took a trip to the Chongqing countryside; and what a trip it was. The Dazu Rock Carvings are about 70 miles west of the city and took about 2.5 hours to get to. Half of that time was on the expressway and the rest was working our way into increasingly more remote parts of the countryside albeit on a four lane road. The road was once very good but now is in serious need of repair; not like 3rd world country bad but still rough going. About every 200 feet there would be a large pothole that spanned at least 2 lanes and the driver would have to jam on the brakes and drive around it – even if that meant driving into oncoming traffic!
Which brings me to my next point: there are lines on the roads and the cars have turn signals and speedometers but using them is merely a suggestion. Even the cops drive on the wrong side of the road. Apparently there is some kind of licensing process that includes a driving course and road test but you could have fooled me! And on top of that, pedestrians just cross the road wherever they want to. Even on the highways they just start crossing like Frogger and stand in middle of the road with cars blowing by them at 40 miles an hour. It puts NYC pedestrian traffic to shame. On more than one occasion we had to slam on our brakes because an enthusiastic pedestrian thought that they could win a battle with our speeding minivan. It was absolute chaos.
Melissa and Diane mentioned that all the cars looked new – Audis, BMWs, Hondas, Toyotas, Fords, Buicks (pronounced book with a long o), Hyundai - you name it, we saw it. Our guide told us that you can own a car for 10 years then you have to get rid of it and buy a new one. That plus the rash of new wealth this country’s middle class is experiencing equals a whole lot of new cars on the road.
Which brings me to the rice on the road. It is rice harvest time here in Chongqing. So the farmers cut the rice stalks, dry them out in bundles and then lay them out on the road (wherelse?) to sift the grain from the chaff with brooms and rakes. The entire trip up to Dazu we kept having to swerve out of the right lane b/c some farmers had spread their rice out over a 50 foot patch of the road to dry out. This was on a busy 4 lane road! Try to imagine Witchduck Rd with all the traffic suddenly jumping into the left lane every 100 feet because people were standing in the right lane (on both side of the road) raking rice. Traffic too slow in that left lane? Don’t like the way that pickup truck full of chickens is driving? Just swerve into oncoming traffic and blare your horn to let them know you are there. Nothing to it! Except the Americans in the backseat freaking out! Silly Americans, you worry too much.
Here’s what else we saw standing in the road on the way to Dazu: dogs, chickens, geese, children, old ladies with walking sticks, people playing mahjong behind broken down vehicles, pigs, a horse, an ox, big heaps of rocks and dirt, and piles of burning chaff. No joke, there were piles of burning rice in the middle of the road! Cars schmars!
Also, motorcycles are the preferred method of travel in the country – no helmets (silly Americans) – with anywhere from 1 to 5 occupants on one bike. We saw more than a few families of 5 scooting up the mountain on a single motorcycle, mom in a dress and high heels.
Oh and we saw some awesome ancient rock carvings that were like 1000 years old! But that’s a story for another time. Just getting there was adventure enough. I gotta go; the Olympic Closing Ceremonies start at 8pm.
Blog you later…
Which brings me to my next point: there are lines on the roads and the cars have turn signals and speedometers but using them is merely a suggestion. Even the cops drive on the wrong side of the road. Apparently there is some kind of licensing process that includes a driving course and road test but you could have fooled me! And on top of that, pedestrians just cross the road wherever they want to. Even on the highways they just start crossing like Frogger and stand in middle of the road with cars blowing by them at 40 miles an hour. It puts NYC pedestrian traffic to shame. On more than one occasion we had to slam on our brakes because an enthusiastic pedestrian thought that they could win a battle with our speeding minivan. It was absolute chaos.
Melissa and Diane mentioned that all the cars looked new – Audis, BMWs, Hondas, Toyotas, Fords, Buicks (pronounced book with a long o), Hyundai - you name it, we saw it. Our guide told us that you can own a car for 10 years then you have to get rid of it and buy a new one. That plus the rash of new wealth this country’s middle class is experiencing equals a whole lot of new cars on the road.
Which brings me to the rice on the road. It is rice harvest time here in Chongqing. So the farmers cut the rice stalks, dry them out in bundles and then lay them out on the road (wherelse?) to sift the grain from the chaff with brooms and rakes. The entire trip up to Dazu we kept having to swerve out of the right lane b/c some farmers had spread their rice out over a 50 foot patch of the road to dry out. This was on a busy 4 lane road! Try to imagine Witchduck Rd with all the traffic suddenly jumping into the left lane every 100 feet because people were standing in the right lane (on both side of the road) raking rice. Traffic too slow in that left lane? Don’t like the way that pickup truck full of chickens is driving? Just swerve into oncoming traffic and blare your horn to let them know you are there. Nothing to it! Except the Americans in the backseat freaking out! Silly Americans, you worry too much.
Here’s what else we saw standing in the road on the way to Dazu: dogs, chickens, geese, children, old ladies with walking sticks, people playing mahjong behind broken down vehicles, pigs, a horse, an ox, big heaps of rocks and dirt, and piles of burning chaff. No joke, there were piles of burning rice in the middle of the road! Cars schmars!
Also, motorcycles are the preferred method of travel in the country – no helmets (silly Americans) – with anywhere from 1 to 5 occupants on one bike. We saw more than a few families of 5 scooting up the mountain on a single motorcycle, mom in a dress and high heels.
Oh and we saw some awesome ancient rock carvings that were like 1000 years old! But that’s a story for another time. Just getting there was adventure enough. I gotta go; the Olympic Closing Ceremonies start at 8pm.
Blog you later…
1 comment:
Hi MJ! I AM SO DOGGONE EXCITED! No sense in catching up on sleep now, this is the way it is from now on :) Can't wait for the pictures and for you safe return home. Tell Tyson Virginia awaits!
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