Slowly Learning...

So I've been over in Beijing for about a month now, and I thought I'd share a couple of the observations I've made in that time...

1 - Spitting Is a Way Of Life
It doesn't matter what age you are, what sex you are, or where you are. Everyone just spits anywhere at will. I've seen it on street corners, in stairwells, along hallways, I even saw an eight year old girl spit off the back of the bike she was riding on down the street. Thankfully this isn't a habit that I've picked up (or plan on picking up).

2 - 1Billion People, 2 Billion Bikes
Now I know that bicycle does mean two, but this is rediculous. There literally seems to be at least 2 bikes for every one person. Bikes are so common that there is about a lane and a half of roadway dedicated solely for bicyclers. The people around here have also mastered getting the most out of their bikes. Regularly there are two people to a bike (once again making me wonder why there's about a 2:1 bike to person ratio, shouldn't it be the other way?), and I even saw one woman with at least 20 pounds of styrofoam strapped to the back of her bike. Now 20 pounds may not be all that heavy, but when you're talking about 20 pounds of styrofoam that gets rather bulky and cumbersome. But onto the cars...

3 - Tailgating Isn't Just for Parking Lots
As I have found from riding in numerous taxis, it's common practice to cut off the car next to you, wether or not there's room for your car to fit in. Also, if there is 3 feet of space between you and the car ahead of you, well that's a waste of 2.9 feet. I guess when you have as many people as China space is at a premium, even on the roadways.

4 - The Dividing Lines Are Just a Suggestion
Those little white lines that you and I consider "lane dividers" in America, well they're more of a suggestion around here. It's not uncommon to drive down the highway half in the center lane, half in the left lane (with another car on your left still). Then again you do need to make use of all the space that is given to you on the highway when about a lane and a half is dedicated solely to bicycles. Now with (3) and (4) you'd expected a lot of accidents, but there really aren't. In fact I have yet to see one. This may be due in large part to (5) and (6)...

5 - You Must Make Sure to Check That Your Horn, Frequently
At home I try to use my horn sparingly, honking only when someone is really gonna hit me or really pisses me off and I want them to see me flip them off, but around here it's more like the instructional driving video I saw during drivers ed. The one where the guy driving suggested honking every now and then at people backing up to let them know you were there. Except in Beijing it's taken to extremes. On one (10 hour) bus ride back to the city the driver managed to honk at least 2 or 3 times at every car/bus/truck we passed. Once or twice the other car might have been veering over a little, but most of the time it was just to let the other drivers know "Hey, we're here!"

6 - Some Laws Just Weren't Meant to be Broken
While the motorists seem to just throw out every other traffic law, they do have one that they seem to follow religiously: The Speed Limit. I thought this was supposed to be the one that was a suggestion? Back in New York you paid attention to those lines in the middle of the road, you tried to avoid the horn (except in the city), and you kept a decent distance between cars, but you always went at least 5 mph over the speed limit (and generally you could easily get away with 10 over). Here it's more like 10 km/hr under the posted speed, maybe less. And that's not always because of traffic. I've heard a story of one cabbie driving along an 80 kph road at 40 kph, with no other car in sight for a mile. To each their own I guess.

7 - Toilets Are a Privelage
Back in the states I always prefered to do my business at home. I was more comfortable there, felt more at home, etc. But here I almost have to do it at my appartment (a.k.a. hotel room) because it's about the only place that I've found that has a real toilet (and toilet paper). Most places you go (including the lobby of the hotel I'm in) only have what are known as "squatters", which are basically holes that you squat over. These bathrooms also don't supply you with any paper. So it's either bring your own or go without. Thankfully I'm a guy, so if I just need to pee I can do that standing up with no problem, but when you've eaten some bad food/drank some bad water, you better stay close to the room.

8 - Grease is One of the Four Food Groups
Well maybe it's the 5th (they still do have meat, fruits, veggies, and plenty of strach), but it is in everything. I used to think that Chinese food at home was greasy, and I figured that that was from the fast-food/takeout nature of it, but I think it's actually just a part of the cooking process. There is like a layer of grease and oil on almost every dish (except maybe the fruit plate at the end of the meal). The plus side is that the Chinese style of cooking does seem to produce food extremely fast. I think the longest we've ever waited for a meal was about 5 mins. However, even with my American stomache, it has taken me about 4 weeks to adjust to all that grease. I can only imagine what the Europeans are feeling.

9 - Lack of Exotic Beauties...
I've always been a fan of asian women, as many of you know. And so you figured it'd be like heaven over here, but something is a bit off. Maybe it's a loss of the exotic factor, since you're constantly surrounded by them (but I doubt that since I did spend most of my college years at Cornell), but there aren't as many hot asian women over here it seems. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of beautiful asians, but percentage wise it just isn't the same. If approximately 1 out of every 10 asian women were hot in the states, only about 1 out of every 100 or so are hot over here.

10 - ...Unless You're Western
On the flip side, westerners are highly sought after over here. Even in a big city like Beijing they just don't seem to see a lot of white (or black) people, so we are still seen as a sort of novelty. I managed to get a free 3-day tour of Jinan and Qufu (complete with transport, hotel accomidations, and meals) just so they could show off some westerners at their Forestry Fair. And much like how most American men will turn and stare at a beautiful woman (and you women do this too with men, admit it), the Chinese will turn and stare at westerners, be you male or female, hot or ugly (although the attractive white women do seem to get more looks). They also don't ever seem to notice hot asian women. I have yet to see any man turn and look at a passing asian women, but they never fail to eye the white chicks.

So those are my 10 main observations from my first month over here. There will be more to come later, as well as some pictures of activities to date.

P.S. - I've also noticed that the Japanese thing of smiling like an idiot while making the peace sign in pictures is not exclusive to their culture. The Koreans do it a lot too.