Yesterday, when I posted about the people of China blatantly ignoring signage in their native language - such rebels - I totally forgot to include another photo my husband took of more rule-breakers. Forgiveness please.
I'm not sure you can tell from this photo but the car in front of ours, as well as the ones in the adjacent lane, has the right of way. See, the light is green. It's our turn to go. But we can't. Because the city buses as well as regular people driving their cars have blocked the intersection. Thanks assholes. This is such a common sight over here. In the US, those blocking the intersection would be ticketed. But over here? No one does shit. I always get so nervous when shit like this happens because I fear we'll be stuck in some epic traffic jam. Like that one that lasted 2 weeks in Beijing a few years ago. No, I'm not even joking. Seriously. Click here to read about that (or here to see a bunch of images of that insanity). It terrifies me to think of an emergency vehicle trying to get through.
People here just do what they want and that, coupled with a lack of enforcement of these laws, is what causes this to be, as Jeremy so adorably coined it, "a fall-behind country." He also uses "disorder" to describe things here quite a bit. It's rather fitting.
Fortunately for us, the buses and cars that were blocking the way finally moved up and, to our great relief, the vehicles behind them stayed put at their red light so we could take our turn on the green light. It's stuff like this that I will think about when we move to the US and we're sitting in traffic. I won't complain ever again about traffic in the US, even if it is rush hour in Miami. That is infinitely less atrocious than the chaotic disordered state of being that the roads of Qingdao so often exhibit.
Love it when this happens in Chinese cities...when my in-laws where in Finland they were surprised why everyone stoped at red lights and so on. Yeah, traffic rules are called rules for a reason in other countries :)
ReplyDeleteAgree! I think my husband is the only one who obeys rules around here. I hope that will help be his guide when we go to the US and he applies for a driver's license.
DeleteDid you read about the Bangkok-Nanging flight? Some Chinese passengers wanted hot water for their instant noodles, but they had to wait until the plane was at cruising altitude. When they did get the water,one lady was so angry about having to wait a few minutes, she threw the steaming noodles at the flight attendant. From there, things devolved and the flight had to return to Bangkok. Why are they so obsessed with shoveling instant noodles into their mouths no matter the time or place? Me Me ME!!! I want my noodles NOW!!!! I was at the BJ airport where they had a hot water dispenser. As I was filling my tea cup, a father and son with instant noodle cups were behind me, being very edgy and trying to cut in front of me. While I was still in the middle of using it. They were practically jumping up and down like gorillas. The water was boiling hot and someone could have easily gotten burned. I wanted to scream "$&%*!! Wait your turn!!" at them so badly.
ReplyDeleteUgh! How lucky you were not to have been burned by scalding water. Most people here are so rude that when you meet someone with manners, it's like spotting a unicorn. And yes, I of course saw the news about those boorish passengers throwing the steaming hot noodles on the flight attendant. I hope she can sue them. Did you see the news about the Chinese passenger who opened up the emergency slide on the plane because he wanted to "get off the plane faster?" *facepalm*
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