P
Shift into Park. Sure, when you park a car. But how many of you do it when you pull up to a stop light? Maybe car manufacturers intended for us to do that, but it seems a little foreign to me. I never did that in the US. But that is exactly what everyone does here. Whenever they stop, they shift the car into Park!
Pull up to a red light, and drivers automatically shift into Park. Stop to check for directions, and shift into Park! Okay, maybe that is about all the instances. Folks don’t really stop too often. They sure don’t stop at Stop Signs.
But the Shift to Park is really amazing to me. Everyone does it here. Most do it in Thailand too. So sure enough, when the light switches to green, everyone has to shift again into gear. At least is slows traffic a little through the intersection.
I wonder if they think the “P” stands for sitting at red light in Chinese?
Labels: China, Dongguan, Roads
Cleaning the Streets
Even in the pouring rain.
Every morning, this lady is out sweeping the street leading to our factory.
Big hat, wild color clothes, and long sweeping broom.
The hat is so big, with a large black band drooping down from the rim.
You wonder how she sees anything, but her concentration is always downward anyway.
Her job is endless. From what I can tell, she has responsibility to clean the street every day. You see thousands of workers in this role all over the city, particularly in the mornings. They seem to disappear at night, probably frustrated with having no chance at staying ahead of the night time litter. Folks seem to think it is more a right to trash the streets than to heed any call to keep things clean.
Drivers regularly throw trash from windows as they drive. Even policemen have been seen on occasion deliberately littering their lunch wrappings to the street as if it is their duty. The streets are constantly filled with trash and rubbish every morning.
So this poor lady and the others of the city, sweep. Her broom is like a whirlwind in the morning. It is whisking fast and furious in all directions. By 10 AM the street looks great. That’s just in time for the crowds to start their lunch breaks to fill up the street with new fresh wrappers and trash.
Labels: China, Dahlingshan, Dongguan, streets
Mighty Fine
Blue skies/ Smiling at me/ Nothing but blue skies/ Do I see/
Willie Nelson singing that song has resonated in my mind all week this week! What a week! It has been absolutely beautiful here. Okay, maybe not that beautiful, but a lot better than usual.
The weather forecasters here classify it simply as: "Fine." I just love to hear that. It says it pretty well.
Wednesday was the best day I can ever remember here. On Tuesday night, it rained heavily, and by the morning the skies had cleared, and there were blue skies! Yes! Blue skies in Dongguan! You just don’t know how rare that is in this industrial Chinese region. Why heck, you could even see the mountains. The days you can see the surrounding mountains is about as rare as seeing a bird here. So the second line of that famous Sinatra song about bluebirds, didn’t quite apply as well as the first line.
It’s still been pretty good the last couple of days too. I just hope it lasts on into the weekend, for my visit to Hong Kong. That would be really good.
Labels: China, Dongguan, weather
Replace the "What?"
“We replace our car horns every year?”
Well, I coulda fallen off the chair.
I have never heard of such a thing.
………..
But then again……. I can understand it over here.
Those were the words of one of our company managers at a luncheon a few months ago. I had never ever heard of replacing car horns. He was making the comment, because the city of Dongguan was enacting a new ordinance that does not allow the use of car horns. Yep, soon drivers can’t use car horns. And this has already been enacted in many of the other major cities in China.
Why? NOISE!! It’s unbelievable. The drivers here all think the horn is a miracle device to stop and avoid any concern. So they just continually all blast the horn. It gets pretty bad!
One day, for the fun of it, I just counted the number of times my driver used his horn during our thirty minute ride home. It was 27 times!! In less than 30 minutes! Almost one time per minute! And I’m not talking about blasts of the horn. I am just talking about instances the horn is used, be it three short blasts or one long blast! The other night, one of my drivers used the horn 10 times in the five minute drive just out to the highway.
And of course, most other drivers are doing the same thing. My driver sees someone along the road ahead, and he blasts the horn to warn them to stay there. A car veers out of its lane, and my driver honks the horn. A car comes up from behind to pass, and it honks it horn at us. It’s constant.
Anyone who has talked to me on my cell phone during my morning commute has commented on the horn blasts. Me…. Well….I’m getting immune to it. I think most everyone is here, so they figure they may as well outlaw the horns.
Gonna be interesting seeing how they enforce this one. But at least we may save a little money with fewer car horns to buy.
Labels: China, Dongguan, Roads
Breakfast at McDonald's
I had just noticed the other night that McDonald’s had announced they had breakfast now.
Being Easter Monday, and not having to work, I figured it would be a good day to try out the new menu.
So off I went to one of the nearby local trustworthy locations.
There are three McD’s within a couple of blocks of my home in
Dongguan City.
I opted for the sausage and egg muffin meal. All seemed pretty good. I got my meal and sat down for a relaxing meal. But when I opened my wrapper realized there was NO sausage. So here we go……….. back to the side counter to get help. The young lady first tried to tell me I had ordered the one with no sausage. I insisted I had ordered the option with sausage, and the young lady that took my order thankfully nodded in agreement. So there I stood. Soon the assistant or manager told me something in Chinese that I figured meant she would bring my corrected bun to my table. They often deliver to tables here.
So there I sat patiently. And sat. After about ten minutes I finally went back to the counter again. Oh, the young assistant replied: “I forgot.” Forgot!! Are you kidding me? There are not that many people here? How could she forget me? I am a little different than most patrons here.
Finally, she got me the biscuit and back I went to my table. Opened the bun, and wouldn’t ya know it: it was hard as a rock. They had evidently micro waved the same original wrong muffin. So I complained again. The assistant again apologized and went back to make another.
Another couple of minutes and another clerk brought me a new biscuit. Opened it again with her standing there, and I couldn’t believe it. Now they had the sausage, but now they had forgotten the egg!! The clerk seemed embarrassed. Off she went running behind the counter again.
Back with another. And YES! It was finally right! Must have been 30 minutes before I got the correct order!! It took FOUR times to get it right! Four times!
Not a good start for breakfast at McDonald’s!
[What is it with my luck at meals lately? A friend of mine and I had just been lamenting about how tough it is for foreigners at restaurants to get good service just the night before. If you’ve noticed I’ve had a few articles about such occurrences.]
BTW, the muffin was pretty good. Only this sure wasn’t a biscuit. It was only in a regular hamburger bun, and they had soaked it in ketchup. Not exactly a typical McDonald’s breakfast, but definitely the typical service I’m getting accustomed to here.
Labels: Dongguan, McDonald's, Restaurant, Service
Car darts into intersection with girls already in middle of road directly in front of our vehicle. Our car should typically have right of way, but as in most things in China, its who is there and brave enough to take it.
Graphic sign warning cyclists of dangers in driving along the highway.
A Saturday Ride Home
Riding home on a Saturday can be rather enjoyable.
First, it’s early!
Who doesn’t like getting off work early in the afternoon…. Even if it is a Saturday!
Second, the traffic is usually a little less congested.
And third, and most important, the sun is up so you can see some of
China!
Well, the other Saturday, I used the ride home to take a bunch of pictures. I have now combined all those photos into an album online: A Saturday Ride Home. You can get to the link here, or from under the Photo Links in the right column. It’s kinda of a running sequence of the route home, with a smattering of some of the things you see along the roads of Dongguan. It’s over 100 pictures for the 30 minute ride.
Be sure to pay attention to the traffic weaving in and out of lanes, vehicles and cycles going in wrong directions, and, of course, lots of “froggers.”
Enjoy!
Labels: China, Dongguan, Froggers, Roads
Froggers along the median barrier. Notice that second is perched atop the barrier as they await traffic to slow for crossing.
