China Adventure--the Beginning...

    I’m not a big fan of flying these days, what with the strict security rules to deal with, not to mention having someone look at your body through the scatter-radiation sensor.  At least Ellie and Alice got to go through the regular scanner.  And then there is the hassle of moving a lot of big, bulky luggage.  Why is it that foreign airports have carts for use for free, but American airports charge a fee?  But with all that, after being awake for 28 hours, with four modes of transportation (two flights, two car rides, a bus ride and a couple of airport trains) we arrived in Tianjin.  Well, to be more specific, we are in TEDA, Tianjin Economic Development Area.  A place that used to be salt pools (you know, where the sea water is pooled then allowed to evaporate in order to harvest the salt) but over the last 25 years has become a sea of skyscrapers and industries.  And with the ocean nearby, that leads to a lot of fog.

   For the first 36 hours here, it has been so foggy/smoggy that you couldn’t see over a quarter of a mile away, and the sun was invisible.  Finally, last evening, we got to see the red sun through the haze.  And it has been hot!  Very muggy and sticky.  Not at all enticing for going on exploratory walks and nearly impossible to tell which direction is which.  And that’s hard for me; I love to see the sky.  I HAVE to have my bearings—which way is north, etc.?  I suppose that watching the stars will be an occupation that occurs mostly when we’re back in the States. 

   So, for my first impressions of China.  I didn’t get the luxury of a window seat on the 747 jet, but from brief glimpses, it was mostly cloudy on the way over.  I had hoped for a view of Alaska or Russia as we passed over—just clouds, and as we descended into China, a haze covered the land.  There were mountains to one side.  Everything was green.  Fields are full of maturing corn, bordered by what look to be cottonwood trees.  Young, fast-growing trees are planted everywhere—along the sides of freeways, etc., with not very many older trees. One good thing about a centrally-controlled land is that a good idea can be immediately carried out throughout the whole land—there’s no having to deal with local rules or opinions.  Of course, if that idea is a bad one, like Mao’s rule abolishing schools for 10 years (1966-1976) the results are disastrous. Children during China’s Baby Boom generation didn’t get much of an education.  I would have stopped school at 6^th grade if I had been in China.  The locals have no say in how things are carried out.

   The 2-hour car ride from Beijing to TEDA was instructive.  We now know why we won’t be driving here—we don’t know how to honk the horn!  Apparently, lane changes are never signaled, the driver just honks to let the others know he’s there.  Those honking horns kept interfering with our heavy eyelids that just wanted SLEEP!  And lane markings are suggestions only.  In fact, it seems that there are no firm traffic rules.  At an exit, we had to pass a fender-bender accident, which caused a slow-down in the traffic.  I could not believe the free-for-all method of getting around it.  Instead of moving to a single file, the cars cut in front of one another, jockeying for position, never quite scraping one another but trying to have 4 lanes of cars in the space of one lane.  I had heard, and am finding it out personally, that the Chinese do not queue up--forming a single line is not part of their culture, and they don’t do it in driving either. 

   I'm sure there will be a lot to be learned over the next few days...