Sometimes, when I'm lucky and have had my daily cup of coffee, I'm able to observe on a daily basis various things that tickle my senses and set-off an orchestra of events in my brain. On really good days, the cognitive gears are well lubed and I'm able to recall some of these things for your reading pleasure. Or vehement dismay.
Regardless, I feel the chance to record such randomness isn't something to be passed up...
Last week I took a short trip from Hong Kong to Dongguan, China. It's a typical South China industrial city. Loud, polluted, and teeming with factories and tenements. As I've noticed with most Chinese cities, the streets aren't divided into lanes, and thus cars, trucks, bicycles, and pedestrians weave chaotically in and out of each others' way. The driver of the taxi I rode in honked his horn incessantly (as did every other vehicle driver, moving or otherwise, it seemed) at nothing in particlar. At least, I noticed nothing directly in front of us that required warning of our approach.
It seems as if this cacophony of honks, beeps and toots is just to convey the idea that possibly, at any given moment, one vehicle would (at a ridiculous speed) jump into the way of another. Possibly a heralding of the sudden interruption of your lunch al fresco due to a taxi jumping the curb of the sidewalk to pass a lumbering truck. What's worse is the fact that the taxi first crossed over the oncoming traffic lane to then jump onto the opposite sidewalk. I suppose this is why outdoor cafes aren't all the rage in Dongguan.
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