Cycle complete!
Its about 7am when I begin my first few kilometres into the crisp morning air. The weather has turned cool in comparison to previous days. Now in the tent the 10C celsius night temperatures brings a certain pleasantness to the nightime, one that had rarely been felt since leaving wintry NZ. Early mornings is my favourite time to get some good miles done. I feel fresh, the roads are quieter and I seem to be able to take in more of my surroundings making it far more enjoyable than the afternoon rush hour.
I pedal back onto the main road and climb a small hill, noticing a light tailwind at my rear. As I pedal past paddy fields, scooters piled high with fresh oranges and vegetables swerve around me, and from time to time I in turn overtake them such is their heavy loads. The middle line splitting the road in two, is disregarded here, and although Im driving on the right I often have scooters and cars facing me head on only to cut back at the last second. As a scooter overtakes me I hear its quiet beep and as he comes up parallel with me, a car with an even larger shrill of the horn, overtakes the overtaking scooter on the small country road. The maneuvre is accompanied with long blasts of the horn from oncoming traffic, as the car, spluttering in black smoke veers in front of us both with not a second to spare. Traffic in China... lets just say its organised chaos! It has and it hasnt any rules, although there appears to be an unwritten code of how one "should" behave while on the road. Let me give you a run through some of the main observations. Beeping Beeping is mandatory at all times. When you are overtaking regardless of how safe or unsafe it is, always beep two or three times before you overtake. If you want to be especially annoying perform these beeps when youre just parallel to your victim, for maximum impact! At every little junction or pedestrian crossing, beep four or five times. It'll help speed up the scooter driver who has just performed the ridiculous U-Turn right in front of you. Oh and even if its 3am in the morning in a large city dont hesitate to be especially noisy! Driving If you have the opportunity to overtake on a blind corner then do just that! It makes for so much more fun having to brake and swerve suddenly rather than wasting valuable seconds behind a truckload of cement. Always overtake the vehicle in front of you on the wrong side, even if it is a police car. (From what Ive seen I would easily say that 2/3 of overtakes are taken on the wrong side here in China!) Remember those 3 point turns you did for your driving test in quiet cul-de-sacs? Well dont hesitate to put what you learned into practice on busy city streets. Despite the fact you'll bring 4 lanes of traffic to a screeching halt, at least you know you're going to make that turnoff you missed earlier And finally... Have Fun!
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The AuthorName: Daniel Ross Top Tips:
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October 2016
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