Day one in China

8/24/12

I feel like I have learned so much already and we have only been in China for a day.  The bus ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was definitely an interesting journey.  There was an assortment of people on the bus because we departed from the airport, but since the bus ride I have not seen another foreign looking person.  Interestingly, the first song played on the bus was “Don’t Happen Twice” by Kenny Chesney, which made me laugh.  The bus ride was about two hours and it seemed we were constantly driving through extremely dense population.  It was difficult to tell where the city ended and began.  It made me start to comprehend just how many people live in China.  It’s difficult to perceive what one billion people looks like, but I’m beginning to have an idea of what 11 million people looks like, which is the registered population of our city.  There seem to be endless walls of tall apartment buildings, some obviously in poor condition, others much newer and nicer, but all are extremely crowded.  Once we got off the bus in Guangzhou we had to take two taxis to South China Normal University.  After the multiple vehicle changes between the airport and Guangzhou we realized how lucky we were to have Paulson, our native tour guide from the university.  He knew how to avoid pushy sales representatives for different buses in the airport, he knew how to change buses, and most importantly he knew how to speak the language and give direction to the drivers.  Everything I have heard about driving and traffic in China so far has been correct.  It was pretty hilarious to experience driving in a bus and a taxi.  On the highways people stay in lanes for the most part, but merging and switching lanes is too hard to watch.  The rest of the city streets have too many lanes to count, mostly because lanes are mostly ignored.  There are pedestrians and bikes everywhere, and it’s a miracle that I have yet to see any kind of collision or accident. Our taxi drive during rush hour was the most exciting… hundreds of cars and no seatbelts.  It was like pushing through a crowd, only we were in cars.  Everyone we have met so far has been so hospitable and friendly to us.  Each new person we meet wants to help us carry our luggage, wants to know everything about us, and gives us their phone number so we can call them if we ever need help.  I think we will make many friends here.