What I would have wanted to know before coming to China for the first time (Part 4)

… continued from Part 3.

Since this city has an elevation of over 1000 meters, mosquitos don’t have deadly diseases here. At least for where I traveled, there was no need to bring two tubes of DEET and one spray can of Permethrin as my travel nurse at Kaiser recommended.

Also, the quantity of bugs here is like in East Coast cities – some mosquitos and flies here and there, the small spider now and then, but nothing surprising.

Get mentally prepared to be frequently honked at loudly by cars and mopeds, no matter how close they are to you.

My wonderful wife told me that honking her car horn frequently was a requirement on her driving test, because Chinese drivers are expected to honk as they go around blind corners, as they try to pass a pedestrian who is in their way, and as they make a lane change that leaves little room between them and the other car.

Many drivers also honk when exiting a parking garage, when waiting for passengers to come from the building to the car, and when a car stops for more than a second in front of them.

When a car honks in close proximity, it’s always very loud.

My reaction to this honking surprises me. I think I’m a gentle person, but in these situations I feel a visceral reaction – I feel attacked, get angry, and want to attack them back, or start a demonstration, or at least start wearing “stop honking” t-shirts.

Fortunately, I keep this reaction mostly internally and remind myself that I can either try to change everybody or embrace the world.

Yesterday I was even honked at by a moped speeding from behind me on the sidewalk. This is not too uncommon.

My wonderful wife was with me, and I told her the German word for sidewalk literally means “citizen’s path” (Bürgersteig), not car’s path, and the English word is not, “side drive,” but “side walk.”

She told me it’s no different in Chinese. “Rénxíngdào” literally means “people walk road.”

I’d like to mentally change my reaction to all these sounds. Maybe everyone is just honking their horn to celebrate a wedding, like they do in Italy – or like I did when I drove my wonderful wife from the church.