Chinaman Rally 2007

Want thrill?
Want adventure?
Want to have a feeling like every day is your last?

Want to have close-to-death experiences?
Want to try the most extreme of all extreme professions/sports?
Try driving a car (or even ride as a passenger) in Southern China!

It's been a long while since I last posted. By all means I have been trying to motivate myself to write but I've been either too busy at work to write, or too lazy/tired at home to do so. In any case, I mean to write about the Chinese driving habit already last week but well, here it is now.

Sitting in a car in South China is an extreme adventure every time! I had already forgotten how it's like since I hadn't been doing that in a long while. That changed a few weeks back when I was taken to a factory near Guangzhou by the factory's driver. Quickly reminded of the thrill of fearing for your life non-stop for a few hour span is something that doesn't vanish quickly.
... and of course you take the trip both ways, so the great experience is enjoyed twice!

The thing with Chinese driving way is it's non-stop-intensive-"out-of-my-way"-"I-can-fit-that-small-space-at-120km/h-easily"-attitude. Seriously, they drive like cracy. Speeds are off the chart, there are four cars driving side-by-side on a two-lane road and everyone is changing lanes all the time to get past the others. And this seriously continues all-through the journey. Honking at everyone, flashing the lights, waving angry hands, breaking suddenly to not hit a truck carrying live animals because someone else got next to it first, etc. It's just non-stop adrenaline-shot. Anyone complaining about Finnish driving habits should have one day in a car in China.

I wonder whether the traffic would actually move faster if everyone just followed the traffic rules, or whether this system is actually better... go figure.

Some 300 people die in traffic every day in China. I'm not surprised. Not with the way they drive.