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Read some
Our local guide around Kunming was Sophie, a karaoke aficionado
with a delicate turn of phrase. For example, when she was explaining how Chinese brothels are set up to look like hairdressing
salons she said, 'you might not be able to find the scissors.'
Read some more
The People
One of the things everyone knows about China is there's a lot of
people there; 1.26 billion to be exact. This is sixty-three times larger than Australia's population of 20 million. Even this
doesn't quite help comprehend the magnitude. To put it another way, if you counted one person per second it would take you
about thirty-three weeks to count 20 million people. At the same rate it would take you 40 years to count everyone in China.
The Acme Dynamiters
When we returned to Walnut Grove I was a little concerned to see
that our guide had traded in his plastic shower shoes for a pair of canvas sneakers and this time was carrying a full bottle
of water - it seemed we were in for a climb. We backtracked a couple of kilometres along the low road where we saw the cause
of the thunder from the day before. Three men, also in plastic shower slippers were quarrying some rock using dynamite just
off the low road. Their technique wouldn't look out of place in a Roadrunner cartoon.
Driving
Drivers in China seem to have received the following briefing:
1.
Assume you are the only one on the road until notified otherwise (usually by horn);
2. Don't look back when someone
blows their horn;
3. Take the racing line on all corners (yes, oncoming traffic will be doing the same);
4.
There is an imaginary third lane in the centre of the roadway - this is the overtaking lane;
5. You are expected to
overtake;
6. Not to overtake reflects poorly on you as a driver;
7. Overtake early and overtake often;
8.
When two overtaking vehicles approach each other an imaginary fourth lane will appear, also in the middle of the road;
9.
Waiting for a gap in the traffic before overtaking is not an efficient use of your time, just pull out; and
10. Pedestrian
crossings simply concentrate pedestrians. You are under no obligations to stop for them.
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