On crossing roads and other things

Why did the chicken cross the road? For this blog I guess it would be more of a question of "how does the chicken cross the road?" How does one cross a road in Beijing? It's a skill that takes quite some time and practice to learn. It's also not a practice for the faint of heart. When talking about road crossing in Beijing, perhaps it's not so strange to ask about the "why" either. I know it's hard to imagine, but Beijing has even made me consider just not crossing the road at all. There have been moments where I actually caught myself wondering whether I really needed to get to the other side. Which is why I didn't expect to get used to Beijing traffic so fast.

During the past month, I took a "crash course" in road crossing, learning from experience experts, Beijingers themselves. All you really need to do is find a fellow road crosser, as long as it's a local you should be good to go (let's pretend I'm capable of telling apart locals from non-locals). Your odds of survival are even bigger when you can tag along with a group of people waiting for the right moment to cross the road. If so many people dare to stand in the middle of the road while traffic is raging past, you can't go wrong, right? So far I've learned the following do's and dont's:

• Don't see pedestrian crossings as a means to help you cross the road; rather see them as symbolical road decorations
• Don't expect a very big difference between red or green light moments; at times road crossing somehow works better when the lights are red.. I think..
• Do make sure you cease your chances. At first it might seem impossible to get to the other side, but you'll soon learn it's all about acting quickly and finding the right places to stand while you wait to cross the next part of the road

Just for the record, it's not only about roads. You're not necessarily safe on sidewalks either. Especially during busy moments you can expect bikes and scooters to ride past you, at exactly the same speed as on the road.

I have even had the privilege to practice my road crossing skills during crazy rush hour. I still don't know how I arrived where I had to be alive - actually I never arrived there, because I got incredibly lost, but that's a story for another time. Either way, I'm still around today to publish my fourth blog about my time in China. Perhaps it's a case of beginner's luck. Or maybe Beijing traffic isn't as crazy and chaotic as it looks.. Perhaps there's a certain logic to it that I just don't quite understand yet. Maybe in a way it is an organized chaos. Either way I do think that bus came awfully close to me that particular night. Still, I somehow don't really feel unsafe in traffic here. Beijing "traffic manners" are even starting to grow on me and I'm quite impressed at how everyone manages to keep order in the chaos. Most of the time anyway..