Spring In China Means Dancing, Walking and ......Scooters!

Spring In China Means Dancing, Walking and ......Scooters!
DaqingDevil May 13, 2013 08:44

The central town square / park they have here across the road from my apartment block is the gathering place for the local community.  At this town square there is a large upraised, concreted, rectangular central area.  The area is floodlit and there is a small house like building in the middle of one of the longer sides of this rectangle and from which, every evening, emanates Chinese music loud enough to be heard by the 200 – 300 residents that come each night to dance!

 

Around the perimeter of the park is a large, paved sidewalk on which people who are not dancing are walking laps. Not just a few people but hundreds of them! And somehow, in some sort of an unspoken agreement, they all walk in the same direction – anticlockwise - even though apartments are on all sides of the park. I am walking or riding in the opposite direction at that time returning from classes and I marvel at the number of people, not only those walking the circuit but those dancing in the centre area. With summer approaching the people are wearing a lot less clothing, such as no long underwear and no big coats, gloves and hats but even in late winter, which was when I first arrived in this city,  when it was minus 18C, the same amount of people were out and about doing their thing.

 

 I don’t know what part of the government in China is responsible for city planning but the central park’s sidewalk can be accessed by cars and they have even paved diagonal lines with different coloured, white pavers that indicate angle parking on the sidewalk. Total insanity really because what we have each night is this great throng of walkers having to detour around the cars onto the road. I meet them head on riding my bike home and cars on the road are honking their horns and traffic coming the other way has to stop to allow cars from the opposite direction to get through! Parking on the sidewalks / footpaths is not only okay at this park it’s allowed and catered for everywhere. The motor vehicle is king here and pedestrians who spent decades avoiding bikes have advanced to avoiding cars – on sidewalks, pedestrian crossing and even at traffic lights.

 

The temperature today in northern China’s Heilongjiang Province was a wonderful 26C! There’s nothing like a couple of warm spring days to help the growth spurts of greenery and blossoms on trees and bushes that have, to date, looked like black and brown sticks poking out of the ground.  There has been a marked increase in the resident dancers in the Longfeng town square and of course the daylight is still hanging around at 6.30pm. Mind you the morning sun is peeping through your bedroom window at about 4.35am in the month of May. It’s time to alfoil the windows again this summer.

 

With this warmer weather thoughts also turn to romance and…and…motor scooters. So a few of us guys got together and went to a city called Anda. Not far, maybe 30 kms east of Daqing. For reasons unknown, Anda does not belong to Daqing but districts, towns and villages 3 times the distance away do belong. Therefore the government laws that apply in Daqing do not apply to Anda. Go figure. So if you want to buy a motor scooter then it’s best to toddle along to Anda and work your way through the many motorbike shops. When you buy in Anda you don’t need a licence of ANY kind to drive and you can opt for a ‘with registration plate’ or a ‘without’?!! You can then jump on your newly purchased toy and ride around anywhere in China because the bike was purchased in Anda! Don’t ask, ok?

 

I have never seen a policeman stop a car for breaking a road law. Heaven forbid, the driving is so bad and dangerous that the cops would be stopping every car on the road every 10 seconds so it makes sense to allow drivers to kill each other while blatantly disregarding basic driving laws. The only time I see flashing lights on a police car is when they are late going home for lunch or for dinner! Having said that I have found out since that if you are a foreigner and they spot you on a motorbike and you don’t have the appropriate licence they simply confiscate the bike and that’s the end of the matter. Nobody can tell us exactly what licence that is by the way. My answer to the problem? Buy a full face helmet then there is no way the police can tell whether you are a local or a foreigner, right? Wrong! Why? You will be the only person in all of northern China wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle and if that doesn’t arouse the suspicions of the local gendarmerie I don’t know what will. By the way, no bike shops sell helmets of any description, shape or size which only reinforces the statement about how many riders wear them. To buy a motorcycle helmet you need to go online and order through Taobao, China’s Ebay, or from an agency in Beijing. The good news? The cost of a motorcycle in Anda is so cheap you wonder how it’s possible. And no mucking about with 50CC stuff you buy at home for about $1500 to $2000. The engine size is 125CC and the bike or scooter is fitted out with everything you need. The scooter I looked at had the platform you put your feet on, a rear brake pedal, front and rear security cases and it looked super cool. How much? The equivalent of $AUD600, around 4000RMB!! And that’s before you start bargaining! I’m going to love summer in China this year I think!

Tags:Lifestyle Language & Culture

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