JISHOU, HUNAN, Sept. 3 — Having spent the day (and night) before walking, riding the Hong Kong metro, taking two shuttle buses, flying on an airliner and finally riding soft-seat on an overnight train, I alighted at Jishou station bedraggled and somewhat sleep deprived. The total journey took on the order of 17 hours, about three of which included waiting for the train.
But I was here.
My contact person here, David Luo, met me at the train station. The train was packed with university students, who like me, needed to start class the next day. To get to campus, you either need to take a bus or hail a cab. David and I had to fight our way through this mob of college kids to find a cab not vying for their attention.
Let me tell you something about Chinese cabbies. They are fearless. Even in Jishou, a city of about 200,000, traffic at certain times of the day can be pretty hairy. The streets are occupied simultaneously by cabs, buses, private cars, scooters, motorbikes, pedicabs, bicycles and pedestrians. American-style traffic rules are non-existent. As in the ticket-window and train-boarding queues, it’s everyone for himself on the streets. I’ve now ridden in a Jishou cab — they are all red-and-black compact Citroëns — a half-dozen times. Cabbies will take any route, short of driving on the sidewalk, to get to your destination — even against traffic — cutting in front of trucks and buses, nearly nicking pedestrians and motorcyclists. Since all of the cabs seem to be undented or otherwise undamaged, I figure the cabbies can be trusted and I’ll just let the fates prevail. No sense in worrying about something I can’t control.
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