Into China... Part 2

Apart from the clear differences in quality of customs buildings at the remote and mountainous Irkestham pass, there are many other observations that have come to my attention during the first 2 weeks in China. Here are some notes from my time so far, not all contrasting to things in Central Asia, some are similar too, but these things have caught my eye in some way or other.

- Regular road checkpoints, they are watching youuuuuu..
- Road quality far superior in China
- Don't expect any vehicle to stop for you at a pedestrian crossing, I don't even know why the lines are painted on the road, noone stops, they just toot horns to warn you they are coming at you, and few people use them anyway. Any part of the road may be used to weave your way across, get used to standing in the middle of the road with traffic going past you in both directions until the other side of the road is clear.
- Having said that traffic in towns is reasonably slow moving so not too difficult to negotiate.
- The bigger the vehicle the more right of way you have ! When overtaking all vehicles toot horns to warn the vehicle being overtaken. If something is coming the other way, there are even more horns and swerving, which always result in the smaller vehicle getting out of the way, great when you are on a bus !! But being on the road is noisy, good earplugs are recommended.
- I have never seen so many donkey and carts on roads anywhere, ever. In cities, on major roads, carts, small trucks and flocks of sheep, cover a large percentage of the traffic. (Note: This I expect this is Xinjiang province specific).
- Noone understands what i am trying to say when I try to speak Chinese
- Bananas are cheaper here than in Kyrgyzstan
- So is beer ;) 3 yuan (30 euro cents) for a bottle, around the same as Uzbekistan but....
- Better still beer comes in bottles of 620 ml here
- Hotel rooms have nice little packs of hygiene products like shampoo, bath foam, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste. Yes, ok you get that in Europe too, but not when you are paying around 4-8 US dollars for a bed or room.
- Nice to see people dancing and doing Tai chi in squares and parks around town.
- What is so special about sheep's heads, it doesn't look like there is anything appetising or nourishing on them to eat, but still they stand there on sticks staring at you at Uighur food stalls.
- In Kashgar (especially on Sunday, the big market day) I saw a number of cow's heads lying around the streets, mmmmmm
- China mobile's network (incidentally the mobile network with the most subscribers in the world !) gives amazing coverage, in the mountains, at remote lakes, and even in the Taklamakan desert, you get a signal !!