I saw my opening. I pedaled hard and weaved left, then back to the right…Hard on the brakes as a scooter wiped by, then back on the pedal hard. Plenty of room as a car passes behind me. Well the left is done…now for the right. A couple of mopeds, a three-wheeled bike, and a red car. Piece of cake.

I roll out as the mopeds  go by, then hard on the pedal again. I have tons of time as I go in front of the red car….Then I see him pop out from behind the red car. I’m looking down the barrel of a late model VW taxi and he has his foot in it. I smile and think, “He’s got me…Well played sir, well played.” I pedal hard out of the seat. It’s a race for the sidewalk and he’s drifting my way with his horn blaring. One final pedal and a little lean. He misses me by inches…and I think he’s laughing! Pretty standard really. There is definitely an art to crossing the street here. It’s a game of inches and timing. I honestly don’t think they want to hit you, but they want to see how close they can get.

As a 6’2 skinny white guy, I stand out a little bit over here (as we all do) and not to mention riding a bike with big red panniers.I think they just want to welcome you by scaring the crap out you with a huge truck. But you find yourself getting used to it and embracing it….It becomes a game to see how close you come or you see a hole in traffic and you say, “I can make that.”

In the beginning a rule to live by was do what the Chinese do. If you are crossing the street on foot and you see a Chinese person crossing the same street, get in that person’s pocket. However, after awhile you get the timing down. As the intersections get crazier, stay with the Chinese. They play this game everyday!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm and is filed under camera corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.