Transportation Woes

First off, I'm about to post for the second time in a week, which I think is officially the high water mark of this blog. Maybe I can start writing short, somewhat focused entries so I post more often, though the odds of that happening are very low. I'm going to continue the transportation theme so it allows for quicker posts for now since I still haven't written that paper I mentioned in the last post.
Anyways, drivers in China are fucking insane; getting into any type of motor transportation involves risking death (by the way, I just want to point out that semi-colon, I'm guessing in no other blog will you see semi-colons, this just affirms the quality of my posts, yet I digress again...). One specific time riding in a cab during rush hour (note: rush hour in Beijing during weekdays is from 8-8. If you want to get anywhere and plan on using street transportation, budget for extra time or you will be significantly late), the road was crowded, yet our cabby decided that every possible opening in the road presented a challenge/opportunity. In a 30 minute cab ride, I'm fairly certain we didn't stay in asingle lane for more than 30 seconds. And this wasn't smooth transition, directional signal lane changes. Instead they were swerve at full speed into the next lane in an attempt to hit every other car on the road. I'm fairly convinced driving in Beijing is just one giant game on chicken and they've decided not to tell foreigners just so we shit ourselves. At one point, we swerved across all four lanes on the road, normally dangerous on a clear highway, LET ALONE DURING RUSH HOUR. I almost had a heart attack. And that isn't even the closest I came to dying in China.
While crossing streets is a whole new post, I'll share one story about the insanity of drivers. One time Alex and I were walking to McDonald's (because at one point in China I was eating there at least 5x a week. Real healthy, I know), and were stopped at an intersection, at the corner, waiting for the light to turn so we could walk (after being in China, I'm now a pro at crossing streets. Nothing in America scares me anymore. I should have been hit by cars many times, even getting pulled off the street at several points because I wasn't paying attention. Lesson being, always look two ways). We weren't directly at the corner, but several feet back because there were two girls in front of us at the curb. Directly behind us was a giant clothing mall where you can bargain for cheap wares, and they got shipments several times a day or stolen/counterfeit goods. Anyway, a truck goes through the intersection, comes up to the corner where these two girls are standing and just holds down the horn and creeps up on them. And this wasn't just a beep. I mean he literally held down the fucking horn for 30 seconds until he got their attention, creeping up the whole time until he practically ran them over. Finally they realize, he wants to drive on the fucking sidewalk to get to the market. So the whole sidewalk has to clear the way so this douche can drive in a pedestrian area. When he drives by, no dui bu qi ("sorry") no acknowledgement or wave. Just speeds by like we're the assholes. So yea, be thankful that people don't drive on the sidewalks in America.