Short Anecdote

So I met up with one of my Chinese friends the other day to go out to dinner, but I'm not here to blog about the dinner. It was how we got to the dinner. 

Well actually, it's not so much how we got to the dinner, but what he said on the way. And yes, we did take one of those things in the picture (sorry, but I had to borrow this picture, we don't actually have a picture of one of those trikes in our library). So I meet him at the front gate of his college and there's plenty of these trike scooters ready to take you somewhere that's a bit far to walk, but too short to justify a taxi. He promptly walks up to one and asks how much it is to go to the place it is we need to go to and the driver says 4 bucks. My friend then said 3 bucks, but the driver wouldn't budge for less than 4, so we walk to the next one. In China, if you don't like the price, you walk away. Unfortunately, this next driver also wanted 4 bucks and wouldn't take the offer of 3. So we hop in that one and head on our way. My friend knew that I understood all of what just went on and he looks at me and says "Economic inflation". He needed my help to say the second word, but I knew what he meant. And it made me laugh. Even rickshaws aren't exempt from a troubled world economy. At any rate, it was a fun ride if you enjoy cutting off traffic, riding on the opposite side of the road, and flying through the air (ok, I lied about the flying through air part). 

Now, just for fun, here's a picture of what one Mini-Cooper dealership in Beijing did to prepare for the Olympics.

Now that's what I call mini. (And yes, it's pedal power)

Until next time.

Jason