Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

Beijing - a developing city with pace and power, has over 5 million cars.  Although limits have been put on new car purchases, it is not difficult to spot brand new luxurious cars zooming in and out of the capital city. 

Correction, I shouldn't use the word "zooming", "stuck in second gear" is more like it. 

I was stuck in traffic jam on a bus for a good 30 minutes today and that wasn't even at rush hours.  I overheard a passenger behind me say "I will meet you some time between 4-5pm". 

Wow, he was granted with an hour's buffer!   The person on the other side of the phone was certainly generous. 

I wonder if all Beijingers are that forgiving.   I mean seriously, can they afford to be 30 minutes late for an exam?   Do they get to tee off 45 minutes later when they are supposed to arrive by 9am?   Can they just blame the heavy traffic whenever they run late for a job interview or a client's meeting? 

Who needs an accurate time piece when planning of time around the clock is freakingly out of control anyway?


Never underestimate how bad Beijing traffic and how crowded public transport can be.  It really takes TIME (and plenty of irritants) to get from one place to another. 

A perfect place to train my patience nonetheless.