How about some mood lighting?

As you've probably heard, driving in China is not like driving in the US. I've been told that it would be hard for Americans to drive in China. I don't agree with that. I think it would be easy to drive in China. All you have to do is take away most of the rules. You can basically drive anyway you want.

Each company that I visit provides a driver to pick me up from the hotel to take me to their factory. Things accomplished in the first week:

• Running a red light, which really is tame compared to everything else. It was funny that three police officers on motorcycles watched us run the red light.
  
• Driving on the wrong side of the street so we're driving into oncoming traffic (which saved us a lot of time I have to admit)
  
• Driving on a sidewalk. No one on the sidewalk seemed to think it was odd, including the pedestrians we almost killed.

For the first few days, I was sure I was going to be in a car wreck. Now, if the driver isn't squeezing himself into impossible spaces, he's not trying hard enough and I'm disappointed.

Other things I've noticed about driving:

• For as "independent" as people drive, there are very few accidents.
• People don't really speed either. They just want to be moving.
• I have yet to see a gas station. I know they must exist. If anyone figures out that putting one off of a major road would be a good idea, they'll really be rich.

Honking is very normal in Shenzhen driving, but is viewed upon differently than in the US. In the US, if someone honked at you, you're one step away from road rage (or maybe that's just me). In China, honking is typically just a way to tell your fellow drivers that you're coming around and they shouldn't do anything stupid.

There aren't a lot of bicycles in Shenzhen. Certainly, not the same amount as you may see in Beijing. The local economy is good enough that a decent number of people can buy a car of some sort (many cars do expel huge black clouds of exhaust).

The drivers I've had so far vary. One was really impatient and would yell a lot. Most were pretty calm. Most drove without the radio on. One drove listening to talk radio. Tonight however, I was in for a treat. My driver put on some pop music station where he was 'jamming' to what I can only call a Chinese Britney Spears. He seemed to enjoy it too. He was bouncing his head with the music like someone I know.

Because they usually deal with a lot of customers, most companies provide minivans for their drivers. Inside one of them was ceiling light with the following four options: on, off, door, or mood. I really wanted to see what would happen if I set the lighting to mood, but the driver wasn't my type.