接上次
They never asked where I was taking the Jeep Cherokee. The rental contract specifically forbade drivers from leaving the Beijing region, but I decided to ignore this rule; they wouldn't figure
it out until I returned the Jeep with a loaded odometer. in China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truth is that forgiveness comes easier than permission。
The Jeep was the biggest vehicle on the lot, a Cherokee 7250, and they gave me a special price of $US30 a day. It was white, with purple detailing along the sides; the doors were decorated with the English words "City Special". The name was accurate the thing would be worthless in roughter rain, because it was strictly rear wheel drive. I figured that if I got stuck in the Gobi or ran into other problems, I'd have to rely on the assistance of other drivers.
And some of the questions I had seen on the written Chinese driver's exam
weren't exactly reassure
No 1441: "If you seen accident and the people need help, you should
a) continue driving;
b) stop, do what you can to help and contact the police;
c) stop, see if the people offer a reward, and then help"
At any rate, if things got hard in the west I could always call Mr Zhang, the Feng shui master. On his business card he offered to toll "the cars and trucks" - service No 22, listed between "collecting bones" and "playing horns and drums".
_end_
This is an edited extract from Country Driving; A Journey through China from Farm to Factory,
by Peter Hessler (Text Publishing, $36,95),
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发表于 2010-4-28 20:48:44
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