Now things over here are cheap. I think I established that with the information that my hotel room, with hot running water, is a mere 17 pounds a night. It turns out that a three bedroom flat with views of the river here in Chongqing will cost a whopping 26,000 in sterling. As I know people whose debt in overdrafts and occasional loans equals almost this much, I tell you not to worry. Buying a flat here would mean living in a place with, as colleague Simon tells me from his research, ten times the advised safe level of sulphur dioxide in the air - that'll be what the taste is whenever I eat. Interestingly though, this isn't the worst place polluted place in China. Apparently it ranks as a lowly 10th.
However, it's not that they aren't trying to reduce the pollution levels here. 
For example, all the taxis run on liquid gas. The scintillating picture to the right shows a cab I was in filling up at a taxi 'gas station'. Naturally we had to vacate the vehicle for safety reasons during the process. Taxis are also cheap. Very cheap. The journey to the teacher training college each morning takes about 15 - 20 minutes and costs just under a pound (14 RMB). Balancing this however, is the cost in nerves and worry if you have the misfortune to open your eyes and look around you. It's been a while since I drove, but doesn't it go something like "look, signal, manoeuvre"? Here it appears to be "manoeuvre and get out the way or be damned". The taxis, as a result, look unlikely to pass their next MOT but they do run, and often very fast. While riding in these taxis, I've often thought of those wonderful UK road safety adverts - the ones about wearing seatbelts and letting the road break you're fall. Well, without seatbelts to hand, I've often imagined myself flying through the windscreen into the car in front. Not that this concerns me, of course, as I'd be sure to die pretty quickly and painlessly if it were to happen, mainly owing to the speed being travelled and also because I'd be bound to be squashed by one of the many other road users. Pleasant thoughts.
For example, all the taxis run on liquid gas. The scintillating picture to the right shows a cab I was in filling up at a taxi 'gas station'. Naturally we had to vacate the vehicle for safety reasons during the process. Taxis are also cheap. Very cheap. The journey to the teacher training college each morning takes about 15 - 20 minutes and costs just under a pound (14 RMB). Balancing this however, is the cost in nerves and worry if you have the misfortune to open your eyes and look around you. It's been a while since I drove, but doesn't it go something like "look, signal, manoeuvre"? Here it appears to be "manoeuvre and get out the way or be damned". The taxis, as a result, look unlikely to pass their next MOT but they do run, and often very fast. While riding in these taxis, I've often thought of those wonderful UK road safety adverts - the ones about wearing seatbelts and letting the road break you're fall. Well, without seatbelts to hand, I've often imagined myself flying through the windscreen into the car in front. Not that this concerns me, of course, as I'd be sure to die pretty quickly and painlessly if it were to happen, mainly owing to the speed being travelled and also because I'd be bound to be squashed by one of the many other road users. Pleasant thoughts. It would also seem that the drivers of the cabs are prepared at all times for a case of road rage as they encase themselves in metal cages.
Nothing that a determined hand with a knife wouldn't be able to deal with, but a cage none the less. I admit that I've only been in Chongqing for six days, but I haven't seen the need for them yet. More important are car jacks, as it's every taxi ride I take that I pass yet another de-wheeled taxi waiting for repair. Having been in a moving car when the wheel's come off, I know it's both exhilarating and unnerving. I can only wait until fate deems it appropriate for me, and my colleagues, to experience this again.
Nothing that a determined hand with a knife wouldn't be able to deal with, but a cage none the less. I admit that I've only been in Chongqing for six days, but I haven't seen the need for them yet. More important are car jacks, as it's every taxi ride I take that I pass yet another de-wheeled taxi waiting for repair. Having been in a moving car when the wheel's come off, I know it's both exhilarating and unnerving. I can only wait until fate deems it appropriate for me, and my colleagues, to experience this again.Then there's the 'dog eat dog' way you hail a cab. Queues and " 'scuse me, mate, I think I was before you"s are not to be found. Just stand in front of the other punter until there's a line of about 6 or 7 out in the road and then the taxi will stop for the furtherest person out. Or else knock you down, in which case they'd probably stop then, anyway.
But it's not all bad in the cabs, no, not at all. Of the more pleasant things, there's a little automated welcome to the cab in Chinese and then in English:
"Hello Passenger. Welcome to 'Take my Taxi'".
There's also one when you leave, which goes:
"Remember to take the things you didn't take with you"
Charming. They also, mostly, change the seat covers every day so that you're welcomed by relevant information and should you be suffering from an almighty hangover, 
you don't even need to think about the day. This is only a problem when they don't change the covers, as this can really screw with your head, as happened to me when I as particularly tired on Wednesday. The cynical here have said that one reason for this changing is to reduce the chance of scabies, as they can't live without human flesh for more than five days, apparently. Lovely.
you don't even need to think about the day. This is only a problem when they don't change the covers, as this can really screw with your head, as happened to me when I as particularly tired on Wednesday. The cynical here have said that one reason for this changing is to reduce the chance of scabies, as they can't live without human flesh for more than five days, apparently. Lovely.And work? It was exam day today and I had to put on my serious 'Cambridge exam face' to try and prevent the little naughties from cheating. They're all teachers but you'd think they were delinquents by the secret little ways they were trying to see each other's papers, pass notes and speak to each other. I took a book with me, as any good invigilator knows is wise, but not a chance did I get to read it as I was too busy patrolling and preventing bags and phones from coming out. Who'd have 'Adam and Eved it', eh? Remind me to tell you about a couple of good names, too - not the Chinese ones but the English ones they choose for themselves.
Right, time to pack up and head for Wuhan: Stage 2 on this five part journey.
