It's Scooter Time!!

This weekend I got a scooter. 

Kidding! I don't think I'd fit in this...

Scooters are all the rage here. If you have a car, you are rich. A license plate for a vehicle is $25,000 and that's in USD! You can find some that are cheaper, but they are restricted and can only go to certain parts of the city at certain times. Also, foreigners are not allowed to own vehicles.

Meanwhile, scooters are a hot commodity. 

I test drove the bright pink one on the right. It was too tiny for me.

Pam, who first connected me with SMIC, told me she had a scooter while she was here. That's all it took. I wanted a scooter and stat! I was told to wait a few months though. In case you didn't know, walking and biking and driving and anything basically outside of a building is dangerous here. Every man for himself. 

Every day I cross two large roads on my way to work. Everyday I nearly get mauled by scooters. Thus, I've decided I'd much rather be a scooter on my way to maul someone than be that someone nearly getting mauled! Quite logical, right?

Remember my last post when I mention things change on a dime here?

The other day I was walking to work under the six lane bridge (what I refer to as my second daily near death experience) when I looked to my right and saw three rows of vehicles waiting for a green light! Apparently since I'd been here there had been construction where I was walking and what I thought was the "normal" road was a temporary road. I said some choice words then hightailed my fanny out of there! 

Again, a scooter just seems more reasonable for me.

When I've told people of my plans I've heard more "Oh you will have to be careful. It's dangerous here." Or my personal favorite: "Really? Most women are scared of scooters." Don't even. 

The first week I was here I started asking two things: 1. Do you know anyone who likes to rock climb? 2. Where can I get a good scooter?







Someone put me in touch with a gal who has a scooter so I could take it for a test drive. Then she told me to have her husband, who's Chinese, take me to get my scooter. Ben and I went a couple weekends ago and I test drove some scooters. I was quite the entertainment for a dozen men in black uniforms whom Ben says he thinks are security but they mostly just seem to stand around.





I found my new toy!

I like to think she's really a motorcycle and I'm in the movie Grease. Even though there were no women driving motorcycles in that movie. Is it too late to complain about that?

 We went back this weekend and got it. Sounds simple enough right? Here's what I've been told about life in China: Just go with it. Don't ask why. You will be happier. Do a mental shrug and say, "It's China."

That said......

We went back; it wasn't there. We were told it was in a shop ten minutes away and to get in the man's van to go there with him.  After some hesitation on Ben's part, he decided what else could we do? Ben's friend, Oliver, and Oliver's son, Sebastian joined us this time. I got in Oliver's car while Ben rode with the scooter shop dude. 




















FORTY minutes later we arrived at the obscure shed down a shady alleyway. There was a scraggly barking dog there with the freakiest eyes I've ever seen. Ben turned away and Oliver put his son back into his car. I watched that dog like a hawk and made a mental note to find out where to update my shots.

Scooter shop dude decided to wait to call his friend who had the shed key until we arrived at the shed. We waited another THIRTY minutes. He tried breaking into the shed, which also didn't make sense beings how he had hundreds of thousands yuan in there. We didn't ask. 

Ben just kept saying, "Get a picture." I'm learning that even Chinese people are speechless by their culture at times. That's equally encouraging and discouraging in helping with culture shock.

His buddy came and saved the day. Only to find my scooter was not in that shed, but was in a different shed! I pulled out my phone and re-showed him the picture I'd taken a couple weeks ago, gesturing that THAT was the one I wanted not any of the other ones. I sat on the ones he tried to sell me showing him they were obviously too small for me.

Oliver had an idea of what he wanted and found a scooter in the shed right away. The men threw it (more or less) into the back of the van and told us they'd meet us at the shop with my scooter as well as Oliver's. 

Ben wanted me to sit on this for a pic.

It was the Rolls Royce of scooters.

Sebastian thought the scooter was pretty cool.

We got back to the shop and there was what appeared to be Oliver's scooter but it was dingy. Then there was a scooter that looked like mine except Ben pointed out it was a different model. Of course.

We all thought we'd have to go through this ordeal again the next day! Oliver said he was fine with the less shiny scooter but I wanted the one I wanted. (I'll work on compromising later). Thankfully the men were super understanding. I'm fairly certain Ben has a crush on my scooter so he was REALLY wanting me to get it.

Shop owner dude pulled up in his van several minutes later with what we thought was Oliver's scooter. Instead it was my scooter!! Don't ask questions. Just go with it. 

Oliver ended up going with the scooter that was similar to mine and I got the one I wanted!

I drove it home without a license plate (I'll get that today. So in China time it probably means one month from now). As I was navigating bikers, scooters, and parked taxis I was thinking of what I'd learned from Oliver: 

"The scooters we are getting today are not technically legal. You will learn that legality does not mean a lot here. But the license plates we get will be legal. So that's good." Okayyyyyyy. 

Remember: Just go with it. Don't ask why. You will be happier. Do a mental shrug and say, "It's China."

Along those lines, I didn't know where to put my shiny new toy the first night so I took it in the elevator with me and brought it up to my apartment! My neighbors were none too thrilled with me when I accidentally hit the wrong button and it loudly spouted off something in mandarin to me. That's okay, I'm none too thrilled with them leaving their door open all day and my hearing the clanging of their dishes.

The next day I figured it out. My apartment complex has a garage complete with a place to park and plug in my scooter! Cool!

Except I was late to a meeting because I got lost for fifteen minutes trying to find the ramp to get outside! All I saw were arrows and characters which clearly meant something, but of what I was not sure. On the up side: I now know my parking garage REALLY well, the security men probably had a huge laugh watching me on their monitors, and I got some good practice in driving my scooter!