One of the great things about living in China is the unpredictability of things. Quite frankly, you never know what you’re going to see, and just when you think you’ve seen it all, you see something else that makes you do a double-take and ask, "did I really see what I think I just saw?"
I’ve written this before, but one of the things I don’t like about life in the States is the dull predictability of it all. We’ve so regulated our lives and made everything so uniform, that there are absolutely no surprises left anymore. What a pity.
Well, here I am in the Middle Kingdom, and once again I saw something that made me chuckle. Earlier this evening my teammate and I were in a cab on the Third Ring Road, on our way home from a run to IKEA. We were chatting away about what I can’t remember, when both of us at the same time caught a glimpse of a strange vehicle up ahead. As our taxi passed it, we got a good look at it, and at the same time said aloud, "A combine??? On the Third Ring Road????" Mind you I’ve never seen a combine in a field in China, let alone on one of Beijing’s main arteries! But the fun was only beginning. There were, in fact three combines chugging along down the Third Ring Road! On a Wednesday evening. Where were they coming from? Where were they going? Alas, we’ll never know! Never mind. We had a good chuckle.
