Living Inside the Tiger Gate

My home is in Humen Town which means "Tiger Gate" in Chinese. It is located about half way between Hong Kong and Guangzhou and lies on the Pearl River about the place the river ceases and opens to the estuary/bay that empties into the South China Sea. I live in a small fishing village and every day and night there is a steady stream of small fishing boats going and coming. Most are powered by one cylinder diesel engines and have a distinct pop-pop-pop especially at 3 A.M. However, most of the time it is very quiet and peaceful around my house. However that can't be said for Humen Town.

Traffic accounts for most of the noise in town and traffic consists of buses (more than you could even imagine), taxis, cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles and hand carts. All of them have some type of noise maker. Some of the buses have horns that will peel the hide right off of your body. Even the hand carts have a can or piece of steel that the driver continuously strikes with a steel rod or long bolt as he walks along the street. Add to the noise organized mass confusion and you have a mental picture of what a busy street sounds like.

There is NO concept of "right of way" here. There are no stop signs. The biggest thinks he has the right to go first and usually does. From there on down to the lowly pedestrian who is at the bottom of the food chain. Never think that a pedestrian has the right of way or will receive any courtesy from any drivers. This could be a fatal or painful assumption. Never assume that all the traffic on the north bound lane is going north. You WILL get run over because motorbikes and bikes are really bad about traveling the other direction but sometimes and fairly often even buses will go the wrong way. Never assume that sidewalks are for walking. You will be chastised by a motorbike driver for not knowing that he/she has slipped up behind you and is angry that you will not move over and let them pass or worse, get clipped by their handlebars as they attempt to weave between the many people walking on the sidewalks. Might makes right!

In addition to the traffic noise there are cell phone shops that have huge speakers on the sidewalks in front of their stores blaring music or someone giving a sales pitch with a microphone routed through the speakers or....both at the same time. Also, understand that often these shops are about every 100 feet.

Language is a huge barrier both in speaking and reading. Most restaurants do not have menus in English and people here are fond of eating entrails of cows, pigs, chickens and even fish. Often you must resort to the point and hope method of ordering. Think about it!

However, with all that, there are wonderfully kind and friendly people here. Foreigners are treated exceptionally well, in fact, usually better than local people. I like to visit with and eat with the local people. I enjoy learning new Chinese words from them and giving them simple English lessons.

Living here can be challenging but I find most days I am happy to be here.