Fireworks and Yellow Taxis

Just a couple of other follow up stories from trip to Beijing. First I'll talk about fireworks. I was watching CNN this afternoon, and saw that one of the hotels in Beijing went up in flames. The hotel itself was in the process of being constructed, but it sounds like the cause of the blaze was fireworks being set off by a neighboring company/building.

This was in connection with Lantern Festival, which is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. On this day (and to certain extent throughout Chinese New Year) fireworks are set off to scare away spirits, in hopes of improving the fortune and luck for a home or business. (I have had previous experience with Lantern Festival here in Taiwan that was wild, and probably one of the craziest sights I have seen in Taiwan. I could share more at some point if you are interested). Anyway, I guess the neighboring building had paid people to sit and set off fireworks, and some of these ignited that hotel.

This piece of news reminded me of my stay in Beijing, because during my stay I was continually hearing the sounds of fireworks. Most notably was outside of my hotel. Here the firworks were set off nearly every night. They were loud and located literally right outside of my window. The fireworks were like fireworks that one would see at a city show on the Fourth of July, except probably a little smaller. Either way, they were defnitely bigger than bottle rockets or sparklers. The fireworks were continually being shot one after another with only seconds in between explosions...and many times being shot without any break in between. This lasted hours, and even into the night past 10:00 pm. I am not exactly sure when they stopped because I usually fell asleep right away. I do know once I woke up at 4am, and they were not being shot then.

So nothing terribly profound from this story, but it is another memory from the trip.

The other part of this post is going to focus on mine and Kevin's rides to and from the High Speed Railway Station. We took the fast high-speed train to get to and from the airport. The station is about a half an hour from school and we took taxis to get there.

On the way to Beijing, we had a taxi driver who was playing English music. This is actually not too uncommon, as I have had cab drivers change the music to an English station or cd when I rode. I presume this is because I am an American. Either way, this man's cd had Amazing Grace on it. I asked him if he knew what the words were or if he knew the meaning of the song. He replied that he did not, as he can't really understand English. I proceeded to tell him that it is a song talking about God's grace and love in Jesus. We did not have time to get into a big conversation, but as Kevin and I left the taxi, we reminded him that Jesus loved him. Praise God for these simple ways to witness in every day life!

On the return trip, we got into a cab of a man who had previously driven our roommate, Michael Vogel. He obviously knew we were being dropped off at Concordia, and then asked if we knew someone named "Way Ming" (this is Michael's Chinese name). I responded that he was our roommate, and we all got a kick out of it. He had remembered Michael because Michael has the same last name as him...I suppose the fact that Micahel was an American speaking Chinese and heading to Concorida helped as well, but either way it made for a fun cabride.

When we got to campus the driver gave us door-to-door service, driving into campus and dropping us off right outside our house. He helped us get our bags out of the trunk and wished us a good day.

Two great cab rides to book-end a great trip!