What's in my China bag?

Last week I stumbled upon the writings of Derrick Story, a reporter assigned to Beijing, who wants to remain light, mobile and yet well-equipped. He shares the details of his collection of must-have electronic gadgetry in Assignment Olympics: What's in the Bag. Combing through his narrative after just taking a (very short) walk in the Wisconsin woods about an hour before sunrise, reminds of what is missing from his list.

I am walking down a fresh cut, made into the forest by a road-making crew. It is absolutely dark and I discover a large, unexpected rock in the middle of what I expected to be a smooth bulldozer-graded pathway. I immediately remember my winter in China and slow down, heighten my senses and begin to choose each step with conscious intent and focus. Pay attention! A few more steps and I discover an ankle-breaking hole, but because I am alert and moving much like a person without sight, I sense the hole with my foot and avoid stepping into it.

This is how you learn to walk in China. Assume that nothing is safe when it comes to sidewalks, stairs, streets and pathways. You will soon learn to take each step with a heightened sense of awareness... or accidents may happen.

In Shanghai I was delighted to see so many people riding silent, electric, two-wheeled scooters. At night, the frugal Chinese save battery power by turning off their headlights as they whisk down the narrow crowded streets at more than 25kph. You quickly learn to pay attention to each and every step you take. There are occasional holes in the sidewalks and pipes sticking out here and there.

In Dali, a small and ancient city where I lived at the base of a range of mountains, there are streams that run alongside most of the streets, downhill from west to east. There are no fences or guard railings to keep you from stepping off the edge, falling 1 - 4 feet into the gurgling waters. That would make it harder for people to wash their clothes or vegetables.
China has been working at a blistering pace to prepare Beijing for an influx of foreigners. Many of the old public toilets in the hutongs of the city have been torn down and replaced with new modern facilities. Within a few months all of the prostitutes on my street disappeared, the pirate music shops put away their catalogs of bootleg CDs and the street vendors, selling the latest Hollywood blockbuster DVDs for less than a buck, are gone.

I still wonder how many foreigners, coming from the "developed" world, where fear of law suits insures a high level of attention paid to public safety, will discover how much they take for granted. What's in my China bag? A wind-up powered, LED flashlight and a small, thin pocket knife are two of the things I never left home without.

The air in Beijing never bothered me but those who are concerned can now check the Daily Air Quality Monitoring Map. Richard Spencer explains the pollution tracking methods used to create the map.

Here's another useful set of maps for those seeking to comprehend the new building layout in Beijings Olympic center: BBC Sport's Olympic Map.