Another thing is the fact that when people have crashes/fender benders (thankfully they are mostly low-speed because of heavy traffic), they don’t move their cars because there are no clear rules on who’s at fault, and so we must wait for the police. UGH! If you hit the guy in front, you’re at fault, period. Now move your cars aside, swap information and get moving!

I think the long commutes are also hampered by the city being poorly planned out. It’s too focused on every type of activity being too heavily focused in one part of the city. They want all the business done around CBD, but everyone is supposed to be living in these designated residential areas…have you been on line 5 during rush hour? It’s impossible because everyone piles in at one stop and stays on until the last stop, so you can’t get on or off anywhere in between! Line 2 is the exception

The second one is the tipping. I’m fully aware that servers and people in related jobs get TERRIBLE pay, and so come to rely on tips. But what I can’t understand is the way that the same servers do their best to make customers feel bad for not tipping “enough” (or at all), even when the service is terrible. They should be taking up their pay issues with their bosses, not with customers! If I don’t feel it was worth a tip, then I shouldn’t have to pay one! Europe has a good balance on tipping, and the heart of the matter is that when restaurant workers don’t get tips, they reflect on whether or not it’s because the diner’s experience was good enough or not. The vast majority of people will tip when they have a good time. I certainly do. I gave a bartender in London a 4.80 tip on a 15.20 round of drinks because he was just superb to us and everyone else all evening. He wasn’t even my type!

Tipping is on the increase in China, anyway. More people now are getting a really great dining experience, and also get used to the idea from traveling to foreign countries. It has been quite common practice in nightclubs to tip waiters since as early as 2006-7, and now you see it a lot more in fancy restaurants. Nowhere near like America, though, but it’s a first step.