Brazil and China

Just recommendations

The question of the day is: What do China and Brazil have in common?

No, it is not that both are emerging markets that are growing at an incredible speed, or that I already visited both countries. It is also not that both have almost the same size (but China has about 6.5 times more people!), or that both are the largest countries in their continent. It is also not about the fact that the Great Wall of China is longer than the border of Brazil, or that Brazil has more than 8 times more airports than China.

This blog post is about the fact that the cab drivers in both countries are simply insane. Some might remember I wrote a lot about cabs when I was in China (sorry, German only), and I am about to do the same here in Brazil. Traffic is so much different compared to Austria – when there is some space it is immediately filled with a car. Motorcycles are passing through driving cars (!!) like they are traffic cones with an amazing speed. And last but not least the cab drivers seem to play Need for Speed in their spare time. At night red lights are basically a recommendation to slow down (and eventually horn), but there is no reason to stop.

Another example is the sign in the image on the right – what does it mean? Obviously that you are not allowed to turn left, but again, just a recommendation that must not be followed at all.

So I am glad we all made it safe to the “highly recommended” dancing place (thanks Daniel for taking us there!) and back home again (via a stop at the King of Pastels)…. to be continued…

#ibmcsc brazil

(Comparison based on the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia)