Sinkhole kills one in Shenzhen near my home

It rained in Shenzhen for three days straight prior to my departure from the city on Wednesday. This is the result:

A massive sinkhole apparently brought on by heavy rain opened up in Shezhen, China, swallowing a security guard alive and causing nearby residents to evacuate. Yang Jiabin, 25, was walking in the Futian district near new construction yesterday afternoon when the ground gave way beneath him, opening into a 26 foot-wide, 52 foot-deep crater; despite the quick arrival of rescue workers, he reportedly died on-scene.

Futian is the district I live in. Scary. 

By the way, why does it seem so difficult for foreign journalists to correct spell 'Shenzhen?' Roughly half of the news articles I read about my city misspell its name. 

Dear inexperienced Chinese drivers: stop crashing Ferraris already

Take two outrageously expensive super cars, put them in the hands of inexperienced drivers, and add rain to one of the most dangerous highways in all of China... what results is a great receipt for nothing but heartache and disaster. The above and below photos is the outcome of such a receipt being unleashed in Shaanxi, China. 

Instead of simply adding stupid dragon decals, Ferrari should instead think about reducing the horsepower of their China-bound vehicles by about 50 percent and speed-limiting them to 75 miles per hour. It's a first step to avoiding incidents such as this and this. 

Have I ever eaten food made with 'gutter oil?' Probably...

Some of my friends can't go one meal here without talking about 'gutter oil' and wondering if it's in the food they are currently chowing down on. For other foreigners (and even some Chinese), it's a reason to stay away from smaller, local Chinese restaurants. It's like a ghost that you think might be haunting your food but have no way of proving. 

I was surprised to wake up and find an article in USA Today that not only discusses food safety in China, but makes direct mention of gutter oil:

For months, authorities have cracked down on "gutter oil," used cooking oil dredged from the gutters outside restaurants and resold. Today, the term refers to any illegal oil, such as the stuff made from rotting animal parts in Zhejiang province and from industrial fats used for soap in Yunnan.

While the possible use of this oil hasn't stopped me completely from eating at the small local restaurants surrounding my apartment, I have found myself more and more eating fruit from a local market and meals originating at Western restaurants or larger Chinese restaurant chains. In the past I've generally eaten just about anything here, no matter the state of the kitchen but even I have been evolving my eating habits as new food scares arise. 

Unfortunately in China, I can't even be sure if the fruit I'm eating is completely safe. Guess you can't have it all; America has a lack of jobs and China has a lack of food safety. Nothing's perfect.

More on China train safety

So who to blame now for the July crash of two high-speed trains? 

The bulk of the responsibility has been assigned to one dead guy and another who's already in jail, limiting political fallout.

I'll have to speak more to my Chinese friends before I decide if it's safe enough to use the high-speed trains over air travel in the next few months. 

Riding in a back of a pickup

Qingdao, China

This is why aggressive highway driving doesn't necessarily lead to accidents.

Why? 60 km/h (37 mph) speed limit on the highways. This is why I'm afraid to drive on the highways when I'm back in the US. The sensation of speed becomes scary after getting used to Chinese highway driving. There are even other zones on the pictured highway that drop the speed limit to 40 km/h.