After our sightseeing days in Beijing, we flew to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China.  Chengdu would be our home base for the next 4 weeks while studying at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is known for being a manageable Chinese city because of its compact size with only 12 million inhabitants.  After we checked into our room at the Haoge Business Hotel, I looked out our window and was awed by the traffic at the intersection below. I opened the window and suddenly, the chaotic movements of the pedestrians, cars, motorbikes, and buses combined with the horns and the jack hammer drove me into sensory overload.  In that moment, I realized I was experiencing my first bout of culture shock, doubting my ability to live for the next month with that kind of assault to my senses on a daily basis.  Over the next few weeks, however, watching the traffic from that intersection became a gauge of cultural immersion. I started to discover some order to the madness.  But trusting in the controlled chaos as a pedestrian proved to be harder than viewing it from above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80WrpHOQXZM&feature=youtu.be