that would not happen in NYC. For example:
--Saturday night we got kicked off the subway. At 11:20pm! Because the subways no longer run after that time of night! Unfortunately, we were on the equivalent of the circle line, so the departure was completely random and we were no where near our destination. Being the helpful city that it is, we then had to venture out into the street and find a cab to go the rest of the way home, because buses don't run after that time either. Wth! What happens to people who need to get somewhere at night and don't have enough money for a cab?? Definitely one of the sucky things about Beijing is this oversight in transportation needs, compounded with the fact that Beijing is a HUGE SPRAWLING METROPOLIS.
--The cab Cheng and I ended up taking was actually a funny thing in itself. We finally managed to hail it and there was already a guy sitting in the front seat next to the driver. The driver then explained that the guy was his old friend, and if we didn't mind, he could give us a ride while he and his old friend continued talking. I was like, aw cuties, and then I thought: can you imagine a taxi driver in NYC pulling up and being like, I'll take you if it's all right that my friend is sitting up here and we're having a random conversation. Oh but then it was funny because the friend dude was apparently listening to Cheng and I talk in the back and he told Cheng he liked the sound of Cheng's voice. Not that Cheng spoke well or anything, just that his voice sounded good. Hilarious.
--The coat check at the dance club/bar was free! What?? Insanity.
--Also the best part was right next to the club (called Propaganda with a big pink star on the front, which is pretty great by itself) is a 7/11 and if you want, you can simply waltz into the 7/11, buy a beer, drink it on the curb, and then head back into the club for some more dancing. China is sweet like that.
--Speaking of waltzing, when we went to Houhai earlier that day there was a random waltz dancing street show going on. It looked like people had just set up a boombox with some waltz music and were having at it. Impromptu street waltzing in NYC? Not very likely... except maybe somewhere in Brooklyn.
So maybe I should back up an explain how Saturday went: rode bus to Qinghua, rode bike to Cheng's dorm, had lunch with Cheng's friend, took taxi to meet Cathy at Nanluoguxiang, went back to Cathy's hotel near Houhai, had dinner with a bunch of people at a restaurant overlooking the lake, took a cab to Silk Market, took subway to Wangfujin but the night market was already closed so we took the subway back to Wudaokou and met up with people at Propaganda.
Needless to say that was an exhausting day in which we managed to take all forms of transportation around the city except rickshaw or electric bike (the boats at Houhai don't count cuz you just row them in circles). Sunday was rainy so I practiced some Daoist wuwei philosophy (aka sat on my butt all day) and now it's back to the school grind. But: Shanghai this coming weekend!
Showing posts with label taxi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxi. Show all posts
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Olympics were here, did you know?
This past weekend I went online and bought some tickets for the Olympics for Wednesday morning. Only... I thought we weren't supposed to have class on Wednesday, but it turns out we still have our morning class, so since the tickets were for the marathon from 7.30 am till 11.45 am, this was a problem. But no matter, class doesn't start till 9.30 so we thought we'd go check it out anyway.
Sure thing, except then we had to find out where to pick up the tickets, since you can't just get them at the venue the day of. That would be too easy. So Tuesday after class we set out to the nearest Bank of China to pick up the tickets, our Chinese teacher having told us that was where to go. NBD, we rode our bikes like 5 mins and were there. Except they told us no, we could not pick up tickets there, only certain Bank of Chinas had the tickets. They told us to walk 200 meters to the next closest bank, we could get it there. Right.
So we start walking and still aren't seeing it, so we ask a group of people sitting outside their apartment complex. Sure enough, they are happy to help us out, because when in China if you ask for directions, a committee must form to help you out. (Note: I couldn't remember the world for bank, so my description was (and I'll translate this for Amy) "the china change money place" and they figured out we needed a bank). Anyway, the consensus was "Nei biar" as it always is, so we kept walking.
Turns out the bank was on the second floor of some mall around the corner of the street (aka not at all easy to find) and when we get there the lady tells us "Oh, BEFORE you could get tickets here, but NOW you can't." Luckily she calls someone who tells us in English that we need to go to this other bank and that this bank for sure has tickets.
Ah! So we try three different cabs and the third one finally knows the bank address that we give him. We get there and praise Jesus there's an actual window that says "Beijing Olympic Tickets." But of course, my luck being what it is, I apparently typed my passport number in wrong when I registered online so I had to re-buy the tickets. No great monetary loss, but still annoying.
Oh, it gets better. On our way back, it started raining. And then, pouring. And as we were truthfully warned, when it rains in Beijing it is impossible to get a taxi... but that was exactly what we needed. Well we ended up walking like 200 meters on the side of a busy highway (in the wrong direction, I might add) before we finally captured a cab that was letting some lady off. Only, the lady wouldn't get out of the car because it was raining! We were standing there, huddling in the rain and wind, glaring at her, but she took her sweet sweet time getting out. Ah! And then the taxi driver was like, "But, BeiWai campus is right behind us" and I was like "Well, we would walk there, but it's raining, so drive" or something to that effect. I mean, can you imagine a cabbie telling you to get out and walk in a storm because the place you need to go "isn't that far behind us"??? Crazy. And for the record, the walk would not have been a quick one.
We finally got back like 3 hours after we set out, victorious but soaking. Then we had cooking club, which was of course fun because our Chinese teachers were there and they are adorable. Plus we ate lots of jiaozi. Then the next morning we arose a 6 and set out for the Bird's Nest. It was really awesome being there and I'm sad we had to cut the festivities short in order to make it back to class (although we were half hour late anyway, because traffic apparently sucks again, especially around 9am). But as of last night with the closing ceremony for the Paralympics, the games are officially over! I guess all the old Beijingers are breathing a sigh of relief that life can return to its normal chaos and the cheap DVDs will reappear on the streets. But for my part, I wish the traffic and pollution restrictions weren't being lifted.
Side note: This week I started working with the 400 level Chinese teacher on extra lessons and it's going really well. Of course I have my completely dumb moments where she gives me this look of incredulity like "I have no idea what you're trying to say/you really don't know what I'm saying?" but I think it'll really be good for me. Also I have a new friend who randomly came up to me on campus and wants to help me with my Chinese. She's a recent grad looking to teach English, so her English skills are good, and we're meeting tomorrow to figure out how this language partner thing is going to work. Also, Cheng and I spoke mostly in Chinese over dinner. It was fun! Well, he did most of the talking and I did a lot of listening and nodding, but still, I think my listening skills are getting better. Bring on the Chinese (but please don't kill me with memorizing hanzi...)!
Sure thing, except then we had to find out where to pick up the tickets, since you can't just get them at the venue the day of. That would be too easy. So Tuesday after class we set out to the nearest Bank of China to pick up the tickets, our Chinese teacher having told us that was where to go. NBD, we rode our bikes like 5 mins and were there. Except they told us no, we could not pick up tickets there, only certain Bank of Chinas had the tickets. They told us to walk 200 meters to the next closest bank, we could get it there. Right.
So we start walking and still aren't seeing it, so we ask a group of people sitting outside their apartment complex. Sure enough, they are happy to help us out, because when in China if you ask for directions, a committee must form to help you out. (Note: I couldn't remember the world for bank, so my description was (and I'll translate this for Amy) "the china change money place" and they figured out we needed a bank). Anyway, the consensus was "Nei biar" as it always is, so we kept walking.
Turns out the bank was on the second floor of some mall around the corner of the street (aka not at all easy to find) and when we get there the lady tells us "Oh, BEFORE you could get tickets here, but NOW you can't." Luckily she calls someone who tells us in English that we need to go to this other bank and that this bank for sure has tickets.
Ah! So we try three different cabs and the third one finally knows the bank address that we give him. We get there and praise Jesus there's an actual window that says "Beijing Olympic Tickets." But of course, my luck being what it is, I apparently typed my passport number in wrong when I registered online so I had to re-buy the tickets. No great monetary loss, but still annoying.
Oh, it gets better. On our way back, it started raining. And then, pouring. And as we were truthfully warned, when it rains in Beijing it is impossible to get a taxi... but that was exactly what we needed. Well we ended up walking like 200 meters on the side of a busy highway (in the wrong direction, I might add) before we finally captured a cab that was letting some lady off. Only, the lady wouldn't get out of the car because it was raining! We were standing there, huddling in the rain and wind, glaring at her, but she took her sweet sweet time getting out. Ah! And then the taxi driver was like, "But, BeiWai campus is right behind us" and I was like "Well, we would walk there, but it's raining, so drive" or something to that effect. I mean, can you imagine a cabbie telling you to get out and walk in a storm because the place you need to go "isn't that far behind us"??? Crazy. And for the record, the walk would not have been a quick one.
We finally got back like 3 hours after we set out, victorious but soaking. Then we had cooking club, which was of course fun because our Chinese teachers were there and they are adorable. Plus we ate lots of jiaozi. Then the next morning we arose a 6 and set out for the Bird's Nest. It was really awesome being there and I'm sad we had to cut the festivities short in order to make it back to class (although we were half hour late anyway, because traffic apparently sucks again, especially around 9am). But as of last night with the closing ceremony for the Paralympics, the games are officially over! I guess all the old Beijingers are breathing a sigh of relief that life can return to its normal chaos and the cheap DVDs will reappear on the streets. But for my part, I wish the traffic and pollution restrictions weren't being lifted.
Side note: This week I started working with the 400 level Chinese teacher on extra lessons and it's going really well. Of course I have my completely dumb moments where she gives me this look of incredulity like "I have no idea what you're trying to say/you really don't know what I'm saying?" but I think it'll really be good for me. Also I have a new friend who randomly came up to me on campus and wants to help me with my Chinese. She's a recent grad looking to teach English, so her English skills are good, and we're meeting tomorrow to figure out how this language partner thing is going to work. Also, Cheng and I spoke mostly in Chinese over dinner. It was fun! Well, he did most of the talking and I did a lot of listening and nodding, but still, I think my listening skills are getting better. Bring on the Chinese (but please don't kill me with memorizing hanzi...)!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Golden arches in the Middle Kingdom
SUOYI I've eaten the McDonald's here. I'm half ashamed to admit it, but really, it had to be done. Anyway today was a pengyou's birthday, and he chose to have us eat there, so we did. Actually I was quite pleased with myself, since I did all the ordering in Chinese. Ready: "Wo yao er hao." He asked me, "big or small?" I said, "Xiao. Hai you, bingqiling" and I pointed to the fruit sundae thing. So that's what I got! A cheeseburger with a small drink and fries, and a vanilla sundae with some strange peach gelatin topping. Only, the cheeseburger had cucumbers and a strange spicy sauce on it. A little strange, but edible. The fries tasted the same.
(Also, on the cab ride there, I asked the cab driver, "Ni chiguo Maidanlao de fan ma?" And he had, so I asked, "Ni juede zenmeyang?" And he answered with some adjective I didn't know and can't remember. He probably said it tasted like shit. Anyway that was the end of our convo because I didn't know where to go from there. Sigh.)
Now, my Maidanlao meal cost almost 30 kuai. That's pretty expensive, especially considering last night a group of 9 of us went out to eat, ordered several dishes, ate our full, and the total bill was 98 kuai. So we paid less than 2 US dollars each for all that good food. Just strange, is all I'm saying. Oh but then I had a screwdriver at an Americanized bar (read: expensive-er, and classy-ish) and it was 10 kuai. Nice. Try getting a screwdriver for a dollar fifty in NYC. Not happening.
Not much else to say. Cheng is in Dalian being sick since I passed on my germs to him. I'm hopefully getting a bike this weekend so I don't have to be lame and walk to class everyday. Oh, and so I can go on bike rides to the park and stuff. Also I'm debating whether or not to join some other students and visit Mongolia this weekend. Hm we'll see. Sounds cool, but I want to do some research on it first, so here I go.
(Also, on the cab ride there, I asked the cab driver, "Ni chiguo Maidanlao de fan ma?" And he had, so I asked, "Ni juede zenmeyang?" And he answered with some adjective I didn't know and can't remember. He probably said it tasted like shit. Anyway that was the end of our convo because I didn't know where to go from there. Sigh.)
Now, my Maidanlao meal cost almost 30 kuai. That's pretty expensive, especially considering last night a group of 9 of us went out to eat, ordered several dishes, ate our full, and the total bill was 98 kuai. So we paid less than 2 US dollars each for all that good food. Just strange, is all I'm saying. Oh but then I had a screwdriver at an Americanized bar (read: expensive-er, and classy-ish) and it was 10 kuai. Nice. Try getting a screwdriver for a dollar fifty in NYC. Not happening.
Not much else to say. Cheng is in Dalian being sick since I passed on my germs to him. I'm hopefully getting a bike this weekend so I don't have to be lame and walk to class everyday. Oh, and so I can go on bike rides to the park and stuff. Also I'm debating whether or not to join some other students and visit Mongolia this weekend. Hm we'll see. Sounds cool, but I want to do some research on it first, so here I go.
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