Taxi!

Taxi’s in China are something special. The base price is 10 RMB (7 RMB = $1 USD) and then it costs 2 RMB for every kilometer. The most expensive ride I have ever had was when I was leaving the Ya Show market or Bodhi, which cost almost 45 RMB ($7) and that is across town. My favorite taxi experience was actually the first time I rode in one in Beijing. Me and Molly and Erin were riding in a taxi heading to the closest subway station that was open (this was before all of the lines had become available for public use). The drivers phone goes off, he answers it, chats for a bit then hands the phone to me- his friend wanted to practice his English so we talked until I noticed the driver acting really funny and poking a bunch of buttons. I handed him the cell phone back and within 3 minutes the cab coasted to a stop on a overpass bridge- it had died and he pointed to us to walk back from where we came. Now we have a great taxi story and some pictures to go with it! We hailed another cab and it got us there- kind of, we tried pronouncing our destination in Chinese, which was a no-no because it got us in a totally different location but was still close to a subway station and got us closer to our final destination so wasn’t such a bad deal. But that’s one for the blog!

            I will also never forget the nicest taxi I rode in. I was heading to Bodhi and the taxi was super new- the only cab I had ever seen with a sun roof and the driver was amazing- he got me right to the door, which is more than I can say for any other driver. I tipped him a few RMB (like 30 cents) and we were both happy.

            I also enjoy the crappy, sketchy taxis. Most are like regular cars with the outside painted differently but my favorite was getting one where the driver had completely caged himself in- from the people behind him and the person sitting in the passenger seat- it was kind of sketchy but whatever. It’s always an adventure to see what the taxi is going to end up smelling like or whether the driver is going to even know where you want to go. I haven’t had too many problems getting anywhere by taxi since I bought a map at a tourist help station. If they don’t know where our University is by the card we were told to hand them- I can always point to it on my map. One of these days I will ride a taxi in the U.S., but I’m not sure when. I have ridden a cab in New Zealand, Prague and China, but never the U.S. so I don’t have to worry about comparing, for the most part there is nothing to compare it to, but in general- the taxis seem to be about the same regardless of the continent I’m on.