Taxi rides are awesome, especially in China. They are ridiculously cheap compared to America, even as a foreigner who often gets ripped off because of my stupidity and inexperience. Not only are they awesome because they are cheap; they are awesome because they get you from Point A to Point B when you are tired a worn out without any sign reading, walking, or transfers. And they take you to the front door! When you have lots of luggage, are just plain tired, or don't know exactly the location of the place you are trying to reach, taxis are lifesavers, relationship-savers, and sanity-savers.
On any given daily
trip to Huadu 华都, there are little grey minivans lined up at the bus stop
outside the large grocery store. These
little minivans are not official taxi drivers, but hey, not many things in
China seem to be "official."
They charge 50 yuan (or about $8) for a 30-minute van ride back to
Peizheng College. That's a pretty good
deal, and it's an even better deal when you split the cost with six students,
making our fare on 7 yuan each, or barely more than $1!
Shortly after our
arrival in China, some of my new friends taught me never to get into a taxi
without asking the price first. Well,
this IS good advice for the non-taxi taxis - the ones with which we are most
familiar to transport us between town and our college. But our experiences in Beijing taught us new
lessons about taxis. That first crazy
night we paid 80 yuan for a 10 minute ride because, before entering the car, we
asked him "how much?" Well,
they can of course, especially in light of viewing our desperate situation that
late night, charge us whatever ridiculousness they choose. I have strengthened my will to negotiate
since my first mention of bargaining, but they pretty much laugh in your face
or wave you off if you don't cave when you are dumb enough to ask in advance
for a price. Stupid foreigner.
Our lovely guide,
"Desi", with whom we took a full-day tour of The Great Wall shared
many useful facts and some great traveling help. The most valuable of which was getting
affordable taxi rides. "Wo xiang da
biao." I want the meter. A meter?!
Amazing. Who'd-o thunk. Our rides went from 50-80 yuan per ride to 20
yuan and under. This worked great in
most of Beijing. When we went to more
tourist-concentrated areas, however, the taxi drivers won't even let you in the
car if you ask to use the meter. They
insist on an over-priced upfront cost.
So, I waived those scam artists off to ask the next guy. But guess what - they're all in cahoots! A foreigner can't get a taxi ride to the
airport on a meter. They all quote the
same price and will drive away if you don't agree. Ugh.
Well, learning new tactics to accomplish travel cheaper is great. Even if it only works sometimes.
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