China - Transportation
Last Updated: June 1, 1999
We took taxis, buses, cars, trains, the subway, and airplanes
while we were in China. And we walked a lot, but rarely for
transporation. While we didn't ride bicycles, we saw lots of them.
Bicycles
Lots of them. There are separate lanes for bicyles in Beijing,
with each bicycle lane wide enough for a car. Of course, the
taxis often drive in the bike lanes, and at rush hour the
bicycle lanes become car lanes.
Taxis
There were three types of taxis when we were in Beijing. The
cheapest looks like an odd loaf of bread. They're a type of
tiny van that hold maybe 4 people. I'm told after we left,
these were forbidden from driving in Beijing. We only took
these once or twice.
The next cheapest looks like a small car. We took these a lot.
Both this and the bread loaf taxi were uncomforable, unsafe,
and very, very cheap.
Then they have taxis that could almost pass for taxis in North
America, but they're not quite big enough. These were much nicer
than the other two, and more expensive. We only took these twice.
Taxi service in Beijing was incredible. Half the cars you saw
seemed to be taxis. If you wanted one, they were easy to hail.
But in other cities, it was a different game. In Tunxi, you
had to call a taxi, and they weren't cheap.
Buses, big and small
The Beijing buses are very crowded and you usually don't get a seat.
They run reasonable frequently, and cover lots of Beijing. There
were two main types: The vans and the city buses. The city buses
were normal, big buses. They were very, very, very cheap. We took
the bus a lot because it was so cheap. Even before dollar conversion
it was cheap. A typical ride would cost 50 Chinese cents, which
converts to 10 Canadian cents.
The smaller buses were more expensive, but you would get a seat.
An uncomforable seat, but a seat none-the-less. We took these
a lot, too, since they were cheaper than taxis.
Trains and Train Stations
We took a train from Xi'an to Beijing. There are four classes
of travel; we took the "soft-berth" (first class). A soft-berth
is a compartment with four beds. Mei and I each got a top bunk,
which is okay since you can see each other, but since there's really
no place to sit other than the bottom bunks, a top-bottom combination
would have been better.
The train station at Xi'an was very crowded. It is worth getting
the soft-berth (or even a soft-seat) ticket just because you get
to stay in a special waiting room that has comfortable chairs.
However, you aren't allowed into the waiting room until 2 hours before
your train is scheduled to leave, so don't arrive too early.
The train ride is pretty much like you'd expect. Ours was an
overnight trip, and it was dark when we left Xi'an. The morning
was hazy, so we didn't get to see any scenery. However,
apparently there isn't much scenery in that area outside Beijing
anyway.
All the guide books strongly recommend taking a train to get
the full China experience. I disagree. There's plenty to
see in China that you needn't waste your time on the train.
However, the train is cheaper than flying, and an overnight
trip is fine, so it's something to consider. The overnight
trip is especially cheap when you realize that your train
ticket is paying for your room for the night.
Airplanes
We flew from Beijing to Tunxi, from Tunxi to Xiamen, and from
Xiamen to Xi'an. The planes seemed old, but we didn't have
any problems. The quality of the airports varied: Beijing
airport was old and rundown. Tunxi airport was tiny (and
old and rundown). The Xiamen airport was as modern as the
most modern I've seen elsewhere. The Xi'an airport (which
was WAY out of town), well, I don't remember what it was like.
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