Transport in most big cities is always a bit of fun. Some have slick buses, some easy walking. Beijing has a number of good options and all of it very cheap. The subway for instance is only 2 Yuan a trip (20 pence uk money), probably 10 times cheaper than London. Mind you at times it can be 10 times busier as well but the trains are regular and the journeys normally pretty quick.
If this doesn't tickle the right spot then there are always a lot of taxis around. Mind you the trick here is trying to get them to stop and after that trying to get them to go where you have in mind. Unlike many countries this problem is not one of them trying to take you to the nearest shop to cream off commission but rather a genuine problem of communication. Know where you want to go? Tick. Be able to say it in Chinese? Cross. Have it written down in English? Tick Have it written down in Chinese? Cross. Have a map with the location marked? Tick - no matter this never seems to work anyway. Cue many frustrating (for both sides) conversations which lead to tracking down third parties out to help translate. If you are planning on visiting can I highly suggest getting an app for your phone which can display place names in Chinese! We have a printed book from our real estate agent with the English and Chinese side by side - this has possibly saved hours of our life.
Other options are biking - despite the much higher chance of accidents helmets are still a rare sight even on Westerners but most people do survive. The final choice is to walk - not as bad as it sounds but then the maps here do not live up to OS map standards so it is easy to tack on an extra few km's with ease!
If this doesn't tickle the right spot then there are always a lot of taxis around. Mind you the trick here is trying to get them to stop and after that trying to get them to go where you have in mind. Unlike many countries this problem is not one of them trying to take you to the nearest shop to cream off commission but rather a genuine problem of communication. Know where you want to go? Tick. Be able to say it in Chinese? Cross. Have it written down in English? Tick Have it written down in Chinese? Cross. Have a map with the location marked? Tick - no matter this never seems to work anyway. Cue many frustrating (for both sides) conversations which lead to tracking down third parties out to help translate. If you are planning on visiting can I highly suggest getting an app for your phone which can display place names in Chinese! We have a printed book from our real estate agent with the English and Chinese side by side - this has possibly saved hours of our life.
Other options are biking - despite the much higher chance of accidents helmets are still a rare sight even on Westerners but most people do survive. The final choice is to walk - not as bad as it sounds but then the maps here do not live up to OS map standards so it is easy to tack on an extra few km's with ease!
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