Transportation

The system in China here is that you wait in the "waiting hall" until just before your train is due, when they will open two gates and you get your ticket checked and then go to the platform and line up where your carriage number is due to stop.

Always when you get on there is someone else sitting in "your" seat. Many people don't buy tickets for seats, and just hope that a "vacant" seat is available.

There is so much activity on the train - so many people shouting, phones ringing, children shrieking and so forth. It is rather fun, but tiring after a while.

Someone will always want to know where you are going and then they will wan to help you. It is hilarious. Old people, young people, everyone - adding their thoughts to the discussion.

Well yes it could only happen to me! First I was hit by a motor cycle and now I have been involved in a motor vehicle accident in Tai'an. Not surprising given the amount of people who live in this small town.

I was on my way home from the gym. It was raining so I caught a taxi. The taxi turned the corner and so did a bike. The taxi driver yelled at the rider and kept going. I guess the rider was upright so he was OK.

There was a fair dint in the side of the taxi.

Just a small bingle!

Getting to Harbin was a bit of an ordeal to start with as we had to catch 6 different means of transportation to get to our hotel. I had written a schedule that had a bit of slack and would get us there on time as long as no one was too late. The day didn't start too good.

Firstly we needed to leave the apartment by 6.30 am to get to the bus station in time to buy our tickets to get the 7am bus to Jinan. Barbara was running late. We got on the 7am bus but the bus didn't leave until 7.15am. Instead of arriving at Jinan at 8.30am we didn't arrive until 9.15 am as the bus stopped for 30 minutes in Tai'an.

In my plan we were to catch a taxi to Yuquan Simpson Hotel to catch the 9am airport shuttle. Well we had already missed the airport shuttle so we had to catch a Taxi directly to the airport. The taxi was Y95! But it did get us to the airport at 10 am which gave us just enough time to check in and get on the plane with a departure of 10.30 am. phew!

The flight from Jinan to Harbin was Y990 and took 1hour and 55 minutes.

After we retrieved our luggage (which was first out), we caught the airport shuttle bus to the Harbin railway station. When we got on the bus there weren't enough seats and they can't have foreigners stand. So I got to sit in the high chair.

The high chair is a pull out seat that sits on top of the stairs. It was quite horrifying seeing the traffic out of a huge coach windscreen with your feet dangling in the air. I had nothing to brace!

Anyway we made it safely to the train station where we got into a taxi and headed to the hotel. The taxi driver had no idea where he was going and neither did I, but I did have a small map and I was able to direct him to the hotel. Who said "Women can't read road maps!"

Basically I walked everywhere. The hotel was in a great location that walking was possible.

When I arrived in Xian a young Chinese man asked me if he could help me. I told him that I was OK. He then asked me if I had booked a hotel. When I told him where the hotel was he told me that he would negotiate with a taxi driver because they will try to over charge me and the fare should be no more than Y10. I agreed to this as I really couldn't be bothered at 2 am.

Well it appeared that he couldn't negotiate either because it was Y20 to go 2 Km's! I could have done it myself and got it cheaper but I didn't want him to lose face.

My return taxi to the train station was Y6. Y10 would have been fair compensation for the time of the day upon my arrival.

I did use the no 26 bus to get to destinations. Its cheap enough at Y1. It passes the Bell Tower, Little Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum and the Big Goose Pagoda. It was on this bus to the Museum when I saw the sports store that sold Asics! I then had to catch a Taxi to the museum. It was only Y7 and well worth the Asics find.

We went to book our ticket home and found out that there were no seats left on any of the trains. We didn't want to risk our luck and decided we would take a bus. After all they come every 30 minutes.

We arrived at the bus station at 3.30 pm. We sat on the bus until 4.40 pm before we departed. Yes whilst the bus can run every 30 minutes, the bus doesn't leave until it is full!

On route the bus then stops and picks up more people. These people sit on little camp seats in the aisle. We stop 5 times before we even leave the city!

By 6 pm I still didn't recognize anything and was starting to panic that perhaps we were on the wrong bus. Eventually I saw a sign that said Jinan. I knew that once we hit Jinan it was 1.5 hours until we arrived in Tai'an. We finally got home at 7.30 pm.

I would rather stand for 2 + hours then sit in a bus for 4 hours.