When I left Canada, I had no particular intention of visiting China on this trip, though it's been a vague interest since I took that intro Mandarin course in high school. Things cropped up to the point where I decided I really had to go.
For one, I now have people to visit. Nicki is improving her Mandarin in Beijing this month, and I have a cousin teaching English in Shanghai. Secondly, it turns out it is really easy to go to China from Hong Kong (this is not really any kind of secret, but hey, what do I know). And finally, I have had it recommended by people I've met along the way. So hey, I'm sold and I'm here.
Nicki has been kind enough to extend an offer of sneaking into her dorm room (it has two beds, but she's renting the whole thing) at the university where she is studying. All I had to do was get there from the airport.
If you are looking for a big country where your English won't get you far, China is a good one to try. After shrugging off expensive taxi offers at the airport (of course this was only interpreted as driving a hard bargain, but I exasperated them enough eventually), I gestured and drew on my dozen-word Mandarin vocabulary at the outdoor kiosks to secure a spot on an airport shuttle to (probably) downtown Beijing.
In the end, my life was made simple by a very friendly gentleman who happened to be in the seat beside me on the bus. Apart from speaking pretty decent English, he let me call a worried Nicki ("Where are you?" "On a bus . . . " "WHAT?!?") and wrote down the name of the place in Chinese characters for use in a taxi. Even this wasn't too necessary as he went the extra nice step and talked to a cab driver for me. In the end, I made it to the university for a fraction of the price of an airport cab (and really, Thailand has made me tired of bargaining, in particular for transportation - I just want a price up front).
Posted by warcode at February 29, 2004 05:42 AM