Chapters 25-27 Transportation

Chapter 25

Riding the Bus

It is very cheap to ride the bus in China. In Luoyang, it was only one yuan (RMB). The first time that I was there, one yuan would have been equal to twelve cents, the second time one yuan was equal to sixteen cents. That is really cheap to ride the bus.

There are buses and bus stops everywhere. I could go to a bus stop and usually within five minutes a bus would come. If they did get behind for some reason, it could be up to twenty minutes but most of the time I didn’t have to wait long.

More and more people have gotten their own car over the years but many people still ride the bus or take a taxi. Sometimes I could find a seat to sit in but usually I would end up standing. It didn’t matter, at least I had a way of getting around cheaply.

There might be as few as ten to twenty people on the bus and sometimes up to sixty. There are thirty seats on a bus, I think it is the same in the US, so to have sixty people made it crowded. You are packed in like sardines. When it is your turn to get off and you are not close to the door, you have to really work your way through everyone. There were times that the bus was so full that we couldn’t pick anyone else up until some got off. I learned from others which buses I needed to take. I didn’t live far from bus stops so it was very convenient to take them.

There were a few electric buses, most were gas. The electric ones were powered by two overhead electric wires. Electricity would be drawn by one wire and returned through the other using two roof-mounted trolley poles.

And like with anything there and everywhere I went, I was usually the only foreigner.

Chapter

Taxis

I didn’t really like riding in taxis. I was taken a couple of times on the fare and also I couldn’t talk to the driver. One time when I flew from the US to Beijing, I got in about 11:00 p.m. and one of my friends was going to meet me there but ended up not being able to make it. She had rented a hotel room for me so that part was taken care of.

I took a taxi outside the airport, I called my friend so she could talk to the driver and I also had a note with the name of the hotel on it. We took off and were going about seventy mph and the numbers on the meter were really spinning around. That was not a good sign right there.

I had stayed at the hotel before so I knew what to look for when I got in that area. I had gone there once to spend the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. My friend had helped me with that. I had walked around when I had been there and knew the area.

We got close to the area and the driver couldn’t find the hotel. He wasn’t familiar with that area. I knew where we were and I kept pointing ahead and he even called the hotel. The alley where the motel was close to the Dairy Queen so I told him to turn there and then he saw the hotel.

My friend had checked online before I came and told me that the fare would be 73 RMB, the meter said 173. I thought maybe my friend had made a mistake when she looked. Of course, I couldn't talk to the taxi driver to tell him so I just paid it.

When I left Beijing and went back to the airport, that taxi ride was 73 RMB so the first driver took me for 100 RMB ($16). If I had to take a taxi in Luoyang, I would call the friend that I was going to see and they would tell the driver where to take me. That is why I learned what buses to take, where to walk, how long it took or I would ride my bike when I had one.

Also the taxis were smaller cars than in the US so it was difficult for me to get in and out of them. Chinese people are not as big as I am. They can be tall but not as big. Although the children and others that like eating at the fast food places are putting on weight like we do. They want the western world things there and they have it.

Chapter 

High Speed Trains

High speed trains are called bullet or CRH trains (China Railway High-Speed). These are great things. I had the opportunity to go on one of them. I wish that I could have had the chance to go on others and a longer distance. I went with Barbara (Liang Feng), one of my teacher friends and her daughter Lois (Han Xiao), and we went from Luoyang to Sanmenxia which is west of Luoyang. That is where Barbara is from, we saw her mom and dad there, ate with them at their home and then went to look at things in the city.

It takes two hours to go by car or bus from Luoyang to Sanmenxia. By high speed train, it takes forty minutes. We were going 150 mph. If they would go as fast as they can, it would take twenty eight minutes. The only way you know if you are moving that fast is when you look out the window and see the scenery flying by.

When taking the regular train from Beijing to Shanghai, it used to take fifteen hours. it takes five hours on a bullet train. It goes 186 mph. I have taken the regular overnight train between Beijing and Luoyang a few times. It takes twelve hours. It takes four hours on the High Speed Train.

These pictures were taken at the train station in Luoyang. This is on the south side in the new district. It is called the Luoyang-Longmen Railway Station. The regular train station is in the city of Luoyang. I hope that we can have high speed trains in the US sometime.

Lois (Han Xiao)

Below are pictures of Barbara (Liang Feng), Lois (Han Xiao) and I at Hangu Pass outside the city of Lingbao.

I also want to add the following pictures about high speed trains . My friend Lily (Han Lili) works for the CRH (China Rail High-Speed) Company in Qingdao. She sent these pictures to me to show what it looks like inside this high speed sleeper train. It has sixteen cars and a capacity up to 1300 people.