Where do I start..
The buses – in the morning are ridiculous! They are packed with people and even though people are squished against the doors more people still pile themselves on! The first time I had to get the bus in the morning I didn’t get on 3 because I was too scared to push my way on haha! Everyone was looking at me (even more than usual) I think they were thinking why isn’t this girl getting on there’s loads of room! I am getting used to pushing myself on now and I’ve realised if you don’t throw yourself on you don’t get on the bus.
The subway – the subway stations are very big and usually busy. However they are surprisingly easy to use, luckily they have the stations and signs in English so I have managed to get about okay so far! My experiences on the subway so far haven’t been that busy, but I have heard that they can be worse than the buses at times! It was funny on the subway the first time I got on one because you line up to get on them, each door has to lines. So I presumed that you let the people get off the subway before you get on it like back home, this doesn’t happen in China, people are piling on the train whilst people are still trying to get off it. (I did get some funny looks for this!)
Taxis – I am still yet to get a taxi alone, I’m a bit scared because even though you can hand the driver an address and they will take you there, I have heard this isn’t always the case, sometimes they will say they know where they are going but they actually don’t, if this happened to me id have no idea where I was or how to tell them where I wanted to go haha! Apparently taxi drivers here can be a bit temperamental, sometimes they will pull over when you put your hand out other times they just won’t bother!
I’m not sure what to call them but they look like this:
Basically you get in the back or side of them depending on the style of it. It’s like a cheaper taxi, it’s a car (I think) but it sounds like a mo-ped. I have witnessed one of these falling over in the street and the man driving it had to climb out of the window and pick it back up! (a bit scary!!) don’t think i’ll be getting in one of them again!!
The driving in China is mental I mean MENTAL there seems to be no rules on the road, for example the green man is showing so you’d think you could cross the road safely but NO, the cars can still turn and bikes are still coming at you! There is a lot of beeping of horns in China, I think they use these instead of their brakes at times. Cars/Bikes/Mo-peds can literally pull out of anywhere, it doesn’t seem to matter if there is another car coming along. My host dad asked me the other week if I could drive Elena and I to school, I laughed with shock and explained that I don’t think I can drive in China!!
