Gran Turismo 八: Streets of Beijing

Today after the Accounting quiz in the morning I had a meeting with one of my groups in the classroom and then decided to join Panos and Matt at the Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou. Jessica had stayed back at the hotel to take the quiz because she didn't feel well, so I was faced with three options: 1) take a cab by myself for 10 yuan (cheap by US terms, wasteful by Chinese terms), 2) walk with my heavy laptop bag; takes about 30 minutes, or 3) take the bus. The bus is something I have not yet attempted because it is still subject to the traffic on Beijing's streets, which can be pretty atrocious, and any time we have needed to go somewhere far away I have used the subway. I'm very good with subways, not so good with buses or trams (in Croatia I needed specific instructions from my mom for which tram to take, when to get off, etc).

My Japanese classmate, Tomo, lives in Wudaokou, and takes the bus to class frequently, so he told me I had three options, the #331, #375 or #656. Tomo said the bus costs only 1 yuan, bargain! and was pretty fast. Excellent, I thought to myself, this will be an adventure.

Well, I was right. First of all, on some buses you can enter up front by the driver as well as in the middle of the bus, but not always. Additionally, if you don't have a subway/bus card then you have to pay a separate transit employee who sits in the middle of the bus (This is China! Everyone gets a job!). This lady marks your exit stop on a paper ticket and hands it back to you. She also announces the upcoming stops, even though there is a voice recording that announces them too.

At 1PM on a Tuesday the bus is not very crowded, not are the streets busy, so we didn't get stuck in traffic. That didn't stop the bus driver from driving like a maniac however! Jessica (who lives in NYC when she's not at school) and I like to "subway surf" sometimes when the train is not too crowded. Subway surfing is when you balance on the train without hanging on to anything. On our Line 10 by our house it's very easy--it's a gentle ride with only one curve, and the starts and stops are not halting. Not so much on the bus. The driver accelerated very quickly, such that people just getting on the bus almost fell over. He also hit the break abruptly and had a penchant for wrenching the wheel across to change lanes. When we got near to Wudaokou there is a special bus lane so that the stops don't block traffic, and he swung the bus into the lane without slowing down so it almost caused an accident and a lot of people who were standing swung around their poles like it was a busy night at Les Danses Nues in Quebec (this is an inside joke). Even the local Chinese on the bus commented on how poorly the driver was driving. On the plus side, I made it to Wudaokou pretty much in record time, even with stops!

I'll definitely take the bus now from Beida to Wudaokou, although maybe I'll try to get the 331 or the 375; the 656 guy was just too crazy!