Taxi Updates

I’m Used To: Needing Warm Layers in Cabs
Yes, Chinese people open the windows in the winter to change the air. What’s worse is when you’re in a cab in freezing weather with a driver whose window is half way down on the highway.

I’m Completely Shocked By: Women Cab Drivers
I saw my FIRST female cabby last Sunday driving by. I thought maybe it was a mirage, but then later that day I got in a cab with another woman driver! I don’t even know many women in China who dare to drive in this city, let alone drive for a living.

The other shocking thing that I saw was when I was watching a Chinese teenager hail a taxi. She lazily had her thumb out and when the cab was the wrong direction, she mumbled something and gestured breezily for the cab to change direction and pick her up.

It’s hard to describe how amazing this was to me. My interaction with cabs has always been much more forceful. Never mind standing on street corners, me and my friends fan out in the middle of the road, waving our hands like mad birds trying to get someone’s attention, “Pick me! Pick me!” we beg. Once inside, I’m just praying I get dropped off close enough to figure out where I’m going in the end. The taxis here do have a red light on when they’re open, but these lights don’t seem to be so much a definite system as a suggestion.


Biggest Taxi Life Saver: Guanxi

Finally! Seven months in and I’ve been given the best gift in the world. My friend casually mentioned it to me one day, and had no idea it would blow my mind.
The way it works is that you can txt that number with the name of where you want to go, and it will txt you the full name and address. Then if you txt “c” it will reply with the address in Chinese, so that you can show a taxi driver. You still need to know the area, and to have a subway map to point to the general vicinity, but given those things, you can actually get to where you’re going! Score!