My Journal

One of this site’s fans asked for some pictures about the culture and people of Beijing. So, the format and topics will evolve to cover some of these items vs. the daily log. However, you all should know that the daily routine is captured here accurately. The language barrier extends the timing and effort required to get the simplest things accomplished. It is not like a lot of other activities can or are occurring besides sleeping, working and eating.

Since I spend between 2-4 hours a day in a cab, it might be good to share some initial insights. Beijing is more or less laid out in a grid, but it is a large grid with many shortcuts to go from major street to major street. Until recently, there were three levels (and prices) of cabs: older red cabs were the cheapest, green/brown & blue/brown were average, and black was the most expensive. Now, they all have to charge the same rate. Since the change, there has been a mass exodus/retirement of cab drivers and new, younger ones have flocked to the profession. We have some members of our team who will not get in a red cab; others will not get in a black one. I am starting to put more stringent qualifications on the cabs.

A red cab with a more mature gentleman (I have not seen 1 women cab driver, yet), will get my business every time. I have learned most of my shortcuts, some language lessons in broken English, some facts about the city in English and genuine effort to try to get me to where I am going, even with my strong Delaware Mandarin accent. These are typically the older cabs and cab drivers with the most knowledge. They want to learn from me and I from them. They also tend to be the most tolerant and observant on the road --- a good deterrent for near-death experiences.

Now, if a young man is in a red cab, I will not get in. These tend to be the new cab drivers that cannot afford the basic new cab. When you get in, they turn around and ask for the “best route”..uhh, I thought I was getting a cab so I didn’t have to think about the best route.

In the newer cabs (green/blue), older gentlemen again get my business for the same reasons. The younger guys tend to be more aggressive and death defying.

The black cabs (if they will pick us up) tend to have the best English and the most talkative to practice their English. Our biggest challenge is communicating with a cab driver. Usually, the doorman at that hotel translates your destination to the cab driver, gives you a card with directions back to the Hotel in Mandarin and off you go. Once you hit the streets, you are at the mercy of the driver. I have been trying to learn the name of my hotel so I can get a cab anywhere. Grand Hyatt translates to Dong Feng Jun Yue, but you literally have to get the pronunciation of tones correct for anyone to understand. Jun goes down and Yue goes up. Again, with my strong Delaware accent, I have been tonally challenged in my quest to communicate. So I pull out my little card and the driver repeats the name. My usual response is, “That’s exactly what I said!”. Anyway, I finally got a language lesson from our cab driver in the black cab this weekend. He explained to me the Yue means Moon and I need to go up in the tone. And Jun needs to go down. Dong means East, yada yada. Then while I am practicing and he is correcting me and while he is driving down a 4 lane crowded street, he says that he will write out the pronunciation for me. Keep in mind he is driving and swerving while writing this. The attached photo is the pronunciation guide that I got from him to help me get back to my hotel. We have had a good laugh over this.