getting around

The subway: is... well, it's a subway, it's awesome. What's not to like about a subway? The trains come pretty frequently (I've only ridden one line so far, the brand new line 10 - opened in July 2008 for the Olympics.) There are a ton more lines planned by 2012 - I think they realize the pollution isn't going to get any better unless they crack down on cars in a big way, and they can't do that without giving people a way to get around. The fare is 2 kuai, no matter where you're going. It's deducted from a little card you buy, that you tap on entry and exit on a sensor. So, they'll be able to start doign ditance-based fares whenever they get around to it. Our apartment is between the Liangmaqiao (LiangMa river bridge) and Sanyuanqiao (third ring bridge) stations on Line 10, and work is right at the ZhichunLu (ZhiChun road - haven't fininshed translating that one yet) station of the same line. Takes about 25 minutes on the train, plus about 15 minutes walking in the morning.

The subway signs are all in both Chinese script and in pinyin, which is the system used for writing Chinese in the western alphabet. Many chinese don't read pinyin, though it was developed by the Chinese government to allow quicker literacy acquisition. Awfully useful for us westerners who haven't learned out characters. In addition, all stops are announced in both Chinese and English (though sometimes well after the door has opened, so it's good to watch the little electronic display, showing you where you are.) Major street signs here have pinyin, but minor ones just have characters.

Money: the official currency is the renminbi, also called the yuan (which also translates as something like "unit"), but everyone calls it "kuai", which is kind of like our "buck". There are about 6.8 yuan per USD, I just think about it being about 7 when I do calculations in my head. A yuan is divided into ten units that I think are called "qiao", which are further divided into ten units called "fen". Fen are completely worthless, and I haven't see a coin yet. Qiao, I've only seen in a 5 qiao coin, which I got confused at, thinking it was 5 fen. Things here are either absurdly expensive, or trivially cheap. Nothing in between.

Food: real chinese food is nothing like american chinese food. The sheer variety astonishes me. Even eating only the veggie things that others are ordering, the other night at dinner I tried ten different dishes, about half of what was ordered.) It can be a bit heavy, and there are lots of deep-fried things, which is fine, since the portions are smaller. You come away full, but it's not the same kind of full you get eating in the U.S. Unfortunately, I have not been writing down the names of things I liked, so it's going to be harder to order again. I'll get it with time, and take my notebook next time. Even things on the vegetarian portion of the menu, though, you have to be careful with - stuffed lotus root was actually stuffed with pork the other day. Didn't taste like much. I will have much more to say about food, as it's a big part of daily life here.

arrival, first impressions

The outside of the airport is very nice looking - very pretty. Didn't spend very much time here on the inside, as customs is so fast. Customs consists of a big sign, saying, as of February 1st, 2008, if you have nothing to declare, get in the "nothing to declare" line. This was not a line, but a door, and on the other side was the taxi stand. That was easy.

Standing there was my driver, with a sign with my name on it. Stopped for a second to get some cash, and off we went. There is a highway leading all the way into town (the airport isn't actually that far out), and the buildings just got bigger and closer together as we went. The driver didn't speak much english, but must have seen my eyes getting bigger and bigger, and he laughed. I figured out how to say "Beijing is very, very big", and he laughed at that.

Checkin was, again, trivially easy, and they gave me the keys to the apartment. It's an actual apartment, with a full kitchen, and everything you'd need. It's on the 20th floor, so I have a nice view of the buildings next to us, and the sad looking dormant trees in the courtyard. It was also really hot. The thermostat was set to 25C (78F). I turned it down to 20C - no difference. The next day, I turned it down to 17C, then 16C, which is as low as it goes, and left the windows open all day. I finally must have turned something off, because now, four days later, it's a comfortable temperature (still slightly too warm, but bearable.) The office is also warm. I wander around in a t-shirt, and I've been made fun of, asked if I'm from Alaska - the test manager here told me that all Chinese buildings are this way in the winter.

The first day, I went for a run, to explore a bit. We're just outside the third ring road - this is a highway that loops the city - think if I405 went all the way around Seattle, instead of just one side. Now think of adding I505 and I605 outside that, and a few inside as well. So, I ran out a connector road between the 3rd ring road and the 4th, about 4 miles round trip. The populated part kind of peters out about a quarter of the way there, and much of the land is just future or stalled construction projects - fancy luxury apartment complex sites that are mostly the rubble of previous dwellings or scrub land right now. Decided to run the other way tomorrow, towards the center.

Traffic is surreal. There are no rules here, except "don't hit anyone" - so far this rule hasn't been broken that I've seen, but I gasp several times a day, thinking I'm about to see a tragedy. I am slowly becoming convinced that this "system" is actually not inferior to ours (though I'd like to see stats on number of pedestrian deaths.) Every person for themself - go when you can, and there are enough pedestrians and bicyclists that drivers have no choice but to be aware and looking for them. Ten years ago, when there were many fewer cars, I imagine it was different. The bike lanes are wide, but also used as merge lanes by cars. Somehow, it works. The bicyclists are of at least three types: people riding pedal bikes under their own power, people with these three wheeled trikes transporting cargo (sometimes a lot of cargo), and bikes/trikes with a motor. Not really a moped or scooter (I don't know if I've seen a traditional scooter), but a bike with an assist motor. This is sometimes a little putt-putt 2 cycle gas motor, but more often it's actually electric, and silent. I wonder if the government banned the gas motors for the olympics, to help clear the air, and if they subsidize the electric ones. They're pretty cool - hybrid electric and person power, and allow people to go along at a pretty good clip.