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Published: December 3rd 2008
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transport
have seen up to four people on one bike Utes would be highly wasted in China where a bicycle, scooter or bicycle pulling a trailer, carry all that is needed to be carried.
Of course I never have my camera with me or turned on when a really huge load comes past on a bike but here is a random sampling of the traffic this afternoon when I was standing at a street corner for 30 minutes.
I ended up having to move on as too many people were stopping and staring at what I was doing, but I managed to catch the usual sights of a three on a scooter, 2 on a bike, bikes with trailers carrying whatever, trucks with huge loads overflowing and looking very unstable, massive big trucks fighting for space and tooting their horns constantly battling with buses and taxis, huge lines of taxis waiting at schools and shops, roads are so busy and so noisy.
You toot to tell people you are coming through, you toot to tell them to move over, you toot to tell them you want right of way, so it can be noisy and quite scary at times, wondering if it is you they are tooting at,
transport
doubling up is common, with the rider fearlessly weaving in and around trucks and buses, no helmets, no lights, no worries or if you are doing something wrong.
Vehicles turning right can turn against a red light at any time, so you may have a green walk sign but anything will cross your path if they are making a right turn. You need to watch from both behind and in front, crossing the street is not for the faint hearted.
Buses are frequent and crowded, as is the metro. You shove your way onto the bus and run for a seat if there is one, most often you stand up pushed up against the many others doing the same. The bus captain will come around and get you fare, if you cannot move to where she is seated, and on my bus line you pay her, or you pass your card or money to someone else to pay her, 3Yuan will get you most places. Bus stops are announced in Chinese and English and also displayed on a board inside the bus, so it’s quite easy to follow if you know which number to catch and where to catch it.
You can buy a card, which you load and reload with money for buses, metro and ferry.
transport
soem have a little engine and require no peddaling, hurrah as some of the loads must be so hard to push The Metro is quite easy to follow with signs in English and Chinese and numbered train lines.
Renmin Square station is the main one with all train lines converging here. It is massive, a huge underground labyrinth, which can be very confusing if you are trying to work out which exit to leave from. It is well signed in English but just so huge with massive flows of people in and out of each area and load of little shops and hawkers who have set up their wares on blankets hoping to sell something. You see the odd beggar around, but on the whole it is quite clean, organized and tidy.
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