Believe me when I say to avoid driving in Beijing (or taking a taxi) unless it is midnight and the city is sleeping. According to Belinda Goldsmith writing for Reuters, Beijing is one of the three-worst cities to drive in.
We’ve been stuck in Beijing traffic watching the taxi’s meter adding yuan to the bill when we could have crawled faster. The other choice is Beijing’s subway built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which we prefer. It’s fast and efficient. Wear a money belt though.
Guangzhou (once known as Canton by the West) subway map
Information about getting around in Xian
Last time we were in Xian, the subway system was under construction. I learned that of the four lines planned, line one is scheduled to be running by the end of 2013 and line two by the end of 2011.
According to Michael Wurth’s Blog, Xian was boring and “very” hot. Wurth talks about renting a tandem bike and riding it on the wide, ancient Xian city wall claiming to make the ride in under 4 minutes, which is surprising since the wall runs about 17 kilometers. Personally, when we were on the wall, I enjoyed the experience but we were there in the Fall and the weather was perfect. If you want to visit China, plan for the Fall or Spring and avoid any of China’s national holidays.
See Visiting Xian
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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