Years ago, while riding in a taxi in Guangzhou, two guys on a motorcycle swooped in on a lady carrying a briefcase and the taxi driver decided to play the hero.
Off on a high speed chase thru traffic till they dissapeared.
Since I think they outlawed motorcycles in the city for that reason.
SLT, Friday night, 11p. I can't describe her act as "pick pocketing" because she snagged my wallet directly from my hand, and simultaneously put the petal to the metal.
Probably thought she was doing her patriotic duty towards these foreign wasters...Still rather shocked about it however.
Snatch theft and robbery together are called shuangqiang in China.
To enhance the deterrence effect, the death penalty * was introduced for motorcycle-snatch-theft offenders in 2006 in Guangdong province (Hu & Yue, 2006)
*“Strike hard” ( yanda) is the crime crackdown campaign that emphasizes punishing criminals severely and swiftly.
The due process for trial is always neglected and confession by torture is often used in yanda.
I just setup a day car hire with Peter for tomorrow 750 RMB for Ming Tombs and Badaling. He spoke English well enough for us to communicate (I don't speak a lick of Mandarin). I probably overpaid a little bit but oh well. I'm assuming no tip is required?
Many thanks moondog.
Hmm I hired a Peter in Beijing to take me up to the wall last year, I paid him about 250 RMB. Might not be the same Peter you are talking about, and his number is on my former cellphone which is not working anymore.
Stopped of at a teahouse on the way back to my hotel, but I was not forced to buy anything or pay anything extra for the tasting. He spoke good English.
Hmm I hired a Peter in Beijing to take me up to the wall last year, I paid him about 250 RMB. Might not be the same Peter you are talking about, and his number is on my former cellphone which is not working anymore.
Stopped of at a teahouse on the way back to my hotel, but I was not forced to buy anything or pay anything extra for the tasting. He spoke good English.
Seriously? That's an incredibly great price.
Based on my recent experiences, y500 to Mutianyu and back is pretty much the best on offer, while y600 is the norm. While the tea house thing gives me a bit of pause, if Peter is still doing the run for y250, please repost his number.
hi, ive got a 20hr stop over in beijing, arriving at about 6am and then leaving 1am the next day, im going to book a hotel near the airport, and was planning on visiting the great wall, tianamen sq, and possibly the forbidded city or another sight before i leave.
ive seen online various day tours, but im not really interested in dealing with them, i would rather hire a driver for a day
does anyone know how much a driver would be to take us to these sites.
hi, ive got a 20hr stop over in beijing, arriving at about 6am and then leaving 1am the next day, im going to book a hotel near the airport, and was planning on visiting the great wall, tianamen sq, and possibly the forbidded city or another sight before i leave.
ive seen online various day tours, but im not really interested in dealing with them, i would rather hire a driver for a day
does anyone know how much a driver would be to take us to these sites.
thanks
dont worry, i found someone with pretty much the same situation as me, and will just use his itinerary
Based on my recent experiences, y500 to Mutianyu and back is pretty much the best on offer, while y600 is the norm. While the tea house thing gives me a bit of pause, if Peter is still doing the run for y250, please repost his number.
Yup I am serious, but as I wrote in my post above his number is on my old phone which died last month. Might do an attempt to wake it up when I get home.
Yup I am serious, but as I wrote in my post above his number is on my old phone which died last month. Might do an attempt to wake it up when I get home.
William S - Please do!
I may be looking to do Jinshanling and Simitai later this month with a buddy who's visiting from the US...
Moondog - Does Raymond or his crew do wall runs, say a day to Jinshanling then wait at Simitai and back to Beijing?
Otherwise (to all) - what's the going rate for the above wall idea? If Mutianyu is 500-600, I can't imagine going for less than 800...
Edited to Add: So I see Simitai is apparently still closed (until October). Would Jinshanling be worht the trip on its own (I forget where it becomes Simitai - more than half way along the hike I think - I last did it in 2008), or should we choose another place (Ie. Mutianyu - though I've been 3-4 times)?
I may be looking to do Jinshanling and Simitai later this month with a buddy who's visiting from the US...
Moondog - Does Raymond or his crew do wall runs, say a day to Jinshanling then wait at Simitai and back to Beijing?
I'd be happy to put you in touch with Raymond's people; they can you to/from Mutianyu for y600, which is the same price that most of the other drivers listed in this thread charge.
But, for your own personal mission (i.e. 2 young guys), I encourage you to create an account on bjstuff, and join the "Hiking Around Beijing" group. Basically, people get together and share taxis/cars/vans to go to far more interesting places than Mutianyu. Since the regulars hike every single weekend, you can almost regard them as free tour guides.
I think a lot of their stuff (rightfully so) is on weekends and we just won't have that. I'm actually working Monday-Wed, have a day off on Thursday before we fly out to KUL (that's a late night flight) and so was debating between a day at the wall (Jinshanling - hence my question) and a half day of Mutianyu and walking around elsewhere in the city. Maybe I should do the latter and take him to Caochangdi/798 for a (shallow) glimpse of the art scene...
I'm going to let my buddy do the "essentials" Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace etc on his own the first three days.
We hired Frank Li (flw125457@sohu.com) for a trip to Mutianyu based on comments from one other FTer. Yes, 900 RMB is high, but his car was great, he spoke flawless English and we felt very well taken care of. The fact that he knew a few of the "gatekeepers" at the parking lots meant that we bypassed the crowds at the 2 or 3 lots down the hill and parked right next to the trinket stalls--saving a huge hike up the hill, energy which we needed for later.
I would recommend him without hesitation.
BTW, with Moondog's help, we did try contacting Raymond via e-mail. No response, but thanks in any event. Same with Simon (simonxqz1973@hotmail.com). No reply. But I did not call directly, which was an option, and my own fault for not doing.
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I can very very highly recommend Victor (chinapeace88@sina.com.cn) for a private driver.
Charged us 700RMB for a full day to the Great Wall + Summer Palace, and 450RMB for 3/4 of a day going to several places in Beijing including Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Coal Hill, etc.
Did not try to take us anywhere to upsell us on shopping, lunch, etc.
Spoke almost perfect English. Communicates well by email, was on time every day. Didnt try to rush us at all. Knows a lot about China's history so the rides were quite good conversation. And he has a new Hyundai with good AC and very comfortable ride.
I finally tried Raymond's yaoyaoche 遥遥车 service that moondog has often mentioned on FT. Because it took forever to get a taxi and I had a flight to catch and in the end I still missed my flight. Luckily status put me on the next flight for a small fee (long story about a technically expired return coupon).
Learning for me is "FFS just prebook a damn taxi to the airport already!", or at least leave earlier... it's not like I don't have lounge access. But i was running behind today.
In any case, the state of the car I got really wasn't the greatest, but I was just glad to get a car and a great driver who zigged and zagged most dangerously all the way (and I tipped him for it). I'm glad I finally got to setting-up the account, will surely make use of it in the future.
I finally tried Raymond's yaoyaoche 遥遥车 service that moondog has often mentioned on FT. Because it took forever to get a taxi and I had a flight to catch and in the end I still missed my flight. Luckily status put me on the next flight for a small fee (long story about a technically expired return coupon).
Learning for me is "FFS just prebook a damn taxi to the airport already!", or at least leave earlier... it's not like I don't have lounge access. But i was running behind today.
In any case, the state of the car I got really wasn't the greatest, but I was just glad to get a car and a great driver who zigged and zagged most dangerously all the way (and I tipped him for it). I'm glad I finally got to setting-up the account, will surely make use of it in the future.
Sorry you missed your flight fimo. What's the name of the iphone app if I may ask? I navigated the weibo link, and couldn't figure it out, even with google translate!
