Just wanted to post a reply about the infamous cabbies in Beijing. My cousin and I decided to go to the summer palace one day. We took the subway most of the way and decided against taking the bus (it was really hot) and took (or almost taken ) a taxi. Should have figured things out that the guy had no intention of taking us to where we wanted to go. We ended up in a traffic jam and about an hour and many Yuan later made it to the palace. My cousin (a large and imposing guy) was not one to be taken advantage of.......while he and the cabbie were fighting it out about the extortionist fare ..........I took down his name and drivers number(I can write Japanese so my Kanji weren't illegible). When we got back to the hotel I complained to the GM about our cab experience and handed her the particulars about the driver. She got in touch with Police who then tracked the cabbie down and brought him to our hotel. He was forced to apologise and then gave us our money. The police then took him away........So , that was our one cab experience, and yes I have also had bad experiences in many other countries too(including Japan). So beware and be sure to write down the cabbies name and licence number should you need it.