Beijing
Travel Guide for Backpacker:
Airport Transfer
There was no
mistaking our location: we were still in an airport. Cars were
rushing in to stop, pick up people
waiting with their luggage, while other people hailed cabs or walked
across to a parking garage. Most people, though, including us, moved
toward several buses that were clogging a parking area adjacent to
the road. After paying
¥16 ($1.94USD) for all
three tickets, we found number 12, and went aboard this rapidly
filling, swanky coach. Shortly, the bus pulled out onto the Capitol
Airport Expressway, going toward the Capital, Beijing
(www.beijingpage.com). Again, I saw roadsigns in both Chinese and
English.
We couldn't get enough of seeing this
country, knowing that we were in the land of the world's single
greatest population. We didn't see too many people, but an
attractive green rolling landscape of vegetation pocked by new
construction which seemed quite manual-labor intensive, much like
what I've seen in less-developed countries—bricks drying in the Sun;
long, deep trenches being hand-dug, and people carrying large
bundles upon their backs. At the same time, we were in a first-class
motorcoach on a divided roadway that easily equaled and even
exceeded interstates back home.
Indeed, as we neared Beijing, the amount
of traffic was also remarkably similar, with lots of motor vehicles
belching black exhaust. Passing one of the few gas stations we'd
seen, Enrique made a quick calculation and stated, “They're paying
about one twenty-five per gallon here.” Katarena chimed in with
“That is so cheap!”
“China is an up-and-coming nation,” I
told them, “and they have nearly a fifth of the world's population
living here. They are no different from anybody else on the face of
the Earth, they want the good life, too, which means progress. That
means they want a high standard of living, which includes a car.
Think of all the places we've been so far; only the Netherlands,
Switzerland, and Venice didn't have motor vehicles all over.”
As our bus slowly moved through the
heavy traffic Southwest into the city on this superb roadway, the
green lushness was replaced with a cityscape of rampant growth. Gone
were the scenes of pastoral construction from earlier, and now heavy
machinery, cranes, along with properly uniformed hordes of workers
scrambled around worksites. Our bus began to lurch, as if the driver
was just learning how to drive with a clutch, while we crossed the
fourth and third ring roads of Dongsihuan and Dongsanhuan, merging
into the broad avenue of Dongzhimenwai Xie Jie.
It was absolutely chaotic: cars darting
while trucks and buses lumbered in generally the same direction on
the road, a sidewalk separating a smaller lane which appeared to be
reserved for bicycles, pedicabs, taxis, plus a few other vehicles
wishing to avoid the often snail-pace on the adjacent motor route.
It made Rome look almost peaceful! At Dongzhimenwai
Street, our bus
entered upon
another the second ring road for a few
miles before leaving it to move along a slightly less chaotic
Chang'an Jie. It was actually orderly, and it became apparent that
this was the
street, as we passed between Tian'anmen Square
and Tian'anmen Gate, with the huge portrait of Chairman Mao,
ironically dividing the road between “East” and “West”. Our bus
finally stopped at the telecommunications center, where we
disembarked in a light rain.
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