A 15 minute 2 mile cab ride in NY can run the average comsumer about $30. In China however something magicall has taken place. If you can endure the pungent smell of garlic and the outlandish Chinese sexual advertisements plastered all over the cab, you can enjoy fast transportation for around $2-$5. We loved taking the cabs in China. It felt like getting to have caviar everyday.Usually when we travel we take the subway or buses in the city. Taking the subway gives one the sensation of emerging out of a hole in the ground at your destination, with little knownlege of directions or surroundings. The subway in Beijing costs about 2RMB a person , but alot of cab rides are 10RMB, so for the 3 of us the crownded but very clean and modern sub way was not much of an advantage. None of the cab drivers really spoke any english though. So we had to use what little Chinese we knew in combination with wild gestures at a faded map.Despite this minor inconveinience cheap cab rides are one of the things we miss most about China
PS this was our driver to the great wall , his name is Hanson we took a private car
