Ox Patient

When we got here, everyone told us not to take the taxis.  I heard stories about not being able to get home, drivers who refuse to take you, etc.  And we live in a neighborhood far from downtown and they don't like being out there.  So I was intimidated.  And since we got here about 7 weeks before school started, we had a L O N G time stuck at the house with nothing to do.  One day I decided to try it.  We went to IKEA.  It worked out fine.  I was super stressed the whole time we were there worrying about if we would be able to get home or not.  But it was productive, and I especially liked seeing the Chinese people taking naps on the beds and having tea at the tables.  And, of course, the karaoke in the restaurant.  We made it home fine.  The first taxi driver turned us away, but I learned from my mistake and the next one brought us home.

A few days later, I was feeling a bit more confident so we called another taxi to take us out.  It was a clear day and we wanted to do something outside.  I know nothing about the city except for this little taxi book I got in my welcome packet.  We wanted to go to the Olympic park, but that wasn't in my book.  We found another "park" in it and decided to give it a try.  I had no idea was I was in for.  In retrospect, it was probably not great planning on my part.  Again, planning.  Not my strength.

We made it to Chaoyang Park no trouble!

As soon as we walked through the gate, and woman started gesturing and leading us to the lake area.  She wanted us to take a boat ride.  Why not!  Honestly though, she could have been leading us to a dungeon where they eat children for all I understood.  But it turned out to be just a boat ride.  Which is good.

Here's the driver.

This is our first true outing in China.

Then we walked around a bit.  This park wasn't so much a park like I thought, but more like an amusement park.  Or at least the side that we got dropped off on.

Colorful toys.

There were rides.  We chose the jungle gym type activity.  The kids got harnesses and climbed around the different obstacles.

They were supposed to play for 30 minutes, but because it was so slow (I think) they were able to stay for an hour.

The girls got to go all the way to the top.

BA wasn't feeling well.

The bathroom.

We had sausages for lunch.

The menu had about 20 different options, but the guy came out and showed me what they actually had.  Noodles, or sausages.  It was funny to me.  At least he didn't let me try and order 10 different things before telling me.

And then they tried out the bumper cars.

Walking around some more.

"A riot of colour"

I thought that was funny.

Here the kids are on the way out.  I bought the boys a toy snake.

This exit is on a big road so I thought getting a taxi would be easy.  It hasn't been that long since I lived in Jakarta when taxis were everywhere, cheap, and they never cared how many people we crammed in.    I was feeling pretty confident.  A little stressed because of the language thing, but okay.  I quickly learned that Beijing is no Jakarta.  About 20 taxi drivers turned me away.  Mostly because they are only supposed to take 4 passengers.  I didn't realize they were strict about the rules because the ones who came to our house had no problem.  To say I was panicked is an understatement.  I was trying to keep the kids safe on a busy street while chasing down any taxi I saw stopping anywhere in our vicinity.  I have virtually no Chinese, and I'm sure I looked like I didn't know what I was doing, which, I'm guessing, didn't help me.  The rickshaw (is that what they are?) drivers would not leave me alone.  They would follow me and get in my face.  I am not taking one of those home!  And it was hot.  I decided to call Nate.  I know there is a subway stop near our house and there was a huge bus stop right across the street.  I was willing to try either one.  Nate helped me find the subway stop, but it was about a mile away.  And the bus system is so complex we couldn't figure it out.  His next suggestion was to wait until he got off work.  He would meet us there and we could take 2 taxis home.  Just as he was getting off work, a taxi let us get in.

This guy was hilarious.  After talking for about 10 straight minutes in Chinese, with no responses from me, he serenaded us.  Serenaded!  And it was loud!  Not just loud singing.  Loud loud.  Like make me jump when he hit the high notes, loud.  I like to think that we got turned down by all those other guys because we were supposed to end up with him.  Hahah!  I was so happy I was in a car on the way to my house, I didn't care what he did.

That day I learned a lot about Beijing.  I won't let it intimidate me too much, but I'm not sure how many more outings we'll take without our car.