There are a gazillion different kind of taxis in Beijing – the regular green-and-yellow ones that run on the meter; the ex-Uber now-Didi black sedans, the unmarked ones that try to hustle you for your money, the rickshas that try to hustle you for your money and so on and so on. From what I’ve heard is that the system has gotten much better these days than it used to be – if you book a Didi or a regular taxi, it’s pretty safe – the rest of the options are a bit questionable. But one thing is clear: when it rains, there are no taxis, anywhere.
I got stuck at VHQ for about an hour trying to get a ride out of there because suddenly Beijing went all dark and rain came down the sky. The whole city turned into a one big Blade Runnerian dream with people swarming under their umbrellas, neon lights flashing above, reflecting from the wet street surface. When I finally made it to Tuomas’ hotel, it was already quite late, and he had left for another meeting.
So I wandered around Sanlitun – it was hopeless to get a taxi home anyway – and ended up into a small café, where I had a cider (only place in China I know that serves cider!) and a coffee (not an amazing combo) and chatted a bit with a student who was interested in studying in Finland.
One thing I’m running out of is underwear and shirts. I bought 20 pair of undies when I came here so when I wear the last ones, I know I need to be heading for the airport. But shirts I’m running out of, so I picked up a few from H&M (they are everywhere) when Tuomas finally called. I wasn’t anymore really feeling like working, so we went for a burger at a big chain restaurant. It wasn’t really good, I must admit…
By the time we were done, it had cleared out a bit and anyway it was way past the rush hour, so the taxi wasn’t that much of an issue. Back home, and ready for bed after 4 hours of sleep last night…
…yeah, right. One hour of restless tossing and turning, and here I am, up and awake again. This is not very nice…
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