Beijing Subway vs. Mumbai Trains

During my recent trip to Beijing, China; I got to make good use of the extensively laid out Subway trains of the capital city. It was an experience unto itself, when I climbed one of the older lines and was instantaneously reminisced of the Mumbai trains...

The crowd in China is to be seen when you try and get onto the subway during the office hour rush (morning 9-10 and evening 6-8). It looks like a tin packed with sardines. You are not required to hold on to anything except what you brought on board with you, holding you up and pushing you either side is taken care of. It is a good reminder that China is still in competition with India on the population :-)

Anyways! that said, it really was a great experience, and very convenient too. We could visit maximum number of places due to the availability of the same subway nearby and stay on to enjoy the surroundings, without thinking of how we get back to our place of blissful sleep. I am mentioning some of the places and associated stations below:

Line 5: Tiantan Dongmen - for the Hong Qiao Market (good place to go for electronic goods and toys)
Line 1: Yong`anli - For the Silk Market (good place to shop for leather good - handbags, shoes, jackets. Also, good place for souvenirs and small trinkets. You need to be careful and bargain well... mostly bring down the price to 10% of the quoted price. More of this is given on a different blog).
Line 8: Olympic Green - For the Nest and Aquarium (Olympic Stadium and a good nice BIG ground to jog in the mornings)
Line 13: Wudaokou - Good eating joints around this place. Student community and you can find many IT companies also around. You can ask for references here, as people speak and understand english. I liked the Japanese restaurant and the disco/bar alongside it :-)
Line 4: Beijing Zoo - good to visit and see the Panda
Line 4: Beigongmen - For the Summer Palace. This place is good to see over (take the 50 Yuan ticket and a guide to go over the place). Serene and green, with the minimal of traffic noise and a lake to sit by :-)
Line 1: Tian`anmen East/West - For the Forbidden City and and the Tian'anmen square. Forbidden City is Ok, but would prefer going to the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace.
Line 5: Ciqikou - Temple of Heaven. Similar to Forbidden City and would recommend it over the other (60 Yuan vs. 30 Yuan) :-)

Journey to Beijing!

It began with work transitioning from the China office to the newly opened center in Bangalore. People started talking about getting the Visa's done and arranging for flight tickets. Our's being more of a startup, all travel arrangements have been outsourced to AMEX. They did a proficient job of getting the Visa and the tickets (although at a good premium :-) ), and off we were to the land of Dragons... I landed in Beijing with little expectations of what I got to see.

The first was the Airport terminus. It was HUGE!! We had to catch a mini train to reach our baggage handling area and that was not the end of it. I heard that there are 3 monsters of similar size, which make up the terminus. China has done a tremendous job of Infrastructure planning and execution. They have built a city based on modern and old values, which is by far the best and seemingly biggest I have seem so far in the so-called "developing nations" category.

Out of the airport, you do not find any touts or people trying to mishandle you. There is order there. You have a elevator, which takes you either to the Taxi stand (marked all the way in English), or the Subway (the underground metropolitian railway line). Here also, you will find a lot of interesting infrastructure. The Airport line is a bit expensive (25 Yuan, compared with 2 Yuan for anywhere in the city), but it delivers you to a destination on the main lines of the Subway. From here, if you have prepared yourself well and know where to go, you catch the appropriate line (much like the london underground) and reach your destination. I decided to take the taxi, as I had not done the above. :-)

The roads are - smooth and spacious. (although most would not agree on the spacious part, if they arrive on Saturday/Sunday) They have a 8-10 lane infrasturcture of roadways running from the airport to the city (with a additional service lane and an emergency lane). The population is courteous enough and do not bother with you on the Subway or otherwise (not a single beggar to be seen). The main hurdle being communication and trying to make the people understand you. First rule I learnt: Talk with a lot of hand gestures and communicate in a syllable by syllable manner, not in mouthfuls, as we usually do.

The air in Beijing is clean and you will find mostly cars (high end ones) or motor powered bicycles. Around our Hotel, it was more of the student crowd which we faced. The hotel was located (on-campus) near the Beijing Aviation University (which was a misnomer, as they taught more than just aviation). Maybe due to the excellent public network (of taxi's, buses and Subway combined), there did not exist a diverse vehicular traffic. Although that scenario changes, when all try to take their cars out in the weekend, when there is no restrictions imposed on the vehicle numbers out on the street (got to know that there is a restriction each weekday on what last digit vehicle can ply the roads, but it is lifted on weekends).