Well… there are lot’s of options in China to get from A to B. Let’s have a look at some of them.

No. 1: BMW

BMW…?, you might wonder. Why BMW and not VW or Mercedes? BMW is a very popular means for commuting to work, actually. Because, BMW means…. Bus, Metro, Walking. This is how most of the people commute.

Too bad if you are stuck in traffic while commuting the “B” style…

“Metro is ready” celebration.

 

N. 2: Bicycle.

“There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing” sings Katie Melua. I think this is underestimated. But maybe not. Because other than in Saigon, there are many but not incredibly many bicycles in Beijing. You can rent them, provided you have the app. Which you cannot use as a foreigner, unfortunately. But yes, 9 million sounds fair.

 

No. 3: Train.

We have talked about the giant train stations in the middle of nowhere already. By train, you travel very comfortably. I spent a night in a sleeping car, and I remember waking up quite dizzy but refreshed. The low light in the car somewhat helped to not further inspect the bedding sheets, though.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I got sucked away by the 430 km/h speed travel.

(Credit for the photo goes to my fellow traveller Ines.)

 

No. 4: Scooter.

Hell, they are dangerous. Because you don’t hear them, and at night, you neither see them. I won’t understand why it is not mandatory to have the headlights on for an E-scooter. They shoot through the night with neither sound nor image, like nightly ghosts which can easily run you over as they are completely unnoticeable.

 

No. 5: Taxi.

We talked about taxis already. Be prepared and have your destination written at a piece of paper by a Chinese person, otherwise you will not be able to communicate where you actually want to go. But, well, you might end up in an interesting place, who knows? Always be adventurous.

(credits for this photo go to my fellow traveller Ines.)

 

No. 6: TucTuc.

Yes, you will find them in China, even if not as prominent as in other Asian countries. But they are there, and sometimes they are even luxury vehicles pimped up to the extreme. In most cases, they are work horses, which is fine as this seems to be their original purpose.

 

No. 7: Car.

The unavoidable. Everybody wants a car, because everybody seems to want to keep up with the Joneses. You remember the HUGE mega construction sites with hundreds of thousands of apartments built in a series of high rise buildings? Now imagine that every family wants a car, because this is what you aim for in a society of growth and consumption. My imagination is not big enough to grasp what this means, let alone where all those cars are going to be parked. Are there 20-story underground parking garages? There must be, otherwise they are going to have a serious problem. Anyway, there are many cars already, and a little research gives us the answer how many of those are domestic and how many imported. The numbers are from 2016. Out of the 100 most popular models sold in 2017, 21 are from German brands.