We decided to take a day trip to Nanjing one weekend in May. It was only about an hour train ride from Wuxi, so it was pretty easy to get there. I had asked a coworker from there for ideas on what to do and he gave us an intinerary with addresses in Chinese, so we thought we could manage just fine "on our own".
Of course it didn't quite work out the way we wanted. First, we couldn't get the taxi driver to understand where we wanted to go - even with the Chinese from my coworker. Therefore, after being dropped off at a hotel (not our plan), trying to get some translation help at the hotel (no luck) and then struggling to get a new taxi since we were in the middle of nowhere, we went to plan B. We finally made it to an alternate attraction only to, once again, not be able to get a taxi when we were finished. Thank goodness I printed off a little map and we had a smart phone because we ended up walking A TON since we could NOT get a taxi. We thought it was maybe because we were foreigners (my coworker in Northern China has had this issue several times), but when I got back to work and discussed it with a coworker, they said it was because everyone uses an app on their phone to get a taxi now. So even though the taxi is empty, they are most likely on their way to get someone. Uggg, so annoying! Oh - and it was raining off and on :(
Needless to say, it wasn't our best trip, but it is always good to get out on our own and experience new cities.
 |
| ahhh, stairs! awesome (says the 14 wk pregnant woman carrying a 2 yr old) |
 |
| trying to hail a taxi for the 100th time |
 |
| thought this sign was funny --- do people try to wash their cars in a pond??? |
 |
| who knows ... |
 |
| still having fun even though we are frustrated! |
No comments:
Post a Comment