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Monday, February 7, 2005 |
When I talk about airport taxi[base ']s anyway, one more note. The guys trying
to catch tourists, or foreigners in general, and put them in illegal
taxi[base ']s without meters, are still around. They are extremely annoying,
sometimes even pushing you to gain your attention. Generally I ignore
them, but that[base ']s not always easy: today one jumped right in front of my
luggage cart. It[base ']s bad for the first impression many tourists get from
China, and I wonder why police does not do anything about it (OK, I
know, they probably get a share of revenues).
8:15:28 PM 
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Every passenger taking a regular taxi at Beijing airport now gets a
card with the taxi number written on it, and a telephone number for
complaints. Wow, service is really improving! Last year the parking
procedures for taxi[base ']s were changed already, taxi[base ']s don[base ']t line up
anymore while passengers get it but park in parking lots on the other
side of the road from which they can drive out without waiting for
other, slower, taxis. This system had been in use in Singapore for
years already, but in China nobody thought about implementing it. Now I
hope they will copy it in Shanghai[base ']s airports as well. Especially
Hongqiao has extremely long queues sometimes, mainly caused by the
inefficient system of getting into the taxi[base ']s.
8:14:40 PM
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Yesterday I was not in the Chinese New Year mood at all, but today it
suddenly started. Not during the taxi drive, the old Santana was dirty
and smelled of smoke. But being on an overloaded Shanghai airport
filled with happy people going home made me suddenly feel good as well.
In the plane the usual announcements did not start with the seat belt
instructions, but by wishing everyone a Gong Xi Fa Cai / Xin Nian Kuai
Le (Happy New Year). I still have a bit of work to finish off tonight
and tomorrow, but I actually start to look forward to a couple of days
doing a bit less than usually.
8:13:39 PM
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One of the things I have on my to do list for the next few days is
learn the C++ programming language. I bought a 500+ page C++ book about
2 years ago, but never passed page 50. I promised myself to finish at
least finish half the lessons before going back to Shanghai. Putting
this on my blog gives me an extra push to really do it :-)
8:12:56 PM
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I am writing this log on the plane (Air China). Food was just served,
the usual rice with chicken or beef. The stuff really stinks, and I am
always happy when the meal is over. Food is an essential part of flying
for Chinese. No matter the time of day, all Chinese passengers always
take a tray and seem to enjoy it. I normally pass because it just does
not taste right (OK, also because at HongQiao I normally grab a burger
at McDonalds (arrival level, outside in the corner) or at Pudong some a
Mexican wrap at KFC (middle level at entrance to Maglev train)). I also
noted that several other foreign business people tend not to reject the
tray, so I am not the only one. But why do Chinese like it? Food plays
a much bigger role in Chinese society than in the West, and Chinese are
normally quite peculiar about the taste of food. Maybe because it[base ']s
free?
8:12:16 PM
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I was just having a quick late lunch (4 PM) at McDonalds at HongQiao
airport, when I noticed their Chinese New Year family special: a
hamburger, a McChicken, 6 chicken nuggets, 3 chicken wings, a large
fries and 3 Coke[base ']s for the sum of only RMB 58 (less than EUR 5).
McDonalds is trying to win market share from KFC (the no. 1 fast food
chain in China) by offering certain products at a standard low price, a
hamburger is only RMB 4.50 for example. Although that[base ']s still a lot of
money for the average Wang, it[base ']s extremely cheap compared to Europe.
8:11:28 PM
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© Copyright 2005 Marc van der Chijs.
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