Todays Culture Lesson

[owenkrout]

I know I promised to cover taxis next, but it occured to me that I had left out the cross-country busses.

 

Cross-Country Busses

 

The Chinese people where heavily restricted in their ability to travel outside of their home city (really more like a county in the U.S.) up until about 20 years ago. Since then it has become increasingly easy for them to travel from one city to another. Now days it has effectively reached the point of their being free to travel where they want when they want.

 

The traditional and still the cheapest people movers over longer distances are the cross-country busses. These were cheaper than the trains and reached towns and villages not served by the trains. These vary in size and level of comfort according to distance to be traveled and the passengers ability to pay. Up to a couple of hundred kilometers distance the mid-size busses which are basically oversize vans tend to be the primary movers of people. The larger full sized busses may run the longer routes.

 

The cheapest, government run, busses are still widely used and are where you as an American probably do not want to attempt travel. These are usually poorly maintained and crammed to the gills with people and baggage as well as the occasional chicken or duck, alive or dead. The roof rack is generally also full to overflowing with bags and boxes of goods. It is almost guaranteed that exhaust fumes will be leaking into the passenger compartment and that people will be spitting and being sick on the floor. The Chinese seem to have some genetic predisposition to motion sickness and it is rare to take a bus ride without someone being sick. If you are lucky they manage to get their head out a window in time. These will tend to stop at every city along the way.

 

The small privately run van busses are basically just a smaller scale version of these. These will however quite often stop at every little village and major crossroad along the way. Whereas the larger busses may travel the main roads, these smaller busses often travel the back roads.

 

For those who can afford the greater luxury, but who are going where the train does not or who cannot get a ticket on the perennially overcrowded rail system, there are the more luxurious privately run cross-country busses. These are full size Mercedes or Volvo busses and are generally quite comfortable and never overcrowded. No standing room is sold for these and everyone has an assigned seat. They are even air conditioned and have comfortable seats. Usually there are movies shown during the trip and there are bottles of water handed out. These particular busses may cost even more than the train does for the same run.

 

Even on the cross-country busses, the drivers can vary from those who are actually quite good drivers to the maniac who thinks that he is driving a Ferrari instead of the huge many multi-ton vehicle that he is actually in charge of. Also, equipment failures are all too common, brake failures being right up there among the most common.

 

For those who are really broke or who are inclined towards self destructive behavior, there are the sleeper busses. These are the full sized cross-country busses but with no seats. These have been replaced by rows of bunk style berths. Unlike the train sleeper berths, there is nowhere for you to get out of your berth and stretch your legs. Also, from what I have seen, these are generally filthy, over crowded and with poor ventilation. I would never recommend these to anyone. Take the train to somewhere relatively nearby and then take the regular bus from there.

[Robert S.]

Ping and I had ridden the train from Dalian to Shenyang when I needed to go there to the American consulate to swear an affidavit that I was single. When we returned to the train station the next scheduled departure was later than we wanted so we went out in the far corner of the huge train station parking lot and got on a fairly nice privately owned bus. I liked the trip a great deal and enjoyed seeing the countryside even closer up than on the train. It was amazing the way every square inch of ground that could grow something was under cultivation. The bus drivers did a really good job, and they did not get too tired because there were about 3-4 of them and they traded off driving on the 6 hour trip. The road was mostly divided highway but it would inexplicably dwindle to two lanes occasionally. The degree of variation of conveyances on this highway was something that you would never see in the US, really quite a few of the vehicles did not look quite safe.

[owenkrout]

Robert,

 

Sounds like you left from the north train station, which is the main station in Shenyang. The private coaches there are pretty nice. The only advantages of the train are being safer and you can get up and move around. Usually one driver makes the entire run to or from Dalian but ocassionally they will trade off about half way. I never have seen them use more than two, so you had the exception. It is a better way to see the countryside.

 

"really quite a few of the vehicles did not look quite safe". Now that is an understatement!

[beishan4]

Aloha from Beijing,

There are some good bus companies. My trip between Hangzhou and

Lin An was on an air conditioned bus with comfortable seats. There was

an old Jackie Chan movie to watch on the overhead television.

By the way, It snowed this morning in Beijing. I could use a weather

report from Mick.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[Mick]

Don't know exactly when this was posted as I have been off the board for several days, going to GZ to pick up our visa. Great trip by the way.

 

As for the weather, it has been really changeable down here in Guangdong. Our first day in GZ it was moderate, around 21C. The second day, Saturday, it was cold as all get out. Dropped down to around 8C in the morning and Li and froze as we ate lunch at an outside food stall around noon. In a heavy wind no less. The other two days in GZ were cool at night and warm in the day time. No rain to speak of.

 

Today in Shantou is beautiful, temp is around 19C with lots of sunshine.

 

Now, as for those buses. I have been on all of the types Owen describes. My only comments are he is right on all counts. Those low cost jobs are a mess and ducks, chickens, and geese are not uncommon. I was once pecked in the leg repeatedly by a goose whose neck protruded from a burlap bag on the floor next to me. I guess he was in a foul mood as he was on his way for Spring Festival Dinner and I don't think he was going to be eating, but instead, eaten himself.

 

As for those sleepers, stay off them. Filthy, poorly maintained, and dangerous at times. There was a case recently down here in the south where two guys raped a number of girls on the bus. Of course, no one tried to stop them. I think one of them was armed with a knife. They were arrested at the end of the trip and summarily executed. It was in all the local papers down here a few months back.

 

If you are going long distance, those big luxury coaches are the best bet. Fairly comfortable, and generally fast. Sometimes too fast.

 

As Owen mentioined, brake failure is not an uncommon occurance. I know this from first hand experience. Brake failure was the cause of the accident Li and I were involved in on our trip to GZ back in February. I was lucky to come out of it with bruised ribs. As to the motion sickness, I have seen this on nearly every bus trip. Li is particularly prone to it. She gets really sick in taxis as well. Of course, if you hop aboard one of those smaller, rust buckets the exhaust fumes are enough to make you want to let fly.