Yesterday I made a plan that I would take the bus from Baoshan to Dali, however before doing so I would make a visit to Banqiao Old Town. This is a small attraction just north of the city, and used to be a important hub for trading along the Old Tea and Horse Road.
This morning I made my way over to the bus station at noon and purchased my ticket for the bus leaving at 3:50pm. Afterward I walked up to the taxi stand and asked how much to Banqiao, the guy I was negotiating with told me he wouldn't use meter and wanted to charge 50 rmb there and back to the station. This price sounded ridiculous to me so I walked out onto the road determined to find my own way.
I talked to a couple taxis on the side of the road and here I was getting even worse answers then at the taxi stand, everyone said 50 rmb one way. Rather then negotiating, the next cab that pulled up, I just told them to turn the meter on, go straight and then turn right on the main road going north. This was working quite well until we got about half of the way there, at this point he asked for the location and I thought it would be safe to tell him now. I was wrong, we argued for a couple minutes and then I gave the 10 rmb that had accumulated on the meter and got out of the cab in a pretty desolate area near the north edge of town.
No taxis were even driving on this road so I began to wonder if I should have gone with the first driver's price after all, however nearby there was a bus stop so I decided to go check it out. After a couple minutes I was able to match the Chinese characters I'd photoed from google with one of the stop names on the bust stop chart. Eventually bus no 5 pulled up and I paid my 1 rmb and got in. The audio announcements weren't the least bit understandable so I was a bit worried I might miss the Banqiao stop, to prevent a miss I tapped the lady in front of me on the shoulder. She was very interested to know why I was on this bus, and after asking me a series of questions she agreed to help me find the right stop.
Five minutes later she gave the cue and I followed her off the bus, as we walked down the street she explained that since I was unfamiliar with the area that she would help me get to Qinglong street and also to the ancient temple just up the road. She guided me around for the next thirty minutes, even helping to suggest which things I might want to take a photo of and paying a small rickshaw fee for me.
This morning I made my way over to the bus station at noon and purchased my ticket for the bus leaving at 3:50pm. Afterward I walked up to the taxi stand and asked how much to Banqiao, the guy I was negotiating with told me he wouldn't use meter and wanted to charge 50 rmb there and back to the station. This price sounded ridiculous to me so I walked out onto the road determined to find my own way.
I talked to a couple taxis on the side of the road and here I was getting even worse answers then at the taxi stand, everyone said 50 rmb one way. Rather then negotiating, the next cab that pulled up, I just told them to turn the meter on, go straight and then turn right on the main road going north. This was working quite well until we got about half of the way there, at this point he asked for the location and I thought it would be safe to tell him now. I was wrong, we argued for a couple minutes and then I gave the 10 rmb that had accumulated on the meter and got out of the cab in a pretty desolate area near the north edge of town.
No taxis were even driving on this road so I began to wonder if I should have gone with the first driver's price after all, however nearby there was a bus stop so I decided to go check it out. After a couple minutes I was able to match the Chinese characters I'd photoed from google with one of the stop names on the bust stop chart. Eventually bus no 5 pulled up and I paid my 1 rmb and got in. The audio announcements weren't the least bit understandable so I was a bit worried I might miss the Banqiao stop, to prevent a miss I tapped the lady in front of me on the shoulder. She was very interested to know why I was on this bus, and after asking me a series of questions she agreed to help me find the right stop.
Five minutes later she gave the cue and I followed her off the bus, as we walked down the street she explained that since I was unfamiliar with the area that she would help me get to Qinglong street and also to the ancient temple just up the road. She guided me around for the next thirty minutes, even helping to suggest which things I might want to take a photo of and paying a small rickshaw fee for me.
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| Entrance to Qinglong Street |
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| Qinglong Street |
