About Buses - People Mountain People Sea

Now about that strange title, the translation for the word "crowded" in Chinese is 人山人海。 However, the literal translation of this is "people mountain people sea"! My colleague and I had a good laugh about this. Apparently, a misinformed store used the literal translation instead of the actual one!

I have had the chance to ride on a private Chinese bus twice. Because of its private nature, the bus driver tries to maximize ridership by stopping, yelling at people on the street to hop on, arguing with other bus drivers and is seen stepping out to generously help shove people inside to fill any spare space remaining. I didn't find the experience all that unpleasant but, of course, it was just a tad bit more of a people mountain than Canadian buses! I would not recommend these buses for those who become easily motion-sick as they are quite jerky and even had me (who has never gotten motion sickness before) feeling just a bit queasy! For the cost of only 2 RMB a ride, and provided that you can speak Chinese, these buses are quite the bargain for a real cultural experience!

I have recently been informed by a colleague that the private buses are a TEDA phenomenon. Apparently the buses in Beijing are public ones and will not stop if you try to flag them down. You can get on one of these at bus stations only. I hope to check one out sometimes, I wonder what they will be like!

I walk to work most days and I have to watch out for large vehicles such as these. I don't worry that they will hit me, I trust their driving skills which are quite good, but rather their extremely loud horns. The Chinese driving manner is to use the horn frequently to provide a gentle warning to other drivers and pedestrians that you are coming through. Because of this, the streets are often a cacophony of beeping of which, large trucks and buses such as these are the loudest. To give you an idea of how loud they are, take the loudest horn you have heard in Canada (mine was a firetruck which almost burst my ear drums) and multiply it by two! My worst experience was when I crossed the street once and one of these big guys came up behind me blaring. I think the passengers had a good laugh when I jumped at least two feet into the air before sprinting the rest of the way across the road. Now, whenever I cross the street, I make sure to stare at any vehicles coming my way. When I do this, the drivers never beep as they see that I know very well that they are coming and a curtesy honk is not needed. My strategy has worked as I have not had any other surprise horn experiences!