Subway Is the Way To Go

I never take the subway if I can help it, but whenever I do, I always see something blog-worthy.

Most expats here probably have never experienced the subway. I rarely see foreigners on the subway and the ones I do see tend to be young travelers with a huge backpack and probably staying at a hostel. It's not a really pleasant experience: it gets really crowded and not fully air-conditioned. Mr. Mouse Potato rode it once to work and swore that if he had to do it again he's packing up and going back to California.

Another reason might be the names of the stations. For example, I can just imagine a John and a Bill perplexing over exactly where Dongzhimen is, or where Yonghegong will lead them. Dongsi-shit-iao might appear a bit daunting, but probably not as much as Fuxingmen.

When I was riding the subway last week, a woman came on the train with a mike and an elderly man in a cane. As she sang into the mike with a completely unintelligible accent and started to solicit money, I wondered why it was necessary for her to sing. It would have been just as effective if not more so had she not been singing. It was so terrible perhaps the point was that once people paid enough she'd stop.

Then today, on my trip into the city, a man without legs went down the isles asking for money. He moved around with the help of his hands and it was just such a pathetic sight that most people including me gave something.

On the way back a man shoved a placard in everyone's faces. The placard explained that he was a disabled person (deaf or mute, maybe both) selling little knick-knacks to make money. Upon close inspection his clothes were made of good quality material and he really didn't seem all that needy to me...but then again who really knows.

A couple sitting next to me on the way on the way there kept kissing each other on the cheeks but never fully making out. On the way back the couple next to me asked me where I got my Tokidoki LeSportSac.

If you ever visit Beijing, I suggest that you ride the subway at least once. If not for your own sake, at least treat the riders with something to look at (especially if you are blond/red-haired, blue-eyed). Don't be offended--they are just admiring your colorings and probably envious of your fair skin.