Get a GPS! (or a map!)

One of the most frustrating things about being in China and not speaking in Chinese is the fact that I am completely at a loss when I want to get anywhere. I am pretty confident when I give directions at home, and I am not afraid to use the public transportation, but on the whole, it’s just faster to hop in a cab. The problem with the cabs, though, is that none of the cab drivers seem like they have any idea where anything is. For the most part, we’re not going anywhere completely out of the way, and they do not seem particularly helpful even when we do try to use maps and our limited Chinese to help them out.

On Wednesday, the Kro’s Nest was supposed to open a new restaurant, and since we had had so much fun there on Sunday, we thought we might as well go again. Plus, we made friends with the manager, and we wanted to improve our connections. As with many other things here, the opening did not go as planned, so instead of heading off to the new restaurant, we decided to go to the old one. Because taxi drivers are adamant about having only 4 people in the car, we had to find three competent drivers to take us to the restaurant. We found one. In twenty minutes. We convinced the other two to follow, which, in any other city, might have been possible, but with the constant Frogger-ing across traffic lanes and in between buses, this was no easy feat.

We managed to get there in the end, but I don’t think I could do it again on my own.

Which brings me to my point: taxi drivers should really learn the city they live in and work in. Or, the companies they work for need to invest in the newest GPS that automatically updates to include new roads. Salespeople know the products they sell, so why can’t taxi drivers know the roads they drive?