moving about in guangzhou

during our three days in guangzhou, we stayed at the tian lun international hotel, a 5-star hotel located a stone's throw from the guangzhou east railway station. the subway or metro as they called it in guangzhou is just across the road from our hotel. so, moving about was quite convenient.

we either took the cab or the metro train. the flag-down price for a cab is 7 yuan. out of the five cab rides that we had, the costliest was 20 yuan (equivalent to s$4). while travelling in a cab, the regulation is for the man to take the back seat, which is separated from the driver by metal bars. all cabs are able to issue a printed receipt for every ride.

i prefer taking the metro train - it's even cheaper. fare ranges from 2 yuan to 5 yuan. we never had the chance to pay 5 yuan. most of the times we paid 4 yuan for a single journey. the metro trains are as clean as our mrt trains.

instead of being issued a ticket, you get a black magnetic plastic token, the size of our twenty-cent coin. to gain access to the platform area, you tap it on the sensor at the ticket barrier. at the exit, you insert the token into a slot and thereafter it is retained. for regular commuters, there is the stored value card.

trains are usually very crowded, especially during morning and evening peak hours. just like in hong kong or anywhere else in the world, you have to be fast if you want to 'grab' an empty seat. however, we did not encounter any shoving or pushing when we were boarding the trains.