San Lun Che (3 Wheel Motorcycle or Bike)
These are very convenient and inexpensive ways to get around the local area, but they are not really safe for far distances. If you are on Haidiandao, where the school is, you can take a sanlunche anywhere on Haidiandao.
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Since you should only use a sanlunche for local transit you can usually get away with some simple directions.
Here are a few common commands to get you where you need to go if you cannot tell them the name of where you are going.
Straight - point ahead and say "zai qian" (zai chee-an)
Left - point left and say "zuo bian" (zoo-oh bee-an)
Right - point right and say "you bian" (yo bee-an)
Stop - say "ting"
Stop Here - say "ting zheli" (ting zhe-lee)
Here is Good - "zheli hao" (zhe-lee how)
On Haidiandao the rates are usually from 3-5 kuai. It does not matter if it is a motorcycle or pedaled bike, they are the same. The pedaled bikes are also electric, so they are faster than you might think, eco friendly, quiet, etc. So give one a try some time.
Taxis
There are a lot of cautions on the internet about watching out for taxis trying to take advantage of foreigners, but you only need to do two things to stay out of trouble:
1- be sure they use the meter.
2- be sure you have small bills.
When you get in the cab and tell them where to go they will flip down the arm
of the meter.
See red arrow in pic below. If you use the meter you
will get a good rate.
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It is good to carry small bills because foreigners are usually in a hurry and think the rates are extremely cheap, so every once in a while you will get a driver who comes up a kuai or two short with his change. If you have small bills you can always avoid this. If you don't, the worse case scenario is you are out 1 or 2 kuai.
Here are a few common commands to get you where you need to go if you cannot tell them the name of where you are going.
Straight - point ahead and say "zai qian" (zai chee-an)
Left - point left and say "zuo bian" (zoo-oh bee-an)
Right - point right and say "you bian" (yo bee-an)
Stop - say "ting"
Stop Here - say "ting zheli" (ting zhe-lee)
Here is Good - "zheli hao" (zhe-lee how)
Bargaining for long distances.
The only time you really need to bargain with a taxi is if you are going a long distance, usually the bus station or airport. If you are in Haikou, you can usually get a taxi to the airport for 50-60 kuai. If they want any more, and you are not in a big hurry then find another taxi.
If you start to walk away some times they will call you back, but a lot of times they don't really want to go to the airport, so they will tell you a high rate and won't change the price. If there are other taxis around find a different one, but if you are in a hurry or you haven't seen any other taxis for a while, then you might have to pay.
When you are at the airport, do not use the taxis on the ground level. The taxis downstairs pay the airport a monthly fee to be there and they will not bargain with you. They will charge you at least 80-90 kuai to go to Haikou. You can tell them any rate you want, but they won't budge, and they will even double book you (take on 2 different sets of passengers) and still charge you a high rate.
To get the better rate, go upstairs to the second floor where the taxis are coming from Haikou and dropping off their fares. They do not pay any airport fees and they want to get back to Haikou as soon as possible. Sometimes you can get a driver to agree to 30 or 40 kuai, but the standard rate back to Haikou is 50 kuai.
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