I took at 11:45AM train from Beijing to Tai Shan, which is a station at the base of a famous mountain in China in Shandong Province. It is seven hours southeast of Beijing.
Upon arrival, of course taxi drivers were trying to get me as a customer. It was dark by now and I didn’t know the bus system too well. One taxi driver speaking English said there are no buses and would take me to my hotel for 5 yuan, which was a good price. Instead he took me to a different hotel so he could get a commission, I wasn’t surprised. Couldn’t hurt to look at this hotel, so I walked up to the top floor and down again, but decided against it and just walked away to find my hotel myself. The driver told me which road we stopped a few times, the same as the road with my hotel; he even pointed to it in my book. But he was lying. We actually stopped on a different road and I had a 3km walk in the dark to my hotel. It is rare to find a taxi driver that will help you instead of hurting you. Next time I’ll take my chances with the buses or just walk.
I found the hotel I wanted to stay at, got a simple room and some instant noodles from the store nearby. At this time of night it seemed like all the restaurants were closing down. I tried my best to sleep even though the walls did not block much noise from the other rooms and all the loud voiced Chinese people.