Didi’d (Uber of China) from Shanghai to Hangzhou on Monday. Hangzou is 105 miles southwest of Shanghai.
We took a short staycation from our vacation. In Shanghai, we averaged 14k steps per day, in over 90° temperatures. We’d earned a respite to relax, take it easy and recharge. We took full advantage of our hotel Club Lounge membership and put on the golden handcuffs for a day.
Thus enervated, we hopped on a boat to traverse The Grand Canal of China.
We disembarked after a 45 minute ride. A pleasant walkabout to soak in the local sights and sounds. In Kyoto, Ladies (some gentlemen) dressed up in kimonos, Hanboks in S. Korea are de rigueur for the Chinese visitor.
RMB 800. Door Indigo Bund to door Intercontinental Hangzou. In a China EV equivalent to a Tesla S. Courteous driver in tie and pressed shirt in air conditioned comfort.
Too old to be dragging our luggage to taxi/train station/taxi dealing with the queues. May consider HSR in cooler weather.
I recalled this conversation AFTER we bought the HSR ticket from Suzhou to Hangzhou. It’d be much more convenient for us to call a car, and not have to lug the luggage to and from the train station, and take the HSR from SZ first to Shanghai, then to Hangzhou. (they got no direct train).
Mainland China has become a favored destination for many reasons.
Ease of transit inter and intra cities by Didi is definitely one of the major pluses. So nice to be picked up at the hotel in an immaculate air conditioned auto chauffered by a courteous and polite driver. The cost is about the same or sometimes cheaper if you add up taxi to/from train station, train fare, etc…
We’ve already booked Shanghai again for November. Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai proper.
Which category of cars do you pick though? I have found that the Didi usually have the better quality cars amongst all the car operators available in Amap, but even Didi has a pretty wide range of quality. The last thing I want to happen is to be stuck in a heavily perfumed car intended to cover other smells, for two plus hours.
I was also told that there are Wechat groups for routes between major cities, such as Suzhou-Hangzhou, where drivers taking passengers one way try to find potential customers in those groups so they don’t have to drive an empty car back.
I think a good criteria to take cars vs HSR would be:
