Taxis

Taxis are the bane of my life especially when they try to rip me off. After St Petersburg where I paid 10 times what I should have I spent half hour arguing with the taxi driver in Mosow...using sign language of course, to pay what I thought was reasonable (without atually knowing what was reasonable). I got him down from 400Rubles to 250 Rubles. Upon arriving in Beijing an unlicenced taxi tried to charge me 50Yuen, I agreed 40 and then on reaching the
hotel I decided that 40 was probably too much so I gave him 30, grabbed my bags and ran out, while he was still fuming! Luckily we were in a tiny alley with traffic queuing up behind so he didn't ome after me. Later I found out a licenced taxi would only have charged 10 Yuen, so I didn't feel sorry for him at all! Well its not the actual amount that matters, I just don't like being taken for a ride! Lesson No 2. Divide taxi asking price by 4 when entering a new country.