It's a smooth ride when translation apps are close at hand

Getting a taxi in Beijing nowadays is increasingly a game of luck. One needs that perfect combination of right time, right place and the right people. The right people here means no one will try to walk ahead of you and intercept the taxi coming your way or the driver will not reject you without any explanation.

Fortunately, in the absence of a taxi, a black car often comes to my rescue.

A "black car", or heiche in Chinese, is not necessarily a car that's black in color (though often they are) but a private car without a taxi license whose driver is willing to give you a ride in his spare time, or this might, in fact, be his job.

My first experience with a heiche was quite adventurous.

It's 11 pm in Central Business District area. My friend and I had been standing in the freezing cold for 20 minutes, waiting for a taxi. Then a small car with a flickering red dot shining from its front window stopped by and the driver asked: "qun'ar (where to)?"

My friend and I looked at each other and realized both of us looked quite small and weak - a potential target of robbery. We shook our heads and the car left.

Another 10 minutes passed and still no sign of a taxi. Another small car stopped by us, this time, without the red dot.

"Qun'ar?"

"Tuanjiehu and Chaoyang Park".

"Twenty yuan".

Fearing the prospect of waiting there forever, we jumped into the car.

As if sensing our fear, the driver said to us: "Don't worry. There are surveillance cameras everywhere."

Then he gave us his mobile number. We tried and it worked. I secretly messaged his number, together with his license plate number, to another friend and asked her to call me in 20 minutes and call the police in case there was no response.

While imagining the horrible scenes of being kidnapped in my head, I saw another woman waving for a taxi around the corner. Our car slowed down.

"Going to Jiuxianqiao?"

"Yes. 30 yuan."

She took the front seat without any hesitation. My friend and I exchanged a smile of relief. Neither of us would be left in the car alone now since the woman would get down last. She didn't seem to have any fear or concern. Obviously, a heiche regular.

A year has passed. I too am a heiche regular now. I even have my dedicated heiche to drive me to work in the morning. Liu, my driver, is now practically a friend, always available when I need him.

Liu has many other clients living in my neighborhood, most of them speak as little Chinese as he speaks English.

Earlier Liu had to ask his daughter to translate the messages from his foreign clients or they would have to ask their Chinese friends to help. Now he has a mobile phone with quite a few free translation apps.

Every day the English SMS Liu receives is automatically translated into Chinese. "Leo, do you have time to take me to the National Museum by Tian'anmen?"

Liu has no idea why they all call him "The Lion" (in fact, he doesn't know his zodiac sign, except that he's born in the Year of the Ox), but he is happy that he can get the key info such as pick-up time, from and where to.

When both he and his clients are in the car and need to communicate, he just types an SMS, gets it translated and shows the English version to them. They will understand each other by just looking at the key word and ignore the rest.