| View Blog
|
|
|
|
My father and sister decided to visit me out here in China for the holidays. We had a fantastic visit and, in no time at all, they had to catch their plane back to Canada. As my city can't even muster a proper road transit, let alone an airport, they had to take a plane from Shanghai which left at 5:00 in the evening. Shanghai is a three hour bus ride on the best of days, so we left the school at 9:20 am, leaving plenty of time for error or as we call it here in China, everyday life.
9:20 am, Blood pressure level: Normal
I had told Nancy, my assistant, to get a taxi to wait for me at the school gate. Richard, Rikki and I walk, four bags of luggage in tow, toward the awaiting car. Nancy informs me we haven't enough time to make it to the bus station and proposes an alternative; we wait at the street corner nearby and flag the bus. I object but she persists.
9:26 am, Blood pressure level: Walking Pace
I inform her we could've made it if we hadn't spent all that time arguing over it. The cab speeds away, driver muttering something about his time being wasted. We walk to the street, only speaking a few words to each other. The awkward silence would be more evident if it wasn't drowned out by the incessant honking. Nancy says the bus will arrive soon.
9:38 am, Blood pressure level: Walking Pace
The bus still hasn't arrived and I begin to grow restless. Nancy tries to start a conversation but she is shot down by my apathetic shrugs. I ask her again when the bus is coming and she guesses ten minutes.
9:55 am, Blood pressure level: Old Lady Power Walk
Still no sign of a bus to Shanghai and all three of us are beginning to regard Nancy with disdain. She pretends not to notice. She admits we should have gone to the station. We simultaneously groan.
10:02 am, Blood pressure level: Jog in the Park
As I'm about to ask Nancy, in the nicest way possible, what exactly she is still doing here, the bus appears and comes barreling towards us, horn blaring. I breathe a sigh of relief.
10:03 am, Blood pressure level: Walking Pace
I walk into the street, nearly in front of the bus and wave to the driver to pick us up. As I've done this many times before with success, I have no doubt that he would stop.
10:04 am, Blood pressure level: Sprint
Without even a glance in my general direction the bus driver stays a straight course, heading toward the city limits. I stare until it's completely out of sight. I feel quite agitated and give Nancy a cold stare, waiting for her idea for our next move. She ignores my cold, piercing gaze and suggests we take a taxi to the outskirts of time, where there is another bus station that has many buses leaving for Shanghai throughout the day. As with any change sudden change of plan in this country, I fear the worst.
10:08 am, Blood pressure level: Sprint
A middle-aged cabbie pulls up after Nancy flags him down. His smell and rotting teeth repulses me and I nearly decide to cancel the trip all together. They exchange a few words, quickly and many in the local dialect so I have difficulty keeping up. They turn and ask me how much I want to pay to go to Shanghai per person. I assume they are now discussing him taking us all the way to Shanghai in the taxi. We all settle on a total of 230 quai, which works out to just under 80 per person. I reluctantly agree. We load up the luggage and get in the car.
10:12 am, Blood pressure level: Walking Pace
I begin to relax, knowing that we will get to the airport in good time, albeit for slightly more cash than originally planned. I lay back in my seat, wondering how it was this easy.
10:20 am, Blood pressure level: Sex in Church while taking the "Lord's" name in vain
The car comes to an abrupt halt near the outskirts of town. I glance around, barely recognizing the area. The driver informs me he is going to buy our tickets now and he needs our money. I stare at him blankly. I understood what he said, but not why he said it. I then realize we are sitting in front of the other bus station and we are, in fact, taking a bus to Shanghai. I ask him why he isn't taking us all the way. He begins to shout and I resign, refusing to shout around my impressionable young sister. I hand him the money as he gets out. I reassure my family everything will be fine as I slowly realize my first error of the day. I bolt out the car door and race toward the ticket gate. The man is standing there, negotiating to a 50-something woman wearing a hideous sweat suit. I approach them just as a price is agreed upon. I confirm with the woman that we have paid tickets for three people. She confirms it's true and I eye the driver up suspiciously.
10:27 am, Blood pressure level: Pushups is Gym class
The driver hurries to get our bags and my family out of the car and speeds away without another word. I quickly take a mental note of his license plate.
10:29 am, Blood pressure level: Christmas Shopping
I ask the woman when the bus will arrive, here we go again. She assures me it's on it's way and will be here momentarily. I sigh in disbelief, but have no choice but to wait. I continue to ask her for several minutes when the bus is coming and she continues to reassure me, remaining patient with me but avoiding any real answer. I start to shake and twitch uncontrollably. I take a few deep breaths and remind myself we prepared for this by giving ourselves plenty of time. I wait.
10:40 am, Blood pressure level: Boxing Day Shopping
I march up to the old woman and as I'm about to peel the flesh from her skin, a beautiful sight appears in the distance. The bus, a rusty man trap with holes in the side as big as It's windows and making a sound deafening enough to put the nightly fireworks to shame, whips into a nearby parking lot. The woman smiles and informs us its our bus. Dad gives me a wink and Rikki smiles. Finally, she says. I don't have the heart to tell them it's probably not that easy.
10:44 am, Blood pressure level: PC Load Letter
We move towards the bus as the passengers from Shanghai are unloading. The old woman stops the driver as he gets out. She points us out to him as they discuss something I'm unable to hear. He raises his voice and points at my sister, exclaiming he needs money for her ticket. Concerned, I walk over and tell them we paid them for three passengers. The woman says she needs another 20 quai for Rikki. I tell her again that she told us we had paid for three people, 230 quai. The woman frowns and pulls money out of her pocket. I count out 130 quai as she tells me that was all that was given. My twitch returns and I sink my face into my hands to stop myself from screaming at an old lady half my size. I grit my teeth and explain to her that we paid the cab driver 230 quai for the three tickets. She insists that 130 was all she was given. Meanwhile, the nearby crowd seems to have migrated over here and formed a circle around the three of us. As the Chinese are uninteresting in general as a society, they were easily drawn to the sight of a foreigner arguing with an elderly woman. I twitch and tell the woman I think she is lying. This enrages her further, raising her voice and increasing the size of the crowd surrounding us. I stare a few people down coldly, forcing them to turn away but quickly realize I can't scare them all away. I look over at Richard and Rikki, helplessly wishing they could intervene. I turn back at the woman, stare at the money in her hand and it dawns on me what had happened, the driver paid her for two people and negotiated Rikki to be free, pocketing the other hundred. I turn and walk behind a bus and scream obscenely. It echoed for miles. I return to the scene. Everyone had dropped their jaws and were watching me as I walked back, each of them were afraid they were going to be my first victim. I yell again, this time in Chinese, 'Don't you people have jobs!"
10:50 am, Blood pressure level: Beaches of Normandy
Rikki, whom I give credit for her bravery, gives me a hug and I feel a bit better. I pay the woman the other 20 quai and walk toward the bus. The woman catches me before I get to far and tells me that the driver is eating and we will leave when he full. I have a quick fantasy involving her, a sledgehammer, and some piano wire but quickly brush it off. I turn away without giving her a reply. The crowd has dissipated, possibly having something to do with my outburst followed by them realizing they were being idiots. I shoot my family a look of embarrassment and sink my head into hands and lean against the luggage. I wait for word from the woman getting paid way too much.
11:00 am, Blood pressure level: Boss wants to have a "talk"
The driver returns as I check my clock and realize we could have caught the 11:10 bus from the other bus station. I stand up and prepare to board. The Chinese people who were waiting less time push past me and board first. I no longer have the will to resist and wait until they are all on before I lead my family on. As I descend the flimsy steps on to the bus the old woman calls out to me . She says this isn't our bus. I twitch again, turn and meet her eyes and attempt to pierce her soul. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After all we have waited and put up with and paid, THIS WASN'T IT! I yell at her, asking why its not our bus and she explains that this is the slow bus and will take five hours to get there. I twitch and bite my tongue, taking a deep breath and being careful not to overreact by punching an old Chinese lady in the mouth. I calmly ask her when another bus will come. Very soon, is her reply. I clench my fist and, for a split second, decide it would be completely worth whatever happened to me after. Richard, reading my mind, pulls me away from the scene and tells me it's not a big deal. He says, 'What would a good trip be without everything going wrong.' I force a smile and nod.
11:15 am, Blood pressure level: Girlfriend wants to have a "talk"
The woman has led us out of the parking lot and back out into the street. I focus on controlling my breathing and keeping myself from doing something stupid like kicking her into traffic. We walk back to the bench where we were nearly an hour ago and she tells us to sit down. I have had enough of this. I let loose all my rage and scream at her, 'WE NEED TO GO NOW!!!!!!!' She cowers at the volume of my voice that I didn't even realize I was capable of. She tries to mumble an argument but I hold my ground. I stare her down with everything I got. I took all my repented rage and anger built up from the constant inconveniences in this country and shot it into her eyes as I stare into her. She backs up and throws in the towel. She flags down a car within a minute and speaks with the driver and his wife. She turns but refuses to meet my gaze. She tells me that these people are going to take us to the airport. I ask her how much this will cost. She says, still looking at the ground, it’s on the house.
1:20 am, Blood pressure level: Free Massage
We are making great time, as uncomfortable as it may be. The three of us were crammed in the back of the car with two of the four suitcases they are taking back with them. I am in the middle with one of the suitcases across my lap, causing the feeling in my legs to numb. However, we are enter the city. I notice an exit with a picture of an airplane and they take it. It says 20 km left to go. I grin until I notice the pileup of cars on the intersecting highway. The car slows to a hault and we wait, and wait.
1:45 am, Blood pressure level: Girlfriend calls and says she is a month late
I stare helplessly at the signs indicating the remaining km to the airport. They aren't going down nearly fast enough. I am about to pull my own hair out when we finally make an exit. We turn and follow the signs that say 'Airport Terminal Building' in English. We thank the couple and walk to the entrance. We approach the door, but I notice something is wrong. Very wrong. I look up at the sign above the doorway, Hong Qiao Airport. I twitched. 'Its....the....wrong...airport,' I stuttered as I collapsed to the ground.
1:50 am, Stroke is imminent
I give up. If we ever get to the right airport, I'm catching the next flight home too. I'm so busy wallowing, I nearly miss the passing shuttle that is clearly marked, Pu Dong Airport. I force myself up and tell myself I can't let this one get away. I stand in front of it and dramatically hold out my hand, giving the driver no choice but to honk uncontrollably and finally open the doors. I take a deep breath and board the final vehicle to the correct airport.
4:00, Blood Pressure level: Normal
After barely getting them to the airport in time, I relax on the bus heading back to Taixing. I wonder why it couldn't be this easy the first time. More importantly, how can I ruin a taxi driver's life and where Nancy is?
By: Chris Bentley
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Views: 68
Email This to a Friend 
