Traveling Adventures

So the afternoon started off with a pretty simple plan: since I was already downtown I’d meet my chinese tutor at a cafe instead of my apartment. After the lesson I was to take the 96 bus home. But when I arrived at the bus stop there was no 96 bus and i didn’t recognize any of the bus stops listed for the buses that did stop there. I confirmed with a stranger that the 96 bus did not stop there. It was in this conversation that I came to realize I didn’t know the name of the place I wanted to go (I only knew how to recognize the characters). I also realized I had no cell phone. I also realised I had no map. All I knew was I wanted to go basically northish. Without knowing the name of where I wanted to go even a taxi wouldn’t help. I remembered those famous words from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Don’t Panic”. I went to search for a place that sold maps. First store said that there was a store up that way that sold maps. They also said something about lights and “do you see it?” but I didn’t quite understand it all. After asking a few store clerks along the way I got to the map store and bought myself a map with bus routes on it. I had my current location pointed out to me on the map and asked them the best way to get to Beijing Lu (a major street that leads to my apartment). They suggested I take the 85 bus and that the bus stop was just a little bit that way. Well I must have missed the stop while walking or misunderstood them or both because after about 10 minutes walking I realised I was about a 10 minute walk away from the map store in the direction opposite to where I wanted to go. So a 10 minute walk back and a 10 minute wait for the bus and and a short bus ride later I arrived at Beijing Lu. There I was able to recognize my stop on multiple bus routes and went home. I think it is worth noting that despite the fact that I basically wondered around aimlessly for at least an hour more than was necessary I was pleased as punch at being able to succeed in this adventure. When I spoke Chinese, people understood! So I got back to the apartment complex only to realise I couldn’t remember which room I was in. I guessed building number 7, dan number 2, room number 201. Alas, I now realise that the it is building number 7, dan number 1, room number 202. After an awkward conversation with the residents of the wrong apartment number, I headed to the nearest internet cafe and checked emails to find the real address. See, having a terrible sense of direction and a poor memory will make you resourceful. Anyway, the minimum time you can buy is 1 hour so I’m spending this time writing this blog. Hope you enjoy it.

-Brit

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 2:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.