Trusting in strangers
So being in a foreign country and not speaking the language, there is a certain amount of trust that you have to put in complete strangers. Thankfully, nothing too terrible has happened, although there were times when I wasn’t sure…
This morning our ship docked in Yichang, where the cruise director, Leo had arranged for me to take a taxi to the long distance bus station in the city proper. Now the man I was introduced to, was NOT the man who ended up taking my backpack and loading me into the back of a cab. I was hoping this man knew where I was going, as the Chinese phrase I memorized was “I want to go to Wuhan”, not take me to the long distance bus station.
As we’re careening down the street we enter a road with a big “No Entry” symbol on it. I’m sitting there wondering if it means the same thing in China as it does in Canada. As we’re turning I can see the city proper to my left, so why were we turning right and going into what looked like the slums, down a one way road, the wrong way? I can tell you there was some praying going on as I envisioned myself being robbed! But thankfully that was not the case.
Once inside the city proper I tried to show them on a map where the bus station was, but we turned down this street, they saw a bus and pulled over, telling me to get out. I was confused. This wasn’t the bus station. I must have asked several times if this bus went to Wuhan, and the answer was always yes. The woman outside the bus charged me 150RMB, which I know was too much, but I didn’t have time to argue as I was being rushed into the bus.
I asked a few passengers if this was the bus to Wuhan and they all said yes, so I nervously sat in my seat, praying yet again to be going the right way. Once we arrived in Wuhan I had no clue where the bus station was in comparison to my hostel, so I was hoping it wasn’t too far away. The challenge of finding a cab driver to take me was ever present, as I was being turned down each time. That’s when a man looked at my directions, said I take you for 30RMB (Which I knew would be too much, but I seriously didn’t care at that point), so I said ok and hopped in. This is the first time I have taken a non-cab anywhere! But there were no weird feelings, so I went with it.
In the end I made it to my very friendly hostel, with clean rooms, internet and really good french fires!
Sometimes its a good idea to just trust people. I’ve had great encounters with the local people by tursting them, saying hello and smiling and laughing when they talk to me in Chinese, as I have no clue what they’re saying…
Tags: china, trust, wuhan, yichang
