articles
China Elevator Stories
A not-so-safe drive to the airport
Min takes me to the airport in Kunming.
07/08/2014
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
At the beginning of October 2013, I am in Kunming. It’s the last day of my travels and visiting friends in Yunnan, and I have a flight later that day. Min, a friend of the friend I’m staying with, offers to take me to the airport by car. When it’s time to leave, we carry the luggage downstairs.
Min is a woman in her early twenties. Her long hair is dyed an intense red, and she wears a bright blue mini-skirt paired with a black leather jacket.
Her newly bought second-hand car looks like an old street racing car, reminding me of the cars in movies from the 1990s. All three of us get in the car. Min and my friend sit in the front, while I take the back seat.
My friend has warned me that Min hasn’t driven in a while. The road to the airport isn’t very crowded, so I figure it should be okay. On the city highway, Min overtakes another car, cutting lanes without checking the rearview mirror even once. As we approach a red light, she doesn’t slow down. I shout, “Red light!” but it’s already too late for her to stop. She crosses the red light at full speed.
When we are almost at the airport, there are no other cars in sight. We come to a crossing where driving straight is prohibited. Realizing that Min is about to head straight into the one-way street anyway, I shout, “We can’t go straight; we have to go right!”
A few seconds later, she notices she’s driving against traffic, but it’s already too late. A single car heading in the opposite direction crosses our path—a police car, no less. Luckily for us, the police officers don’t seem too concerned about Min driving against the traffic. We manage to reach the airport without any harm (and without harming others).
Have you ever been in a similar situation?