articles
China Elevator Stories
“Where Are You Going?”
I chat with a stranger at a bus station in Guilin.
28/01/2013
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
As I enter the long-distance bus station in Guilin, a guy in his 30s asks me: “Where are you going?”
Thinking he wants to sell me a black-market ticket, I say: “I’m buying the ticket at the booth, thanks.”
He asks again: “Where are you going? Guangzhou? Shenzhen?”
I queue up in front of the ticket booth and tell him again that I’m buying the ticket at the booth. The guy doesn’t give up so easily and asks once more if I’m going to Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Feeling a bit irritated, I tell him: “I’m going to Shenzhen.”
He says: “There’s a bus leaving soon. You can buy the ticket directly on the bus.”
I answer: “I’m going to Shenzhen tomorrow, not today.”
“There’s a bus going to Shenzhen tomorrow at 8 p.m. I’m the driver. You can buy the ticket at the booth today.”
Feeling embarrassed for being snippy without reason, I ask: “Where in Shenzhen does the bus stop?”
After he tells me, it’s my turn at the ticket booth. The woman behind the glass window asks me: “Where would you like to go?”
The driver tells her: “She wants to go to Shenzhen, tomorrow at 8 p.m.”
The woman frowns at the driver and looks at me, waiting for confirmation.
I repeat: “I want to go to Shenzhen tomorrow evening.”
She inquires: “Is the bus at 8 okay?”
I ask: “How long does it take?”
“Ten hours.”
“That’s okay then.”
While the woman in the booth prints my ticket, the driver says to me, delighted: “That’s my bus! Welcome on my bus tomorrow.”
As I hand the woman the money, I tell her that I’d like to book a bottom berth.
“This is not a sleeper bus.”
“Oh. Are there any sleeper buses tomorrow?”
She tells me the times, and I buy a ticket for a sleeper bus instead of the one at 8 p.m. Before I wander off with my ticket, I nod goodbye to the driver, who was very enthusiastic about having me on his bus.
Have you ever mistaken someone’s good intentions for bad ones?