The Wheels on the Bus

We took many bus journeys on our trip to China as it was often the only mode of transportation to some of the rural locations on our list. Without Maggie the bus trips would have been an impossibility. As you can see from the photo below nothing in the bus station was in English.







During our entire journey we did not see another Westerner at any bus station or on any bus. You can imagine that we were kind of an oddity and a bit of a circus attraction. At one station a security guard approached Adam and I who were waiting while Mark and Maggie got the tickets. He stood perhaps a foot from my nose and shouted, "Hello", with a huge grin on his face. I repeated the greeting, then he didn't move. For about 7 or 8 minutes he stood with his face a few inches from mine, staring at me and grinning wildly. It was very unsettling. Maggie thought it was hysterical and launched in to fits of giggles every time I said, "Hello" (add funny sing song voice) to her for the rest of the trip.

Not since we moved in to Water's Edge have I wanted a bucket of hot water and bleach so badly. Give me that and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and I could have had this bus ship-shape in an hour. And sadly I'm not kidding. Had they given me the tools I would have done it. It would have been so satisfying.






This lady was having a very loud and angry fight with her husband on the bus. After they were done yelling she turned her face in to the window and cried for the entire hour journey. The husband tried to make amends but she was having none of it. Without understanding what they were fighting about it is impossible to say if she was justified. But we were on her side anyway.