The Bus Driver

We left Putuoshan on a Wednesday afternoon. We had to take a ferry and a bus to the train station which would take us back to Shanghai. We were supposed to leave Shanghai for Guilin the next day and we already had tickets (our second 24 hours on a sleeper train).

After getting off the ferry we sat on the bus for a while. Though we thought we'd left ample time to make it to the train station, it was beginning to get tight, especially with potential rush hour traffic. Matt was stressed (I dare say far more stressed than either Bethany or me...we were just sitting in the back relaxing and reading our books) and he went to talk to the bus driver. Apparently he explained that we had a train to catch.

So we finally take off and I am very much into my book and Matt is very much TENSE so Bethany and I are sitting minding our own business. And finally I realize that we are going so fast, I truly think the bus is going to combust. And I look over at Bethany and we both stare out the window and laugh, nervously.

I started paying more attention. The bus driver was honking literally the entire time. He just kept his hand on the horn. He also never slowed down once. I would see red lights and pedestrians and cars and he just went, and everyone else moved. We were flying through China, and we were going to die. Or more likely someone else would.

Then suddenly the bus driver yells something, every single person on the bus turns their head to look at us (we were sitting in the back row) and Matt stands. He then walks up to the front of the bus (dangerous!) and he squats down near the bus driver. Bethany and I tried walking up there but fell on a lot of people (fast turns) so we went back to our seats. Of course we have no idea what is going on (thanks to the Mandarin speaking club that everyone else on the bus is a part of). Instead we sat there and laughed harder than I have in my entire life--we were weeping. And we just kept watching the bus driver who was CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY and then Matt told us from his better view the bus driver would be driving on pedestrian areas and just everywhere. Literally we never even slowed down for the entire hour drive.

And that, my friends, was the highlight of China.

Also, he dropped us off early in a spot closer to the train station and we had so much time to kill we went and bought some food for dinner.