Going Back to HK from Guangzhou

Wandering among the sea of people around the train station heading home for New Years, I found it very interesting that a lot of young military boys as well as police men were assigned to keep order. Overpasses had become enforced as one-way and entrances to the stations had also become one-way. At one point, the policeman sitting at the base of the stairs had to yell something out of his megaphone at me to remind me that the stairs were one-way only. A moment later, he ran after a Chinese lady who tried to go against the crowd.

As I was climbing some stairs, I encountered an old man with a ridiculously heavy bunch of items on a set of wheels which he obviously would not be able to lug up the stairs on his own. A lady, who may or may not have known him, didn't seem to be able to lift the bottom of the load on her own. I decided to do the unusual (at least in my mind, it was unusual in this society, but maybe I am mistaken) and lent a helping hand. I lifted and bar and realized how heavy the load actually was. "Aiya!" I exclaimed. I sucked it up and together with the woman, helped the old farmer man with the load up two flights of stairs. They both said,"Thanks," to me and it was so uplifting to know that Chinese people DID say thank you to strangers.

To describe Guangzhou's transportation structure (I got a feel for it after wandering around in confusion for an hour), there is a Rail Station and an East Rail Station, a local bus station and a long-distance bus station. Since buses apparently leave for Shenzhen from both bus stations, I decided to visit the less crowded of the two, the Lihua local bus station, which is just above the D4 exit of the Metro and across from the McDonalds.

Signs at the station indicated that I should buy tickets at the 2nd floor (rather than right on the bus). Once I had purchased my ticket and descended back to the first floor where the buses were moving in and out, no areas were listed for Shenzhen. The station workers I asked keeping pointing to a place off in the distance. My ticket said "Long Distance Station 2nd Floor". I was very confused and asked a young worker (the third or fourth person I asked by now) for directions. He said in Chinese, "It's written right there on your ticket!" To which I replied, "I can't read it! I'm not Chinese-ah!" Amazing how fluent I sounded when speaking with a bit of emphasis and frustration. Surprisingly he said, "I'll take you there, okay?"

I followed him 180 meters down the street, up some stairs and through a front entrance and into a waiting hall on the second floor where lo and behold, buses were waiting behind doors with ticket takers. How modern, how Taipei-ish. The bus departed promptly and we were entertained by a Jackie Chan movie and some music videos. The bus arrived in the outer edges of Shenzhen (by Shenzhen University) in just 2 hours. Unfortunately, the next hour was spent trudging along in rush hour traffic. From there it was the routine ride home to University.