Goodmorning Aaron

Mila left for Tai Shan, then to Beijing after our climb of Hua Shan. Her schedule did not allow her to continue with me any longer, which was a shame, she was a great travel partner. Helpful, smart, great company, yet she still respected the need for space. I was sad to see her head home.

My path led me in the direction of Jiuzhaigou National Reserve. The fastest way there from Xi'an involved taking an overnight train to the small city of Jiangyou, then catching a bus to the park. Simple enough.

The train dropped me off in Jiangyou at 6:30, fresh from sleep. Jiangyou was not a travelers destination, so Lonely Planet included no map or any entry at all on the place. I couldn't find an English map online, but it seemed to be small enough. When I got off, I knew I had one hour to find this bus. First, I stopped for some baozi (steamed meat dumplings). It is oh so hard to think without breakfast. I then found an idling bus and asked the bus driver, "Qiche Jiuzhaigou?", which translates to "Bus. Jiuzhaigou?". My Chinese is phenomenal! He pointed to a bus stop across the street. So I waited, but I still didn't feel confident; the stop seemed more like a place for city buses than one that would take me six hours away. So I asked a woman at a nearby internet cafe the same question. She pointed to that bus stop as well. I sat back down with my bags and waited, watching the city buses go by, getting stared at by everyone.

Eventually it was 8:30, an hour after my bus's scheduled time, so I gave up on waiting. I walked back to the train station and asked in butchered Chinese is anyone spoke English. The best response I got was, "We..." She stopped, then tried again. "We....". Apparently she knew was much English as I did Chinese. Finally, I tried another approach. "Qiche. Jiuzhaigou?" They shook their heads and I left.

I contemplated buying a train ticket to Chengdu, eight hours in the wrong direction, because I knew at least I'd find somebody who spoke English there. I was beating myself up, aimlessly walking, wondering why I chose to transit through some random town in the middle of Sichuan. Finally a man yelled at me from across the street. "Jiuzhaigou?"

"Yes!" I yelled back as I crossed the street towards him. "You can take me to Jiuzhaigou? Oh god. You speak English?"

He blankly stared back at me.

"Qiche. Jiuzhaigou?" I asked.

I handed him my little notepad for drawing pictures of things I didn't have the vocabulary to say and he started writing what seemed like an endless string of Chinese symbols. He then said something in Chinese. Then when I obviously didn't understand, he tapped the pen frustratedly at the characters he wrote as if I just wasn't paying attention to him. Few Chinese know how to write in Pinyin, which at least I could sound out and possibly pick up a few words. The characters mean nothing to me. Finally I saw him write out 15 and the symbol for money. This seemed so low for a six hour car ride. He opened the door to his van parked next to us and beckoned me to enter. I pointed to the van and asked, "Jiuzhaigou. 15 yuan?"

The man nodded his head. This seemed like a kidnapping. I wouldn't enter the van. It just felt wrong. I started flipping through the seven pages of random phrases in the back of the Lonely Planet, trying to find how to say in Chinese, "Thank you, you seem very nice, but I'm quite suspicious of your offer and I'd rather not be murdered today." Damn, it wasn't there!

By then, a crowd had gathered round me. All were trying to help, telling me different things in Chinese. Some pointed again to the characters the man with the van wrote on my notepad. Then another man grabbed my guidebook and started flipping through the pages. He finally pointed out the words "long-distance bus station". Suddenly, it all made sense, "Ah, your a taxi." Somebody behind me laughed. I decided to enter the van.

On the way, I started repeating the important words for bus station. "Qiche Zhan. Qiche Zhan. Qiche Zhan."

The driver then corrected my pronouciation, "Qiche Zhan!"

"Qiche Zhan"

"Qiche Zhan!"

"Qiche Zhan!" Apparently the exclaimation point was the key to correct pronouciation.

The town was much larger than I thought and it took nearly five minutes drive to reach the Qiche Zhan. Finally, we pulled in, he pointed me to the ticket window. I gave him 15 yuan, repeating "Xie Xie, Xie Xie, Xie Xie."

Ten minutes later, Iw was sitting on my bus. I did it. Traveling in a land when you don't know the language is either a self-esteem killer or helper. Simple things are difficult that when you complete them, it can seem like such a triumph. Purchasing pants can feel like climbing Everest. That day however, I more felt like a complete waste of a human being. I annoyed myself. Who am I to just go to a non-tourist town, not able to speak any of the language and just expect random people to help me. I felt worthless and helpless, but at least I managed to board a bus!!