Finishing Touches

My day, as I predicted, didn't end in Hangzhou without a few more memorable moments. The first of which was when I tried to use a public toilet. Not realizing it was unisex, I walked in to an unlocked stall, hitting a man in the back with the door. Mid stream, he turned around to scold me. Apparently it was my fault he didn't lock his door.

Sometimes the buses in Hangzhou can take longer than you expect, but are worth the wait. I stood in line for nearly half an hour to board a bus headed back to Xiaoshan. When the next driver decided to finally show up for his shift, we were allowed on the rig. My guess is that the passenger load can carry up to sixty people. Maybe more, considering the standing room. It takes only seconds to fill up one of these city buses. And yet, we sat there for another lengthy span as a pushy pregnant woman shoved sticks of melon in our faces, selling them for a few yuan a piece. I noticed plenty of chewed off sticks that had been dropped on the floor of the bus. She have done quite a bit of business that evening.

Construction in China is never ending. To avoid frustration, it helps to make jabs. "The national bird of China has become the crane," or my favorite, "When is China going to be finished?" Because of the constant changes, the bus ride took a little longer than usual, as we were rerouted to another avenue. When my stop finally approached, I rose and made my way to the back door of the bus. When it lurched to a stop, I was unprepared and my hand leapt to a railing. I stopped myself from falling face first onto the melon-stick-covered floor, but my arm swung in such a way that I pummeled a poor girl in the seat next to the door. My leg went into the side of her chair and I now have a dark bruise that looks like I was assaulted by a baseball bat, Nancy Kerrigan style.

I hobbled off the bus and was limping down ShiXin Bei Lu when a polite young man on a bike offered me a ride. Sometimes you can get lucky and stumble upon these dudes on their bikes who just want to pick up a few extra yuan. It was a relief, but I was too tired and too sore to remember to ask him how much before I hopped on the back of his blue bike. He took me for thirty RMB. A total rip off. I could have hailed a legal taxi cab and payed only seven. That'll teach me to accept rides from strange young Chinese boys on electric bikes. Anyone else ever have that problem?