Friday, May 9, 2008

…FuNnY, sTrAnGe AnD eXcItInG mOmEnTs

After around 30 minutes past four in the afternoon, we successfully arrived in Beijing. I was so thankful we had a safe journey. Hurray! I exclaimed in my mind. I ultimately set my footprints in Beijing. We happily got off the train and started moving out.

Next was to search for the bus number we had in mind, through our search through the net, to get to the desired hostel we wanted to stay, during the days we would spend there. There were a lot of people outside the station waiting for the buses to arrive, for just directly outside the station is the bus stop. We peeped around to know whether our bus would pass that way. Too happy to know it’s one of them. We waited ‘till it arrived. People were like wild animals competing to pass through the bus’s door to find a comfortable seat. We didn’t involved ourselves at first, but we would be waiting for a long time if we won’t, so we also did on the fourth bus, at least not that much people as that of the first three.

After that funny moment was that, the problem where to get off, ‘coz we don’t know how to say it in Chinese, the one mentioned in the net. We ask someone, but couldn’t understand English. We just let it go. After a while, we saw subway symbol, so we got off the bus stop after. It was really so funny. No more problem ‘coz the direction in the subway is pretty clear enough to be understood.

We were thinking it's over, yet we were wrong. To look for the place was even harder. It’s mentioned it’s just near exit C, yet we roamed around but still we couldn’t find, we were bringing our luggage then.

I searched the place alone and let my friend stay at one side. I walked here and there, yet I didn’t find the place still. I met a family man calling a taxi as I searched for it, he was speaking Tagalog to his two children, meaning they’re Filipinos. We chatted for a short while ‘coz they were in a hurry. Then, I continued my search. We were almost at the point of discouragement when I came back. It was almost night time. I said, I would go on the other side. I was so exhausted finding the place. As I went forward, I saw a hostel, not the one we were looking for, I went in and asked, good they speak English. So I went back and got my friend who was also tired of waiting. We were done at around 8:00 or so in the evening, more than 4 hours looking for the place. That’s the problem of language barrier.
Have you experienced some? Well, funny, right? But only if you are patience enough, you can succeed this situation. Thanks for the patience of my friend and my unending efforts. So, friends, never give up and keep on striving. Good luck to our daily endeavors.
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