Traveling Abroad, Traveling Safely

A foreigner, either European or North American, what’s the difference, they all look alike he was told, had just left a pharmacy. He had a package of Traditional Chinese Medicine under his arm. It was late in the afternoon. He took off his sunglasses, looked down the street and realized that he was lost. He had been on the mainland for only a few months. The people on the street knew it and for some of them it was a big budget movie being filmed on their block. The expatriate was quick to notice that modernization in China had not yet reached this neighborhood.

Traveling alone is risky

It’s impossible to spend a day in China without buying some kind of ointment, herb, tea or anything medicinal. This shopper spent the day with his eyes open, but not wide open. If you don’t pay attention to how far and how long you’ve traveled, you could end up in the wrong side of town. Fortunately, our traveler happened to be half a block away and across the street from a bus stop. The kind of bus stop, where, the guy you’re paying the fee to is holding three live chickens in his left hand. But, before our traveler could cross the street, two pedestrians had already moved in close. Curious. Bewildered. Then another joined the two. Soon, what started as a trickle became a major event. The chap was encircled by men from the block. They all looked more unfriendly than curious.

“Blah, blah, blah, blah?”

He wasn’t quick to answer their question. They tightened the circle. The smell of fresh roasted chicken from the restaurant behind him filled the air. But he wasn’t hungry.

“Where are you from?” the leader asked as he moved in.

“Meiguo.” The foreigner replied.

“Meiguo?” the native was not pleased.

This was a stand off and it was well past high noon.

Emergency alarm

“Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet,” an attendant, someone’s grandmother to be sure, piped a shrill volley from a whistle. Dressed in her duty uniform and stationed as a beacon, alerting people when the next bus approached, she was of a definite mind to make the men scatter.

From the middle of the road, she continued to sound the retreat. Quickly, but slowly, the crowd shrank in numbers until the man was standing alone on the sidewalk. The old lady blew her whistle again and motioned for him to cross the street. He did so. A bus pulled up, she cleared the way for him to get on first. He stepped into the door, paid the fee and took a seat by the window.

As the bus pulled away, he realized he didn’t know where it was going.