Hell hath no fury

Hell hath no fury like …

Naomi, Chris and I happened to be booked on the same bus to Shanghai, so we shared a transport to Wuyuan bus station. So it was our third day of doing thing together. The weather was wet … in fact wetter than the previous days. The bus journey was muggy … like all Chinese public places, they tend to economise on the air-conditioning it seems. At this time of year, the temperature is beautiful and sometimes it feels better to have the window open but it isn’t possible on a big modern bus.

The trip was largely uneventful except that at our rest-stop, two people didn’t make it back by resumption time. The conductress hadn’t announced the duration of the stop (I think), so we left those two behind. The conductress did a headcount then waited a few seconds and said “They’re not back; I don’t care … we have to go”.

Chinese bus conductresses are a law unto their own; I have seen them scream at passengers at the top of their voices accusing them of drinking too much beer (I didn’t see any) for requesting a toilet break. Hell hath no fury like a Chinese bus conductress.

PS. I use the term conductress in a tongue-in-cheek fashion (like “doctress” in India) … but conductors are almost always female.

Women lose their directions in the dark (or wet)?

I metro’ed and checked back into the Phoenix Hostel … it was starting to drizzle in Shanghai. After another good massage and cupping across the road, I went out to enjoy the night lights of Nanjing Road and the Bund. I take back what I said about how Shanghai isn’t as captivating second time around.

Having not done any night-walking in the city this trip, I was a bit disturbed by the number of women that are “lost”. I was approached many a time by women asking for directions. I hadn’t encountered this during my day-walks in Shanghai. Isn’t it strange that they all lose their direction suddenly when it gets dark (or is it because it is drizzling).

Seriously, prostitution is rife in China. On previous visits women approach strangers on the street offering massages (they seem to be more discreet in Shanghai asking for directions). Some even wait in hotel corridors … and in Lhasa, they rang up our room.

I guess the small upside of doing one’s business in the street is that you can choose your customers. I know that if I had to sell my body, it would be a small consolation to be able to choose my customers … somewhat like being “paid to date”?