Ticket Purchase
Undoubtedly, the launch of the 12306.cn ticketing website by the Ministry of Railways is a belated but beneficial policy for the people. Fortunately, I acted early during the New Year’s Day holiday and effortlessly secured a ticket for the special train I’ve taken dozens of times during my four years at university. However, as the saying goes, “A blessing in disguise,” the immediate consequence of buying the train ticket too early was having to request leave days in advance to return home; and returning home too early meant I couldn’t purchase a return ticket because there was no internet access at home.
To buy a return ticket (which couldn’t be booked online), starting at 2 PM on January 8th, I relentlessly bombarded 95105105 using both internet and office phones. Although I could get through, the system consistently indicated no available tickets. After trying several departure and destination stations and different travel dates with the same result, I had to give up.
At 4:30 AM on January 14th, immediately after getting off the train, I rushed to the special return ticket window at the train station. The brightly lit ticket hall was packed with passengers buying return tickets. After more than an hour, I managed to buy a standing-only ticket for an 8 PM train to Guangzhou on January 28th.
I kept telling myself, this is just a backup, a backup…
An 8 PM departure meant that after taking the midday bus from my hometown to the train station, I would have to wait outside the cold, damp station for five hours before boarding. A standing-only ticket meant enduring over six hours of discomfort for my knees and back from 8 PM until getting off at 2 AM. Arriving at the station at 2:30 AM (a time when neither heaven nor earth would respond to calls for help) meant either spending 200 yuan on a taxi or waiting at the station until dawn for the bus drivers.
Complications
My ID card was accidentally burned at home, adding another layer of difficulty to the ticket purchase.
Having already bought a train ticket to Guangzhou for January 28th meant that without refunding it (the round trip to the train station during the Spring Festival travel rush would cost over 150 yuan, while the ticket itself was only 70 yuan), I couldn’t purchase other high-speed or bullet train tickets for the same day under my name.
After numerous phone attempts, I ultimately failed to secure a ticket for January 27th.
Outcome
Either endure the ordeal of a standing-only ticket or opt for a bus;
In the end, I chose the bus, which cost 320 yuan.
Highway Nightmare
The road distance from my home to my workplace should be within 700 KM. Calculating with a minimum speed of 80 KM/h on highways and 60 KM/h on national/provincial roads, it should definitely take no more than 10 hours to arrive smoothly.
The bus left at 8 AM, with the two drivers cheerfully telling us we’d reach Guangzhou by 2 PM.
The reality was:
Around 10:20 AM, we entered the Jingzhu Expressway in Hengyang, and four hours later, we were still stuck in the Hengnan section of the Jingzhu Expressway.
By 5 PM, after a stop-and-go journey, we had only reached Chenzhou, covering less than 300 kilometers in nine hours.
After a shaky arrival in Chenzhou, the drivers found the Jingzhu North Expressway still heavily congested, so they detoured via the Yilian Expressway (from Yizhang, Chenzhou to Lianzhou, Qingyuan). The traffic was much lighter, and we made good progress, reaching Lianzhou, Qingyuan by 7 PM as it got dark.
After barely passing through Yangshan County into Qingyuan city, we encountered another long traffic jam, not entering Guangzhou’s jurisdiction until 11:30 PM; then the problems began.
Frustrating Drivers
On the Guangqing Expressway, the driver took an exit near Shiling Town, Huadu, and then threw out the absurd statement, “Passengers for Guangzhou, get off here,” trying to deceive everyone. Of course, we weren’t having it. This was a place with no villages or towns in sight, at least 100 miles away from downtown Guangzhou, and it was already 11:30 PM. It was a complete disregard for our safety! Moreover, many passengers were heading to Guangzhou just to transfer to Dongguan and Shenzhen. Thus, the first dispute between passengers and drivers erupted. With my strong support, the driver finally compromised and drove back onto the expressway, but ultimately ignored our requests to go near the Guangdong Provincial Bus Station and Guangzhou City Bus Station, instead dropping us off at Tianhe Coach Station. Seeing that the passengers didn’t have much to complain about, I didn’t say anything more.
The bus was supposed to go from our town to Foshan, but it didn’t specify where in Foshan. When I asked the driver at departure, he said it was to Foshan Bus Station.
Damn it, after getting back on the expressway near Tianhe Coach Station and heading towards Foshan, after some twists and turns, we arrived at the Nanguo Peach Garden exit. The driver stopped the bus again, saying we had arrived in Foshan and asking everyone to get off. By then, there were only about ten people left on the bus. Everyone was confused and a bit skeptical, ready to get off; but by then, I was already furious. I rushed to the front of the bus and spent several minutes berating and scolding the driver. The driver, realizing he was in the wrong and seeing the situation was not in his favor, finally compromised.
The driver actually played tricks on us. After exiting the First Ring Road, he pretended not to know the way and drove aimlessly around Dali City, then entered a small alley saying he didn’t know how to proceed (implying, “I’ve done my best, you’ll have to get off here”).
Fortunately, my first two years at university weren’t wasted (the school’s first campus was in Dali). After some guidance, I finally managed to get the bus to Foshan Avenue; and ultimately forced the driver to take the bus near Foshan Railway Station.
Ridiculous BlackBerry
My phone ran out of credit, so I switched to a China Unicom SIM card, which caused the Service book to crash, making it impossible to go online. Otherwise, with GPS and Google Maps, there wouldn’t have been so much hassle, and I wouldn’t have been so confused by the driver’s antics.