The Railway Station

A few weeks before Australia...

Since we were flying through Hong Kong first, Brent and I decided we should do some winter traveling in China (while I read that sentence back to myself I'm thinking, are you serious? Winter travel....)

We made plans to take a bullet train to the most popular tourist destination in China, and then bought flights to Hong Kong from Shanghai via Beijing to do more tourist crap in case we left China (and as it turns out, all my clothes) for good.

I’d never bought tickets from the large Shanghai Railway Station, which I imagined to be another excuse for the government hogs to squish people in a too-small space to see if 1000 people who don’t brush there teeth can make a room smell like a pig’s behind—a popular smell in China.

Lost in Translation

After several translations with the call center (the greatest invention since the telephone that offers language services free in 10 + dialects) I found the rail station and made myself hopelessly lost in the swarms of heads around my shoulders (I thought it was about time for a height joke).

I did what any foreigner would do.

I looked for the police.

I found the largest, loudest officer I could, with the coolest mustache might I add, and then handed him my phone. I'd called the call center and had them ask the police officer in Shanghainese how the heck to buy a ticket here.

The result?

The policeman walked me past one line and more than 200 people, including several English speakers, US citizens, and a white guy about my age who had a look on his face that said “what the?” and showed me to an small where he directed people to clear out just for me.

What do you know?

It was smack dab at the front of the line.

The surly policeman and the 200 people behind me waited patiently as I bought my tickets. When I finished, the officer escorted me away from the throngs of people, probably to keep all the foreigners I just cut in front of from giving me a good beating.

Though--the guy my age looked like he was impressed with the police officer routine and might be stealing it in the future.

Next up: Trip 1 Before Australia