Transfer in Taiyuan

Astoundingly good fortune graced our path in the city of Taiyuan. We had descended from the Wutaishan mountains through five hours of rural roads--many of them semi-dirt, some nearly impassable. We deboarded at the station: exhausted, dirty, and lacking any orientation. Now to the ticket window. With some difficulty in communication, we learned that our bus to Pingyao departed from a different bus station on the other side of town. To get there, we would need to take bus 619 for an intra-city transfer. Juggling dirt-covered bags, we boarded #619 with standing room only. What was the name of the station again--Tien Men, Tin An, Tian Nan--and where is the stop? Ummm...

Now, you may be aware that the number 8 is an auspiciously lucky number in China. In my experience, though, the number 619 is even more lucky. Keep in mind that only a few percent of the rural population speaks English better than I speak Mandarin, i.e. not at all.

Enter: a young man, his wife sitting pregnant and serene up the aisle, who spoke English rather well. After some discussion and debate over where we were going, he informed me the bus terminal was, "Six stations until you get off." Ten minutes later he deboarded reminding me, "Four more stations." OK, I give up. What's a station on a bus route? We had stopped more than twice and passed inummerable streets choked with rush-hour traffic. Alone again, the bus carried us further across the city in an unknown cardinal direction. Umm...

Enter: a young woman who spoke English extremely well and had apparently overheard the prior converstation; "I am going to the bus station. If you follow me, I will show you where to go." This was very fortuitous; we deboarded at the next stop/station and walked to a bus terminal which was not obviously a bus terminal at all, from external appearances. She even walked us to our bus to ensure we boarded the correct one. Alone and confronted with hundreds of idling buses stacked in rows, we never would have found the bus in the five minutes before it left. Matching Chinese characters is a skill we are still working on. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, we have not had much need for it.

We never did figure out the name of that bus terminal.

P.S. Thank you, Yuan Yuan.