RIDING THE BUS BY MYSELF IN HONG KONG

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I’ve now had the opportunity to ride the bus three times in Hong Kong by myself. Although the first ride was quite traumatic, the second and third ones were without incident, I’m happy to say. In order to represent both sides of this issue, I’ll start with the positives I’ve discovered thus far.
I have committed to volunteering to teach English at the Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired on Friday mornings. The School is located near Hong Kong U; the bus ride is only about ten minutes. Here is the route I take to find the bus stop.
My breakfast comes at anywhere between 8:10 and 8:30 a.m. On Fridays I wake at 7:00, get ready, and wait for my breakfast. Immediately after I finish eating and drinking my tea or coffee, I brush my teeth, grab my briefcase, and run out the door. I traverse four flights of stairs downwards, cross a driveway when I hear no traffic, walk down two ramps, and I’m on the quadrangle of the level of Hong Kong U where my office, the bookstore, the bank, and many other important buildings are. I follow a guide path, (meaning the two parallel metal thresholds designed to guide blind people), across the quadrangle until I reach the Cheung Yuet Meng Amenities Centre. The CYM Amenities Centre has lots of important conveniences for me. There is a canteen on the fourth floor, a Park and Shop (grocery store) on the ground floor, and an escalator that takes me up to another building where I do many of my interviews with students. The CYM Amenities Centre building has a lift that I take down two floors. I exit the building and follow another guide path to the K. K. Leung Building which houses the Law Faculty. As in Britain, here, the word faculty refers to what we might term a college or department in the States. After exiting from the fifth door in a series of doors on another side of the K. K. Leung Building, I follow the guide path to another lift. This one takes me down yet two more floors. Then, I walk down a number of flights of stairs. I’ve not counted how many flights it is. But, if I had to guess, I would say five. Finally, I’m on Bunham Road where the bus stop is. So, I merely turn left, cross a driveway, and walk about 20 more feet. Then, I wait for the buses to stop, and I hope the driver will tell me which bus it is. This process of listening to the door open to know where to look to cue the driver that I need him/her to say the bus number is all-too-familiar to my blind friends in the States where the vast majority of buses do not announce their number when pulling to the curb.
So, yesterday, two number 23’s, (the bus that goes to the U.S. Consulate and St. John’s Cathedral) two number 103’s, and one 9B, (the bus one of my research participants takes to his home), came before my bus did. I probably waited about ten minutes. I can take either the 40 or the 40M to Ebenezer. I think the term M means that the bus takes me to the subway, (called the MTR), station.
Every driver I’ve encountered when I’m alone has been very helpful so far. They always announce the bus number. And, when I display my ignorance of their language, they try to speak mine. We use the word “OK” a lot! Of course, that can easily be misinterpreted when one of us cannot see. But, so far so good.
When traveling to Ebenezer there are two clues that I’m getting close to the stop. The Queen Mary Hospital stop - a very popular one for many pedestrians - is just before mine. So, I get an audio cue that my stop is coming up. And, the bus climbs hills for the most part during the time I’m on it. But, just before we get to Ebenezer, the bus starts heading down hill. So, I do feel a little better, knowing that I have some clues that my stop is coming. But, the driver did say the Cantonese name of the School and “OK” when it was time for me to get off. And, when I returned to Hong Kong U, the driver said “OK” when it was my stop as well, at least the second time I rode the bus back from Ebenezer. But, to share my scary bus adventure, I’ll tell about my first attempt to get back home after volunteering at the School.
I must first describe my mood on the day this all happened. I’ve been struggling with insomnia for the past few weeks. The first day that I came home on the bus by myself, I had experienced three nights of insomnia in a row. So, I was tired and my brain felt quite foggy for most of the day. But, even when I’m tired, I perk right up when I ride a new bus route for the first time. So, I got on the bus and found the closest seat to the driver on the opposite side of the bus from him. I was pretty sure that he understood where I wanted to get off. But, my overanxious brain started sending me images of getting off the bus in the wrong location with no one to ask for help who spoke English. I heard two women speaking Spanish or Portuguese on the bus and surmised that they might also speak English. So, I asked them if they would tell me where to get off for Hong Kong U. They willingly agreed, since they were going there as well. What I didn’t realize was that the bus stops at two different locations of Hong Kong U. So, they got off at one location, and I followed them. But, right after the bus pulled away, I realized that I didn’t smell the fried food from 711. Furthermore, the road wasn’t nearly as busy as Bunham Road is. And, there were few people walking along on the sidewalk. I wanted to make sure I was in the wrong place. I was so worried about how I would communicate with someone to explain my predicament. As I was walking along and hoping that I had, indeed gotten off at the right bus stop, I felt like crying. But, my German sense of pride made me bite my lip to stop. I didn’t want to make a scene in Hong Kong. So, when I determined that I had gotten off at the wrong stop, I reversed my steps. Luckily, I heard a bus coming. So, I jogged towards it and used body language to signal that I wanted to board the bus. Someone getting on told me that it was the 40M. I just got on the bus again, paid another fare, and stood near the driver. I then got off at the correct stop, and all was well!
Having made it through that situation gives me strength to try another adventure soon. But, for now, that’s all from Hong Kong.

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