The journey from the hotel in Nanjing to Nanjing station took longer than the journey from Nanjing station to Suzhou.

That morning, to save a few bucks, my mom decided to have everyone drag their luggage to the nearest subway station, which was about 0.5 miles from the hotel, ride the subway for a couple of stations before dragging it across the station. By the time we got to the train terminal, I was dripping in sweat and didn’t want to take another step.

Did I also mention that my mom and I had a difficult time getting out of the station? When we put in our tickets, it read, “insufficient.” Instead of letting me select the station, my mom made me purchase a flat-rate ticket. Since we were foreigners were foreign IDs, we couldn’t activate the app on our phones that would allow us to tap our way through.

At the train terminal, we encountered signs that pointed every which way and with my mom leading the way, no one will ever have the second to stop and analyze the signs. My mom would rather ask the people wearing police uniforms than looking at the actual signs. What do they know? They’re just assigned at this post, maybe even got assigned today. The officer grunted and pointed at a random direction.

Eventually, we did locate the departure hall and stood in line for the X-ray machine and to be patted down for explosives while the swat team stood at the ready by each entrance.

At about a quarter-past-eleven, we lined up to board the train. Before my very eyes, people began to stand in front of me, treating me like I was invisible. What are we, eight? Come on, do people really cut in line in a civilized society? There were propogandas all around me saying “be civilized,” yet here these people are, cutting in line. Won’t save you more than a minute, just sayin’.

The train journey to Suzhou took about 90 minutes. All of us sat in separate train cars with total strangers. The moment I sat down, I began typing up a blog post as that seemed like the best way to pass the time. I was being frugal with my internet data since I needed the 5 GB to last until the day when I would go home. Shortly before we reached the next stop, a shoe suddenly protruded in the tiny slit between my seat and the wall of the train car, lightly tapping my ribs. In another world, I would’ve slapped that shoe away but in this world, I just leaned forward, continued my writing, and let the simmering anger rise and fall.

I was the first to exit the train. I couldn’t wait to get out of that tin can. People were coughing and sneezing around me, without covering their mouth. I’m not a germophobe but in that moment, I felt like I was seeing germs fly everywhere. Thankfully, there were taxis waiting to pick up passengers. We squeezed into one and had the driver take us to the hotel.

Our hotel was located on the outskirts of Suzhou old town, away from most of the conveniences like grocery stores, convenient stores, and restaurant. I had just barely sat down and had begun to take off my shoes and socks when my mom decided that we must go out. “Please, can’t I just take a breath?” Gosh, can we stop and rest for more than 5 or 10 minutes?

“We won’t walk much today, I promise,” my mom said with a smile. How many times much I hear those words and learn it’s never true?