Imagine on your honeymoon picture there is a tourist in plastic raincoat making a peace sign in the middle of you and your spouse. Well yeap that tourist is me and here is the story!
In China, Beijing, after all my means to navigate, communicate and take pictures are gone thanks to heavy rain, I was taken care of by a young couple who cannot speak English and as I later found out were on their honeymoon!
Story goes like this, thanks to heavy rain, my iphone broke in China, which I was relying heavily to navigate around. So I’m in this ““I’m wet and cold, my phone is broken, I can’t access to any navigation, let alone my rest of the trip reservations, can’t chat or phone my friends to even ask for help, and I’m thousands of miles away from home in a place where I can’t speak the language and I don’t even know how to get to my hotel from here, I can’t even took a photo on my Beijing trip” situation.
After walking aimlessly a bit and sulking, I finally decided to face my problems, I thought I’ll go to nearest bus station and try my chances there. I figured if I can get to Tiananmen Square or somewhere central I might get a paper map for the time being. I found a bus station nearby and tried to ask the young couple whose also waiting if any bus to center is passing through here. Of course they didn’t know English but they tried to understand me with translation programs and from my face and hand mimics I guess! I was told a bus number and waited about 20 minutes with the couple there. In the meantime I was able to tell them that my phone was broken and I didn’t have any other navigation. My original plan was to go Temple of Heaven after Forbidden Palace but since I don’t know where or how I was planning to return to hotel to fix other things. After 20 minutes, they asked me where do I want to go probably a tenth time (I give them an answer, they seem to understand but ask the same again!) and this time I told them Temple of Heaven. Then they look up their phone and told me I need to go another nearby station and they told me “ok, let’s go together”. I was like, thanks but you were waiting some other bus, you already helped me, but they insisted! Anyway we went to another station, luckily this time after 5 minutes we get on. They paid for my ticket! They called an “English speaking” friend of theirs by phone and asked me the same questions! Anyway we somehow managed to get to the Temple of Heaven, by the way all three of us had cheap plastic raincoats on us. We walked around the Temple and they even made me took selfies with their ipad since I don’t have any means to take a picture there! That’s also when I learned that they were on “HONEYMOON”. It was their first time in Beijing as well. And there I was smiling and cracking a peace sign in the middle of them with my raincoat on their honeymoon pictures
They were really helpful and even send me these pictures later. They genuinely worried about me and tried to help me, I don’t know if I could be that kind and helpful to random tourist for a long time on my honeymoon trip!
