Now since I am the proud owner of an e-scooter, I say goodbye to all those useless taxi drivers who don't know the way and try to rip you off! Now I am able to move around freely and go wherever I want. No need to wait for a taxi, argue with the driver and pay more simply because I'm a foreigner. No, all that is gone! Belongs to the past! A new life has begun!
Well, it's nothing like that. The truth is a different one.
It's been a few days since I bought my futuristic looking toy and I only managed to drive to school and back (half a mile) and to the nearby shopping centre (quarter of a mile). But tonight is the night! I have arranged to go to the cinema with a friend and then out to dinner. I fire up Google Maps to see which way I have to go, how far it is and how long it will take me. Google Maps suggest three different ways. One of them looks easier than the other two, even though it is not the shortest one. I decide to take that route because it seems to be going straight for most of the way. The other two involve some turning left and right at some crossroads. Google also says that it's 17 miles and I'd need 30 minutes. I ring my friend and get to hear: 'Half an hour? I'd give it an hour.'
Two hours before the film starts, I jump on my newest purchase, ride through the pedestrian area of the housing complex, down the slope and onto the road. Make a left turn, drive to the main road and turn right onto Jinyang Bei Lu. According to Google Maps, I have to drive straight for an eternity.
Many miles later I take out my mobile phone and try to consult Google Maps again, but the VPN isn't working and it won't connect. I remember that I still have to go straight and that the road has many bends at some point. A few minutes later I reach that part with the bends. It is going downhill and into a run down area with shabby road surface, shabby buildings, shabby shops, shabby people, shabby everything. I continue driving straight since this is the only main road, until I reach a junction. The road divides into three bridges. One goes left, one goes right and one goes straight. There are some signs, but I really have no clue where to go. So I stop at the side of the road and fire up Google Maps again. This time VPN connects, but this three bridges junction doesn't exist. What shall I do now? I decide to take the right bridge, because on the map the centre is somewhat on the right. I drive onto the bridge and after a few yards, the bridge makes a left turn and this is when I realise that I've done something stupid. Now it's too late and I can't turn around. I continue on that road until I find a spot to park. I consult maps again and I see that I'm going to the opposite direction. As more than half an hour has passed, my friend calls me to see where I am. As I have no clue, I take photos of the street signs around me and send them to my friend, but my friend has no clue either. Shit!
I decide that I have to make a U-turn and drive towards the other direction. Since this is something like a motorway, you can't just make a U-Turn. I drive straight and as fast as I can and find an exit after a few miles. Even at the exit it's not easy to find the way to the other direction. In any other country there would be a bridge over the motorway leading you to the direction you want to go. Not here. Here, it takes you into a residential area.
I somehow manage to find the right way and reach the other side of the motorway. Then I drive as fast as I can again, because I'm afraid not to make it on time and fear that I'll get lost again. Many miles later I arrive at a point from where you can go to various directions. As I have to idea where I am and where to go, I take photos of all the signs and send them to my friend. My friend says that I have to go straight for a while and then ask for directions. Ask for directions? Are you kidding me? How? Who? I do as I am told and later on I stop to ask for directions. Problem is, nobody understands me. I ring my friend and pass over the phone to the passersby, but they don't understand that they have to talk to the person on the phone. I put my friend on speakerphone and then they realise what I want them to do. One of the passersby knows more or less where I want to go and gives some directions. I follow them and stop somewhere to consult google maps again. My first try is unsuccessful because VPN won't connect. My second try is successful and it tells me that I have to go straight and then make a left turn and then straight again. My friend drops a pin on WeChat so I try that too. Problem is that Apple Maps don't work, Google Maps are unreliable and Tencent Maps are in Chinese, which I can't read.
In the meantime one and a half hours have passed.
I do as Google Maps say, but don't find the correct way and get lost again. I now try something else. Instead of using the sat nav, I simply open the map to see where I am and where I want to go. Zoom in and out a few times and take all the roads bit by bit. Half an hour later (now two hours in total) and just two minutes before the film starts, I arrive at the shopping centre where the cinema is. I park in front of the building, jump off and run inside. Once inside, I have no clue where to go. There are no signs to be seen. I try to locate a map, one like you would find back home, but can't find any. I ring my friend to ask which floor it is, but my friend doesn't pick it up. So I walk into a shop to ask for directions. As nobody speaks English, one of the ladies signals me to wait and slowly walks out of the shop and comes back after a minute with a lady from a shop nearby who speaks very little English. I tell her I want to go to the cinema, but she doesn't understand. I tell her 'movie'. No reaction. I tell her 'film', and see a spark in her eye. I say 'James Bond, Star Wars' and whatever film comes into my mind and she calmly says to follow her. She walks very slowly towards the lifts, presses the buttons, we wait, lift comes, she makes a gesture to me to enter, I enter, she bends inside, presses the button to the fifth floor, says 'goodbye' and leaves. My friend calls me to ask where I am. I look around in the lift to see if there's any map of the building or any signs or anything that indicates what you can find on the different floors, but there's nothing. No info at all.
On the fifth floor I run out of the lift and see my friend in front of me waiting. I ask for the loo. The film hasn't started yet, they are playing commercials. A few minutes later we sit in the dark enjoying the film.
Afterwards we jump on the scooter and drive to a bar to eat something and from there we want to go to another bar, to their opening night. Suddenly all the stress from earlier on is gone and it feels great to ride through the night. All the lights, the street kitchens, the people, the sounds and the smells make me forget all my sorrows from earlier on.
We have some trouble finding the bar, because it is in an alley, but my housemate comes out to the crossroad and guides us from there.
Sometime past midnight I drive my friend home and make myself on my way home. My friend tells me which direction to go, but a mile or so later the street forks off and a sign says that Jinyang is on the left. My friend said that I have to drive straight and only straight. I decide to follow the sign. Sometime later, as there are no signs advertising Jinyang, I consult Google Maps again and see that I am on the right way. A few miles later, my scooter becomes weaker and weaker and eventually stops. I have run out of juice!!! The batteries are empty! I push it a mile or so until I see a small hut with a red flashing light on the pavement. I stop in front of it and look through the window. There's a man sleeping on a bed. It seems that it's the street cleaner's hut. I go back to my scooter, take out the charger, walk back to the hut, knock on the window, the man opens his eyes, raises his head, sees me through the window with the charger in my hands, understands what I want and signals me to go around to the door. Then he takes one end of the charger and plugs it in and goes back to bed.
I spend about an hour at 3am in the freaking cold. The batteries need six hours to fully charge. What shall I do? Leave it here and hail a cab and come get it tomorrow or wait and see how far I can go and probably push it home or ry to find another hut? I decide to do the latter. I see on Google Maps that I'm eight something miles away from home.
After an hour, I jump back on my scooter and drive slowly and with no lights. But the journey ends after just three miles. Since I'm in the middle of nowhere, I have to push. Pushing a mile, charges the batteries just a bit and you can ride between half and a mile. I do this several times and have Google Maps switched on to check whether I'm on the right way.
Well, two hours later sat nav says that I am somewhere near, but I don't recognise anything around me. Then it tells me to turn right and I'd find myself on Jinyang Bei Lu. I doubt it, but I try it. After half an hour of pushing and driving, I reach a street that isn't the one Google Maps said it would be. Now it sends me left and left again to the road I was before I turned right.
I switch off the sat nav function and look at the map. Zoom in and out again and realise that Google has fooled me and that I was on the right way before I turned right. So I push my scooter back to the road I was before and a few minutes later on that road I see a crossroad that looks familiar. This is when I switch off Google Maps and try to remember the way the taxi drivers take. It takes me a bit, but my memory doesn't abandon me and I find the way to the school where the power station is and my bicycle are.
It is bright when I arrive home and fall dead on my bed.
Street cleaners' hut. My life saver in the middle of the night. Just for a few miles though.
Well, it's nothing like that. The truth is a different one.
It's been a few days since I bought my futuristic looking toy and I only managed to drive to school and back (half a mile) and to the nearby shopping centre (quarter of a mile). But tonight is the night! I have arranged to go to the cinema with a friend and then out to dinner. I fire up Google Maps to see which way I have to go, how far it is and how long it will take me. Google Maps suggest three different ways. One of them looks easier than the other two, even though it is not the shortest one. I decide to take that route because it seems to be going straight for most of the way. The other two involve some turning left and right at some crossroads. Google also says that it's 17 miles and I'd need 30 minutes. I ring my friend and get to hear: 'Half an hour? I'd give it an hour.'
Two hours before the film starts, I jump on my newest purchase, ride through the pedestrian area of the housing complex, down the slope and onto the road. Make a left turn, drive to the main road and turn right onto Jinyang Bei Lu. According to Google Maps, I have to drive straight for an eternity.
Many miles later I take out my mobile phone and try to consult Google Maps again, but the VPN isn't working and it won't connect. I remember that I still have to go straight and that the road has many bends at some point. A few minutes later I reach that part with the bends. It is going downhill and into a run down area with shabby road surface, shabby buildings, shabby shops, shabby people, shabby everything. I continue driving straight since this is the only main road, until I reach a junction. The road divides into three bridges. One goes left, one goes right and one goes straight. There are some signs, but I really have no clue where to go. So I stop at the side of the road and fire up Google Maps again. This time VPN connects, but this three bridges junction doesn't exist. What shall I do now? I decide to take the right bridge, because on the map the centre is somewhat on the right. I drive onto the bridge and after a few yards, the bridge makes a left turn and this is when I realise that I've done something stupid. Now it's too late and I can't turn around. I continue on that road until I find a spot to park. I consult maps again and I see that I'm going to the opposite direction. As more than half an hour has passed, my friend calls me to see where I am. As I have no clue, I take photos of the street signs around me and send them to my friend, but my friend has no clue either. Shit!
I decide that I have to make a U-turn and drive towards the other direction. Since this is something like a motorway, you can't just make a U-Turn. I drive straight and as fast as I can and find an exit after a few miles. Even at the exit it's not easy to find the way to the other direction. In any other country there would be a bridge over the motorway leading you to the direction you want to go. Not here. Here, it takes you into a residential area.
I somehow manage to find the right way and reach the other side of the motorway. Then I drive as fast as I can again, because I'm afraid not to make it on time and fear that I'll get lost again. Many miles later I arrive at a point from where you can go to various directions. As I have to idea where I am and where to go, I take photos of all the signs and send them to my friend. My friend says that I have to go straight for a while and then ask for directions. Ask for directions? Are you kidding me? How? Who? I do as I am told and later on I stop to ask for directions. Problem is, nobody understands me. I ring my friend and pass over the phone to the passersby, but they don't understand that they have to talk to the person on the phone. I put my friend on speakerphone and then they realise what I want them to do. One of the passersby knows more or less where I want to go and gives some directions. I follow them and stop somewhere to consult google maps again. My first try is unsuccessful because VPN won't connect. My second try is successful and it tells me that I have to go straight and then make a left turn and then straight again. My friend drops a pin on WeChat so I try that too. Problem is that Apple Maps don't work, Google Maps are unreliable and Tencent Maps are in Chinese, which I can't read.
In the meantime one and a half hours have passed.
I do as Google Maps say, but don't find the correct way and get lost again. I now try something else. Instead of using the sat nav, I simply open the map to see where I am and where I want to go. Zoom in and out a few times and take all the roads bit by bit. Half an hour later (now two hours in total) and just two minutes before the film starts, I arrive at the shopping centre where the cinema is. I park in front of the building, jump off and run inside. Once inside, I have no clue where to go. There are no signs to be seen. I try to locate a map, one like you would find back home, but can't find any. I ring my friend to ask which floor it is, but my friend doesn't pick it up. So I walk into a shop to ask for directions. As nobody speaks English, one of the ladies signals me to wait and slowly walks out of the shop and comes back after a minute with a lady from a shop nearby who speaks very little English. I tell her I want to go to the cinema, but she doesn't understand. I tell her 'movie'. No reaction. I tell her 'film', and see a spark in her eye. I say 'James Bond, Star Wars' and whatever film comes into my mind and she calmly says to follow her. She walks very slowly towards the lifts, presses the buttons, we wait, lift comes, she makes a gesture to me to enter, I enter, she bends inside, presses the button to the fifth floor, says 'goodbye' and leaves. My friend calls me to ask where I am. I look around in the lift to see if there's any map of the building or any signs or anything that indicates what you can find on the different floors, but there's nothing. No info at all.
On the fifth floor I run out of the lift and see my friend in front of me waiting. I ask for the loo. The film hasn't started yet, they are playing commercials. A few minutes later we sit in the dark enjoying the film.
Afterwards we jump on the scooter and drive to a bar to eat something and from there we want to go to another bar, to their opening night. Suddenly all the stress from earlier on is gone and it feels great to ride through the night. All the lights, the street kitchens, the people, the sounds and the smells make me forget all my sorrows from earlier on.
We have some trouble finding the bar, because it is in an alley, but my housemate comes out to the crossroad and guides us from there.
Sometime past midnight I drive my friend home and make myself on my way home. My friend tells me which direction to go, but a mile or so later the street forks off and a sign says that Jinyang is on the left. My friend said that I have to drive straight and only straight. I decide to follow the sign. Sometime later, as there are no signs advertising Jinyang, I consult Google Maps again and see that I am on the right way. A few miles later, my scooter becomes weaker and weaker and eventually stops. I have run out of juice!!! The batteries are empty! I push it a mile or so until I see a small hut with a red flashing light on the pavement. I stop in front of it and look through the window. There's a man sleeping on a bed. It seems that it's the street cleaner's hut. I go back to my scooter, take out the charger, walk back to the hut, knock on the window, the man opens his eyes, raises his head, sees me through the window with the charger in my hands, understands what I want and signals me to go around to the door. Then he takes one end of the charger and plugs it in and goes back to bed.
I spend about an hour at 3am in the freaking cold. The batteries need six hours to fully charge. What shall I do? Leave it here and hail a cab and come get it tomorrow or wait and see how far I can go and probably push it home or ry to find another hut? I decide to do the latter. I see on Google Maps that I'm eight something miles away from home.
After an hour, I jump back on my scooter and drive slowly and with no lights. But the journey ends after just three miles. Since I'm in the middle of nowhere, I have to push. Pushing a mile, charges the batteries just a bit and you can ride between half and a mile. I do this several times and have Google Maps switched on to check whether I'm on the right way.
Well, two hours later sat nav says that I am somewhere near, but I don't recognise anything around me. Then it tells me to turn right and I'd find myself on Jinyang Bei Lu. I doubt it, but I try it. After half an hour of pushing and driving, I reach a street that isn't the one Google Maps said it would be. Now it sends me left and left again to the road I was before I turned right.
I switch off the sat nav function and look at the map. Zoom in and out again and realise that Google has fooled me and that I was on the right way before I turned right. So I push my scooter back to the road I was before and a few minutes later on that road I see a crossroad that looks familiar. This is when I switch off Google Maps and try to remember the way the taxi drivers take. It takes me a bit, but my memory doesn't abandon me and I find the way to the school where the power station is and my bicycle are.
It is bright when I arrive home and fall dead on my bed.
Street cleaners' hut. My life saver in the middle of the night. Just for a few miles though.
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
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