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Q: Anyone ever got lost in a city like Suzhou, where the bus stops are in characters you can't read?
Recently recalled this story, was in Suzhou with a good friend of mine and decided to see a little bit of the city. My buddy thought his Chinese was "the sht" and we got off at a random mall. By time we were ready to go back to Shanghai, spent a good amount of time trying to figure out how to get to the train station. Even spent a good amount asking people and a simple conversation of asking how to get to the station, became a debate and I don't even know why. Conversation was even recorded LOL. Took us about 2 hours to get to the station and we were only about 8 stops away, anyone ever had a situation like this lol?
Once in a city I hadn't been to before I got lost for like 3 hours. I was with my gf, and we had a fight so I decided to go to a store then return to the hotel. I thought I knew where the hotel was, but soon discovered I was lost. I never knew the name of the hotel or the name of any streets it was on, and I never had my cellphone. I ran around for hours until I finally found it, actually running. Now I just always have the business' cards in my backpack or pocket and if I get lost just hop in a taxi and show the card.
I get lost in my own city. I can't figure it out. Instead of letters, all the bus stop signs have some kind of pen and ink drawings lined up in a row. It's beautiful, but it is certainly not any language I know. At least the buses have normal numbers like 88 and 25, but everything else - I'm clueless.
The street signs have the same kind of drawings with some words underneath, but when I say the words people look confused, then laugh and say something like "Lao way two two!" I can't be saying it wrong, can I?
On the buses and subways a pleasant woman's voice announces the stops, but I think they speak a different language? I don't know where I got on, and I certainly don't know where to get off.
I did an impromptu 'culture shock' class once because I got lost on the bus two kilometers from the classroom so I was 15 minutes late. Good times!
It's so easy to get lost here. I love it. I simply cannot get lost at home.
look at the landmarks , use the gps on your phone. i never get lost.
cooter:
This. I also find it helps to study a map in advance. Overkill...maybe, but I'd rather that than depend on someone or something else with a terrible sense of direction trying to give me directions. My Chinese gf gets lost in the city she's lived in for 25 years....I don't. I see Chinese people wandering parking garages looking for their car, or for the exit, or for the elevator...I don't.
I've only ever gotten lost in China with a Chinese friend leading the way. We're in the 21st century....we're not Columbus discovering America....or was it that Chinese dude who got lost and then found it? 
I've been lost all over the place. Been lost in China, lost in Egypt, lost in India. Even dropped acid once and got lost in my own back garden. That's when it gets interesting though. Where the wild things are. Thank God I don't have GPS.
