Jade Flower (A New Adult Travel Memoir)

Chapter 2

The traffic thickened, not just cars, but buses, motorbikes, variations of motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians. Still the greyness continued, although now a bit more hidden. Gigantic posters, advertising something or another seemed to grace any available surface on buildings. A surprising amount of neon too. Bet it looked amazing at night, I thought to myself. Screeching to a stop, "Did you see? Jane asked, pointing through the taxi window to the car ahead, which had  hit a motorbike.
People were congregating by the second around where the rider had gone down, a full few meters from his bike, his leg bleeding onto the pavement. Fortunately, i lost my front row seat, the ever increasing audience blocking my view.
"Maybe he will die," she told me knowingly, nodding, without a hint of sadness or alarm in her voice.
The taxi driver swerved to the left to get by the crowds, took a block or two of back roads before getting back onto the street we had been on before the accident. He immediately pulled over, where one of the others in the taxi threw bills at the driver and got out.
"Us too?" I asked Jane.
"Not here."

The section of road we were on now was wide, lined with modern buildings. We eventually went under a large pedestrian bridge where Jane informed me was  Walking Street, a cobbled pedestrian precinct lined with what seemed to be mainly banks and department stores. Note to self: explore as soon as possible.
As we drove, Jane kept looking over at me, stealing glances at my face.
"What do you think?"
"Looks nice!" I said.
"Yes, Dandong is a very beautiful city. I have lived here my whole life, and so I know that it is very beautiful. Many things to see and do!"
It did look nice. Not your typical nice city, but of course it wouldn't be typical for me- I was in a completely different part of the world now. Literally the opposite side of the world.
"Yes, I am excited." I conceded.
Pulling up to a pile of grey rubble in front of a security gate, Jane and I both hopped out, along with the remaining passenger of the taxi. We had been in a share taxi to save money, except that since I was a long nose, we were asked to pay twice as much as the others had. Jane's protests lasted several minutes before she threw some bills at the driver. My luggage does take up the entire trunk, it's probably fair: the others had had to sit with their bags on their laps. Another note to self: make sure you pay her back later.
"Here! Your apartment building!"
She waved at the security guard at the gate, who scrutinized us as we dragged my luggage past him and into a newly constructed, modern mostly cement (more grey) courtyard with a few patches of grass you weren't allowed to walk on, flanked by five massive, seemingly new apartment towers. I raised my eyebrows,  impressed and pleasantly surprised.
"It is nice here! Very expensive. I think you will be happy." Jane beamed at me.
"Thank you so much," I told her, "I think so too." She flashed me the yellow-hued thousand-watt grin.
"You are also very close to Walking  Street, where you can find many delicious foods and excellent shopping. Can you remember how to go?"
"I think so Jane, but maybe later, I'm a little tired." I yawned, as if on cue, jet-lagged.

Jane helped me get my luggage into the elevator and up to a huge three-bedroom apartment on the ninth floor. It had wooden laminate on the floor, a three person white pleather couch, TV and a dining table in the open plan living/dining area, a small kitchen, three bedrooms and the bathroom. it was here that I would spend my first two weeks, I was told, before moving into my own place.
"This apartment is Ms. Heidi 's," Jane informed me, dragging my overloaded bags into the entranceway. "You can see bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. Before coming here, I put new sheets in bedroom, and put new water bottle in kitchen. Do not drink kitchen water! You will be sick. Here, I have for you introduction guide of Dandong. You can see here," she pointed to the building we were in, "and walking street," she pointed, "and here Heidi English." She chattered away about Dandong and other sights to be seen.
"Now is 5pm and I will come meet you tomorrow at 8am and I can make sure you are happy!" She gave me another yellow, crooked but big and beautiful smile.
"Thank you," I gushed, "this is just wonderful." And I meant it. It was so sweet, what she had done: drawn me a map with hand illustrations of the nearby sites and important places. "And thank you so much for meeting me at the bus drop off! I could not have gotten here without you."
"It is my pleasure, miss Anna. Do you have money?"
"Sure, just a second. How much do I owe you?" I grabbed my wallet out of my handbag.
"No no no! For your dinner! For your food. You must be hungry. Can you buy food?"
"Yes, Jane! Thank you! It will be my first adventure. But what about for the taxi?" She smiled again, ignoring my question. "I will go buy you food now. What do you like?"
"No no Jane! It's fine, I can do it myself."
"Ok! I show you excellent restaurant? Here, on the map. We can go and eat some delicious foods."
"I would love to, but another time." The shower and the bed were calling my name.
"Ok wait, what do you like? I'll write it down for you. Then, you show them the paper and have delicious dinner."
She scribbled on a paper. Four different lines of text.  "Do you need help with something else?" She stared into my eyes, with her enormous,  unwavering smile. I had nothing to worry about, and looking into her eyes, it was like we both knew that we would be friends.
"Jane, thank you for everything today. You have no idea. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Let's go down together," I said. And we went back into the elevator.
"Goodbye Miss Anna. Your restaurant, it's that way. Golden Dragon – you will see big picture."
I watched as Jane hailed a cab and hopped in, waving as she drove past me.