Helper 2. Bags

Early morning of the first day

  So, let's begin.
Let me remind you that a fellow traveler told me this story. When you travel on a bus to or from China, your fellow travelers quickly become almost like family, and their stories... I can listen to their stories endlessly!

I travel a lot around China. However, this journey did not work out the first time.
On the eve of the trip it was announced that heavy snow was approaching, then the expected snow was replaced by rain. Then the weather forecasters started talking about snow again. I was alarmed and asked a question to the leader of the tourist group with which I was supposed to go to China. WhatsApp buzzed and I received a message. The message said that the trip would take place, since the weather, apparently, was expected to be satisfactory. And so it turned out. However, it was raining outside, but it was warm. The wind was twisting the umbrella and it seemed to me that I would never reach the stop. When I go to China, I always walk to the stop where the bus will be waiting for me. And it doesn’t matter what time it is on the clock: 3:00 am, 4:00 am, 5:00 am - I always walk. It's probably because I'm afraid of being late. Therefore, the night before leaving, I hardly sleep, I’m afraid to oversleep. As soon as I imagine that the bus has arrived at the stop and I’m not there, I break out in a cold sweat. This is why I don’t trust taxis, I’m afraid that they will let me down, and I walk. By the way, it’s quite nice to walk through the city at night. There is no one, it’s empty, and only the lights are on. Half an hour's walk and I'm usually already at the bus stop. Even if it’s warm on the bus, which isn’t always the case, I get chills because I’m worried about how the trip will go. That’s why a half-hour walk through the city at night guarantees that my body, hot from walking, will keep warm, even if it’s cold on the bus. However, this time, unfortunately, I got quite wet from the rain. The wind kept twisting the umbrella, which did not want to protect me from the rain. The hands aligned, the clock showed 5:00 in the morning, the half-empty bus pulled up to the stop, I climbed the steps and we drove off. The rain soaked my jacket and hat, I couldn’t get warm for a long time, and when I got warm, I thought, where is it taking me again? Why don’t I sleep at home, in a warm bed? After all, there are still a few hours until dawn!
Remember the song “Where the hell have you gone, sir? Can’t you afford peace?”
It's almost about me!
I could not describe the four-hour trip to the border; there was nothing interesting there. At certain intervals the bus stopped and tourists climbed the steps. At some point the bus was packed to capacity and we drove off without stopping. However, I will have to describe something. The path to the border was almost completed when the bus turned around and we entered the territory of a bus station in some village. I thought that the bus would stop for a little while and we would move on, but that was not the case.
A small digression. When I got on at the bus stop at 5:00 am, there were several tour group leaders on the bus. The lights on the bus were dimmed, and I couldn’t really see the face of my tour group leader.
The retreat is over, and we are returning with you to the moment when the bus stopped in a certain locality. That is, this happened almost 4 hours away from Vladivostok. One of the leaders of the tourist groups gave an order, at that moment I was dozing, the tourists began to fuss and began to rise from their seats. I still didn't understand anything. Looking in the direction where the leader of my tourist group was sitting, I didn’t see her there; she got off the bus. There was no one to ask questions. The tourists began to leave the bus, and I naturally followed them. Slowing down a little, I looked back, it was damp, dirty, empty and dreary. At that moment I regretted that I went on this trip, but it was too late. Everyone was going somewhere and I followed them. Despite the fact that there was dampness in the air and for some reason there was a smell of coal, there was ice underfoot. My task was to avoid slippery areas so as not to fall and get hurt. At some point, I fell behind a bunch of tourists who were deftly walking in a direction that was clear only to them. However, it was impossible to get lost here. I walked around several locked buildings and entered the area where the voices were heard. Oops! This is something interesting. My fellow travelers entered the building without bags and came out with heavy bags. Moreover, people lined up, however, the line moved quickly. I was almost the last one to enter. The bags were shaped by a Chinese man and a Russian woman. They pushed me a bag containing something heavy and offered to carry it to the bus. I inquired about what was in the bag, and they told me that there were canned goods and cookies. As I understand it, the weight of the bag was 10 kg.
I hate carrying weights!
Until that moment, I always traveled to China with a bag on wheels, this same bag... However, I won’t lie, it was a simple cloth bag. My arms are weak, I can lift 10 kg. and I couldn’t drag it. So I dragged my bag, fortunately there was ice under my feet. VPA passenger on our bus walking ahead made a remark to me, she told me not to drag my bag, but to carry it. Do you see that she feels sorry for the bag, but doesn’t she feel sorry for her hands? I gently but energetically sent her into unknown distances, that is, to where she was carrying her bag. Finally, the bus appeared, pushing my bag into the trunk, I looked at my hands. The palms were red. My hands were shaking, my cheeks were flushed, and the life ahead seemed gray and hopeless. However, as it turned out, my feat was useless. When I finally saw my supervisor and asked what to do next with the bag, she was surprised. Moreover, she was unhappy that I did something that I was not asked to do. Somehow, through the stump of the deck, I explained the situation. I said that an order had been received to go and carry the bags, but since I still didn’t know the leader well in person, I simply didn’t understand who exactly gave the order. In general, my work was in vain. However, my palms were swollen and itchy, and were completely unhappy with my poor head, because of which they had to do such work. Serves me right, there’s no point in being so absent-minded! The bags were packed, the tourists were counted, and the bus set off. I perked up a little; China was ahead. Another hour or two, and I will find myself in the Chinese city of Suifenhe.