I had a near disaster this morning. After a few hours on a local bus we arrived at what appeared to be my destination. A woman got on the bus barking orders in Chinese, half the passengers left and half stayed. I showed my ticket and she told be to stay, then someone else come on and told me to get off...I did and the bus whizzed off. After about 20 seconds, I realized it whizzed off with my backpack and all my belongings!

Somehow, by sign language, I was able to communicate my issue to a woman at the station. She was the right person for the job. She called the bus driver, tossed me in a car and and we caught up with the bus in about 5 minutes....disaster avoided! Driver was very grateful for the 20 yuan ($3) tip.