I am back! May 12--a hellish day in Chongqing

I am back! May 12--a hellish day in Chongqing
May 21, 2008 04:58
LEONARDO Points: Join Date: May 21, 2007 Status: offline	Hi guys, I am back. On May 12, I am stuck in Chongqing municipality for over two hours. Luckily, I survived the earthquake and the traffic accidents. Thanks goodness! I went to Chongqing on May 12. It seems to be a hellish day! I got off the train at 6:25am at Caiyuanba Railway Station (菜园坝火车站). At about 7：30am, I took a bus 808 to the touristy spot Ci Qi Kou(磁器口). The journey was smooth, but the bus drivers impressed me a lot. (They drove crazily). The roads in Chongqing were tortuous and bumpy, but the drivers drove faster than the drivers in other cities I have visited. When I took No.808 bus from Ci Qi Kou to Caiyuanba, two traffic accidents happened. The first bus (No.808) I am on rear-ended with another bus (No.308). Fortunately, noboday was injured. All the passengers had to been transferred to another bus (No.808). Well, I was down on my luck on May 12. The latter bus crashed into another bus. All the passengers were stranded there for about ten minutes, and then were transferred to a third No.808. After all, I returned to the Caiyuanba Railway Station safe and sound. At about 1:00 pm, I arrived at Jie Fang Bei (解放碑) in Chongqing, and took some photos there. The weather was hot and sticky. At about 2:20 pm, I felt tired and sat near a tree at the suquare of Jie Fang Bei. Because it was Monday, few people were at the square. However, at 2:30 pm, countless office workers rushed out of the skyscrapers to the square. I was startled but didn’t know what happened. A guy beside me told me the buildings were shaking. All the people around me dialed their cellphones. I tried to telephone my friends but failed. “Network Failure” was the only words I could hear from the earphone. Chongqing was in chaos. It seems to me tha t it was the “9.11” of Chongqing except that there was no siren. I was stuck there for two hours. I didn’t get on a bus until 5:00 pm. It was a nightmare!

May 21, 2008 04:58

LEONARDO
Points:
Join Date: May 21, 2007
Status: offline

Hi guys,

I am back. On May 12, I am stuck in Chongqing municipality for over two hours. Luckily, I survived the earthquake and the traffic accidents. Thanks goodness!
I went to Chongqing on May 12. It seems to be a hellish day!

I got off the train at 6:25am at Caiyuanba Railway Station (菜园坝火车站). At about 7：30am, I took a bus 808 to the touristy spot Ci Qi Kou(磁器口). The journey was smooth, but the bus drivers impressed me a lot. (They drove crazily). The roads in Chongqing were tortuous and bumpy, but the drivers drove faster than the drivers in other cities I have visited.

When I took No.808 bus from Ci Qi Kou to Caiyuanba, two traffic accidents happened. The first bus (No.808) I am on rear-ended with another bus (No.308). Fortunately, noboday was injured. All the passengers had to been transferred to another bus (No.808). Well, I was down on my luck on May 12. The latter bus crashed into another bus. All the passengers were stranded there for about ten minutes, and then were transferred to a third No.808. After all, I returned to the Caiyuanba Railway Station safe and sound.

At about 1:00 pm, I arrived at Jie Fang Bei (解放碑) in Chongqing, and took some photos there. The weather was hot and sticky. At about 2:20 pm, I felt tired and sat near a tree at the suquare of Jie Fang Bei. Because it was Monday, few people were at the square. However, at 2:30 pm, countless office workers rushed out of the skyscrapers to the square. I was startled but didn’t know what happened. A guy beside me told me the buildings were shaking. All the people around me dialed their cellphones. I tried to telephone my friends but failed. “Network Failure” was the only words I could hear from the earphone. Chongqing was in chaos. It seems to me tha t it was the “9.11” of Chongqing except that there was no siren. I was stuck there for two hours. I didn’t get on a bus until 5:00 pm. It was a nightmare!

May 21, 2008 20:33	#1
SHESGOTTOBE Points: Join Date: Nov 23, 2007 Status: Offline	Good to have you back, Leonardo. Well, you’ve been to hell and you made it back. That’s a good thing. ^_^

May 21, 2008 22:07	#2
LEONARDO Points: Join Date: May 21, 2007 Status: Offline	Hehe! She, yea, I came back from the hell! ^_^ My guardian angel saved me! Well, she is a second-class fallen angel. Her wings were injured so that she could not send me back to the safe place. ^_^ I am late. I missed a lot of wonderful discussions on the forum!

May 22, 2008 02:48

JABAROOTOO
Points:
Join Date: Jul 4, 2005
Status: Offline

Hey Leonado,
You were in town and you never called me..................
You were fortunate to be outside at the time. If you were inside and feeling the quake you would have been pretty scared like the restof us not knowing where the epicentre was.

The driving antics of Chongqing ..................well what can I say. I hate it but nought to do about it...............
Realistically there should be more accidents than there are in most cases the speed at impact is slow so there is often little damage. But it is in the aftermath of an accident that the real trouble happens as the road begins to snarl with backed up traffic.

Welcome back

May 22, 2008 06:54	#4
WESTNORWOODGAS Points: Join Date: Jun 22, 2007 Status: Offline	Good to know you are safe Leonardo, thats the main thing. Alan

May 22, 2008 23:01

LEONARDO
Points:
Join Date: May 21, 2007
Status: Offline

Thanks Jabarootoo and Alan!

I did want to call on you but not know how to contact you. Additionally, I was on a business trip. I had to follow the itenerary. I had limited free time to handle on my own. There is even little time for me to prepare well for the journey.

Next time when I visit Chongqing, I will be sure to call you. Hopefully, we can hang out together. ^_^ Yes, I was fortunate to be outside so that I don't have the sense of fear now.

To be frank, I was not scared by the Earthquake but by the drivig antics of Chongqing drivers on May 12. LOL!

Alan, congratulations! Your favorite team Manchester United has won the Champion Leagues Final! Cheers!

May 27, 2008 10:32	#6
GRIZ326 Points: Join Date: Jun 12, 2006 Status: Offline	The driving scared you more than the earthquake? That is funny, Leonardo! It is good that you survived the driving. :-)

Post a Reply to: I am back! May 12--a hellish day in Chongqing