Shanghai 5

Shanghai Part 5

From the Unclear-On-The-Concept Department:

So... The Driver Mighty Zhou has been busy running the ATP folks around the town, so I've been on my own to get from place to place. Since I needed to visit the Computer Market, and the Night Market (XaingYang) and maybe try to find a place to eat, I wanted to make sure I had a way to get back to the Hotel.
Since I didn't have one of those handy-dandy cards from the hotel that has the name and the address of the place on it, I wanted to get one of the secretaries from the TDs office to make one for me.
The Tournament Director told the girl at the front desk-
"Make him a note that he can give to the taxi driver so they will take him back to the hotel. He's staying at the Mayfair Hotel."
Cool. No worries.

She writes this page in my notebook:



Ok... So I got to the computer place, then to Xiangyang, then get in a taxi to go back to the Hotel.
I show him my note, feeling very smug.
The driver gives me a look like I've lost my mind-
He gestures at my note, then makes some more gestures that I understood to be "I have no idea what you are talking about."
Lovely.

I take out my dog-eared map from last October out of my bag and show him where the hotel is on the map. He looks at it, the light of knowledge going on in his head, and we're off. I settle back in the taxi puzzling over what went wrong.

So, upon arrival at the Mayfair, I head to the concierge desk and show them my note.
"What does this say?" I ask.
There is a quick huddle behind the desk... they throw a round of rock-paper-scissors... oops, wrong event. Sorry.
One of the guys explains to me the meaning...
"These mean "Prease take me home." he tells me gesturing to the Chinese characters on the page.
They all have big grins on their faces...

"Uh..." I ask, "Do y'all have one of those cards with the name and address of the hotel on it?"

Here endeth the lesson.

TBG Out-