T4: 徐闻 → 海口

October 28, 2024

Considering how rough the crossing was a full 24 hours after ferry service resumed, I'm really glad that I went with getting a hotel and waiting instead of pushing to go to the ferry port and waiting there for 5 hours or whatever it is that the other three guys in the car with me did.

Last I saw them, they had determined that no one had yet checked out of the place (that wasn't actually that much cheaper than where I ended up) immediately across the street from the long-distance coach station and they were going to drop their luggage and try waiting in the station until people either checked out or the ferry opened.

After attempting to take the bus that I know exists between the ferry terminal and downtown Xuwen¹ and giving up after Maps told me² a bus was totally coming "any time now," I gave up at around 20 minutes of sitting around and called a didi.

Being as I was leaving from the terminal with fewer ferries (but which drops me off 20km closer to home), I probably could have given it another 40 minutes of waiting without impacting my travel time, but—even with a schedule of sorts posted in the elevator of my hotel—finding the actual, most current, scheduled³ sailing times is not the easiest thing in the world, and it would have really sucked to have saved a whole 15y only to then have another 90-minute wait before I could get onboard.

Didn't feel like climbing up two extra decks to get to the not actually all that secret Secret VIP Lounge where 30y gets you a cup of the nastiest instant coffee known to man, reasonable air conditioning, and clean bathrooms. Although no one ever threw up in my cabin, it started smelling like Unhappy Humans about halfway across, but by that point, no matter how much I regretted my decision, the seas were rough enough that I didn't want to move from where I was already sat.

Once I got off the ferry, I walked until my stomach and head were calm, tried a bunch of broken share bikes before finding one that worked, and rode until I couldn't tolerate trying to balance what I was carrying⁴; at which point I called a didi the rest of the way home.

¹ I ended up on this bus during both the May business trip to Xuwen and the Exciting Transport Adventure† part of the previously mentioned Weird Beihai Trip.

† I bought what I thought was a legitimate interprovincial coach ticket off of CTrip. Without going into all of what happened, CTrip Customer Service refused to take my heads-up "you should know that the company you are reselling is up to something shady" complaint on the grounds that it was a "totally normal" travel experience and "perhaps [I] didn't have much experience traveling in China." So, I made a cheerful, upbeat video about "the wild and whacky adventure" I just had. This subsequently got me a refund I never asked for, an official investigation from the Transportation Authority, and the delisting of a large number of products.

² It wasn't the kind of bus where Maps had live info as to how many stops away it still was, but it was supposed to come every 15 minutes.

³ Even when they aren't restarting just after the ports have been closed for inclement weather, scheduled sailing times ≠ actual sailing times.

Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 1,732 km (1,076 miles)

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