Today I caught the bus from New York to Philadelphia. The two hour journey with Apex Bus, departing at 1000, cost me USD1 booked through Buszoo.com!! Yes, that’s one dollar … no typo. The trip was operated by one of many Chinese bus companies centered in Chinatown.
It was like a scene from rural China on the street. There were Chinese women acting as bus touts holding pads of tickets were hounding anyone who looked like a traveller (eg. had a bag). Sometimes they were running with their customers to get them on the bus and at other times they were running to get the attention of their customers. All this was accompanied by their shrill voices which reminded me of China … that hell hath no fury like the scorn of a Chinese female bus conductor.
To my untrained ears, most of the Chinese here seem to be Foochow … a people/dialect that are very concentrated in specific areas of Malaysia, namely Sibu and Sitiawan. They’re known to be extremely hardworking and have become very rich … I have no doubt that they’ll do very well in New York too.
At Philly, our friend Ron picked me up and showed me some of the city’s historic sights centered around their country’s independence and constitution.
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- Liberty Bell.
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- Independence Hall.
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- George Washington is taller than me.
