Rural buses

Today we had to get three different public buses to get from where we started the morning in one bit of rural China to where we intended to stay the night in another bit of rural China. Difficult?
Whilst the day started with a 40 minute walk in the pouring rain down steps that could have been made of ice they were so slippery to the first bus stop, we seemed to then remarkably get smoothly from one bus to the next with little waiting time.
We had to walk across town between buses two and three therefore didn't even know where the bus stop was. We went into a bakery near to where we thought it should be to get provisions. When we were ready there was a bus on the road, the driver of which beacons us over. 'Chengyang?' We said. Yes he noded.
It's almost like all the relevant buses had been warned there were two gringos on the loose and we're looking out for us. Who'd have thought, something here worked.
On top of that as we got off the final bus at the entrance to the eight villages scenic area in Chengyang a chap came up behind us and said 'you are looking for Yang's guesthouse-I'm Yang'. First off how did he know, there were quite a few places to stay in the village, second off how long had he stood there?!
Saying all that the Chinese seem to think that a bus is like a tardis, it doesn't matter that all the seats are full. and all the aisles are full, you still stop and let more people on. At one point there was a whole family sitting in the gap between the driver and passanger seats. Oh and you don't stand up and offer your seat for 90 year old folk here either.
A few days later:
A similar number of buses required and it seemed each bus conductor (yep they still have those here but no outfits or machines to allow you to identify them) was keen to make sure we made it onto the next bus so got off and pointed out the next bus or pointed out someone who could point out the next one. Given everything else we've experienced here, that was a curious level of helpfulness. Perhaps it's in the job description.

[Al and Sam, now feeling very intrepid]