Back along the river in Chengdu. We again got on a bus having only the vaguest idea where we were headed. The driver assured us all would be well, or maybe he was just saying he would be well if we paid our fare and got on his bus. In any event, the bus stopped at a city bus stand, the driver said "28! 28!" and drove off. We should have followed his advice and hopped on bus number 28, instead we decided to take a taxi, figuring we could be certain we would get to our hotel. Trouble was, we didn't have anything showing the name of the hotel in Chinese characters and only knew the English translation of the name. Finally, we found a slip of paper with the name of one of Chengdu's fanciest hotels on it. We figured we could walk from there. But, we we got downtown, we were able to direct the driver to the hotel without a problem. Bus number 28 would have stopped two blocks away for a third the price.

© Monica & Mark Hughes 2000-02