Tollgate on the highway to Emei. We got on the bus without any clear idea of where we would end up. We had a slip of paper with the name of our intended destination on it, but the ticket agent crossed that name out and wrote something else on our slip. She then sold us 5 tickets and 50 slips marked "one yuan" for which I paid 50 huan. After about three hours and one stop we arrived at a bus station. A mini-bus driver immediately offered to drive us to our starting place for 50 yuan. I offered her our insurance slips. She tried to explain to me what the slips were or weren't. I suspected they weren't another ticket but figured waving them around was helping with the bargaining. She led me inside the bus station where a big discussion occured between our original driver, some official acting guys, and a policeman or two. It was pretty clear that everyone was telling the driver that he had somehow goofed and should figure things out. It turns out we should have gotten out at the first stop. Eventually, the driver paid the woman from the mini-bus 10 yuan to take us back to the last stop. The slips turned out to be the "insurance" required of every foreigner who takes a cross-country bus ride.

© Monica & Mark Hughes 2000-02