A Taxi or Two<\/p>\n
Monday\u00a0started early in the City of Eternal Spring (Kunming) with a taxi driver who didn\u2019t know the way to the new South Bus Station and ended with in Thailand with one who didn\u2019t know he\u2019d reached my destination.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t really in Thailand, the closest borders are with Burma and Laos, but the profusion of Thai architecture, script and elephant motifs means I could be forgiven for imagining I\u2019d left China.\u00a0 The dominant population\u00a0is related to the thai people.<\/p>\n
The morning\u2019s taxi driver started off well, but soon had second thoughts about the location written on the paper.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Eventually after he\u2019d driven on yet again and I\u2019d dug the map from the bottom of my bag, because I wasn\u2019t going to need it for a while, and\u00a0 showed him the destination off the map did he decide he was happy and continued in a more purposeful manner.\u00a0 He was quiet and patient and lasted until the destination before he lit up a cigarette.<\/p>\n
The evening\u2019s driver again read the address and decided he knew the location so off we went.\u00a0 \u00a0We reached a busy street and he stopped.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where to take me.\u00a0 The location didn\u2019t coincide with the description on the hostel website so I didn\u2019t look for signs.\u00a0 He phoned the hostel and told me to wait.\u00a0 I thought he was waiting for traffic to slow so he could do a U turn when a strange man appeared and told me to go with him.\u00a0 After I established that the strange man really was from the hostel about 50 metres away I paid the driver and left.\u00a0 It eventuated that he had taken me to the correct address as the hostel was in a laneway and he had not noticed the signage.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had drivers have tantrums because they have been forced by a taxi controller to take me places they didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 One man only stopped complaining in order to start turning a receipt into origami, while driving.\u00a0 After I became more familiar with Beijing I realised that the location I needed that time was a very well known and easily accessed area.<\/p>\n
Another driver was most upset to have his card game interrupted that he refused to drive and walked away from the cab.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve had driver\u2019s refuse to take me when I\u2019ve shown them the location on a map written in Chinese when the distance was not great.\u00a0 Yet I had one delightful woman happy to take me somewhere and back, based only on sign language and then have a laugh with me when we realised I hadn\u2019t given her the most direct route for the forward journey.<\/p>\n
The photos relate to Monday\u2019s bus trip.<\/p>\n
These are some of the buses at the Kunming South Bus station\u00a0 with the station building at the rear.<\/p>\n Lunch which was included in the ticket price. This was provided at a restaurant at one of the stops.\u00a0The tofu & the zucchini are common.\u00a0 The college canteen often cooks them.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.kerry.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/005.jpg\" "\\"Some")
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