Today is the last time I will use a minibus as from here on in it is all real, official public buses. For the last journey, what should I get? A ride to rival the rally driving nutters, maybe we should try and do an Evil Knievel style jump over other buses, take every turn with a handbrake and try some Grand Turismo style driving... It's better than all of this.
I am up
and in the minibus at 8am, but we are still waiting on other passengers from the hotel. The driver is the brother in law of the hotel owner and seems like a very friendly guy, I managed to bargain a deal the last night and so have the ride for 50Y as opposed to the 75Y that the other passengers h
ave to pay, he covertly takes my money and tells me not to tell them. When we eventually leave after a quick breakfast I am sharing with a Chinese guy called Alan, an Italian man called Michel and a Russian man called Ilya. The start of the journey is good and we head off at a reasonable pace, stopping multiple times at picture sights so we can all snap away at the scenery. After 4 or so hours of travelling we hit a police checkpoint about 15 mins away from Daocheng, as per usual we hand over our passports and all is well, until the police call over our driver and start shouting at him about something. He then comes over to the minibus and tells us to say that we are his friends and am not paying him any money when mid sentence a police officer comes over and tells him to be quiet and grabs him by his ear and drags him back over to the checkpoint. I don't know an Italian, a Brit and a Russian who can't really speak Chinese, could possibly pull off an act that we know this driver and are simply on a road trip with him. The Chinese guy, Alan, tells us that apparently the police are shouting at him because he has the wrong papers and isn't allowed to carry passengers commercially. Luckily we somehow get let through the checkpoint only for the driver to tell us that there is another one in Daocheng that he won't be able to sweet talk his way past and so we are transferred to his friends minibus, with our luggage in his car. Next the minibus, goes off road and through a village before going along the ri
ver that runs beside Daocheng. In a move out of nowhere the driver slows down and then hits a hard left straight into the river and decides that his now amphibious vehicle can walk on water. The inevitable happens and we get stuck in the middle of the river, the water lapping up at the doors and the minibus not moving anywhere. It's probably the funniest thing to happen in weeks as a small minibus with wheels the size of ten pence pieces and a structure or capability not even roughly resembling that of a 4x4, decides to attempt the impossible. The driver opens his door a bit to have a look and the water surges in over his feet, we then jump out the boot and wade across the water back to the shore, where our original driver has pulled up, obvio
usly just about to try the same thing. We are told the only way to Daocheng is to walk to the bridge which appears to be about 30 mins away and cross there and we will be immediately in the town, so we say our goodbyes, strap on our bags and then head off, leaving the two drivers sitting on the shore waiting for help to arrive.For my last minibus journey I couldn't have asked for anything better, pure brilliance and hysterics.
