May 27, 2006 - Stuck in Zhuanghe

We wait ages for the boat to take us out of the Bingyu park, then wait again as the boat makes a leisurely loop back to the main dock. We sit down on the curb to wait for the bus. And we wait. And we wait. A young woman pulls up in a shiny white car, insists that there isn't any bus, and says she'll drive us back to Zhuanghe. She wants too much money, though, so we wait some more. After the bus finally does arrive, the driver says, "Xiao deng" ( "Short wait"), and both he and the ticket-taker vanish. By the time they return 45 minutes...