Bus attendants are liars

Ten days ago, twelve of us embarked on a trip to Xishuangbanna (XSBN), a fairyland paradise, according to my postmate, Sophie. XSBN is located in the southern most point in Yunnan province, right near the border of Laos. The weather is supposed to be hot and humid. Intrigued, we inquired about it at the bus station and the bus attendant told us it was a mere ten hours away. Meh, not bad. We gathered as a group of teachers and sat in rows two by two. It began well enough. I brought a pillow and slept for a while. We played games on the bus... we ate disgusting food at bus stops, the usual road trip

 

Well.. the tenth hour rolled around... and then the eleventh. At the twelfth hour, we ask the bus driver when we'd will be arriving in XSBN? He mumbled a number of things which could have meant, at 4, 40 mins, or 4 hours.

 

I looked forward and there was nothing but more road and mountains... we were on the right bus, surely something was wrong! Yes. What was wrong was our original estimate of how long the bus ride was. The ride to XSBN from Lincang, which is already a 2 and a half bus ride away from where I live is 16 hours, not ten. SURPRISE!

 

My sanity deteriorated only slightly. After getting on a bus at 6:30 in the morning in Lincang, we finally arrived at our destination at 10:30 pm in Xishuangbanna. Thankfully, XSBN is China's Miami and beautiful.