Initial D

The minivan was a little bit of a mistake from Tigon to Kunding. The first problem was that we inadvertantly tied ourselves into using a specific van by giving the impression that we had made a decision about which, of the many minibuses, we were going to take to Kunding. When we decided that the bus that was willing to take us to Kunding was too expensive, we had a lot of trouble finding someone who would take us for a reasonable price, when just moments earlier the price had been dirt cheap. We later found out that there is a kind of minibus mafia which enforces some basic rules. If someone decides to take minibus A and then changes their mind and takes minibus B, minibus B is obligated to pay 50 yuan to minibus A. This drives up the price of every bus other than the one you decided to take in the beggining and allows minibus A to start jerking you around by raising their price. Supposidly minibus drivers are ruthlessly beaten or even killed over as little as 3 yuan (US .40) in this mafia, so it's pretty serious. In the end we found someone willing to pay minibus driver A 50yuan and still take us for a reasonable price, but only after hours of bargianing, and it was still more exspensive than we first thought we would be paying.

The road was rough and our driver made, what we thought at the time, were some jokes about someone else in the car driving to Kunding. Soon after we began to notice the driver of the minibus was leaning over the stearing wheel looking like he was trying to get some sleep on the curving moutain road. Eventually he just pulled the car over and said, "ok someone else has to drive now". Myself being the person with the most recent experience driving a stick said "why the hell not", and jumped into the drivers seat. The driver took my seat and immediatly began trying to get some sleep.

Being in a car in China has been nothing but horrifying. There truly is a lawlessness on the road unparralleled in anyplace I have ever been. The thought of driving in this chaos is either somekind of nightmare, or some kind of heaven depending on how you approach it. For me I beleive it was a little bit of both. The road was poor, steep, and curvy. The car was cheap, old, and falling apart. The seat slid foward everytime I hit the brakes and nuetral was undecernable from the 2nd and 4th gears. Because of the fact it is illegal for foriengers to drive in China, I found myself worrying about the random police checkpoints that seem to be littered across the country. The driver assured us that the only checkpoint (which we never hit) was run by family members of his and would be fine, so we pressed on.

After an hour and a half, we pulled into Kunding happy to be alive. Kunding was a little bit of a problem for me. The hostel the fellowship stayed in was poor at best, e-mail was blocked all over the city, I was out of money, and no bank in the city would accept my atm card or exchange my travellers checks, and everyone was trying to rip me off again. The town was also a big change with the population being mainly Han Chinese . The city was also the first city I have felt unconfortable in at night in a long, long, long time. Reaching Kunding reminded me of how kind Tibetans were in relation to people in other areas of China I had traveled through in recent months. The next day, early in the morning the fellowship left Kunding for Chengdu on one of the nicest buses I have riden in since I left for China.

Next time, Chengdu, Sichuan's capital city.