Everyone Equal and Some More Equal Than Others

2009 09 17 – Day 83 – Dandong

Returning to Dandong from The Great Wall should have been, as with the outward journey, a simple bus ride. But with no clearly defined bus stop on the nearby road, and having been ignored by the solitary bus that went past, I found myself increasingly open to hitching a lift from any vehicle going my way. A countryside local farmhand (I assume) joined me squatting by the side of the road and I attempted to say something useful about a bus to Dandong in Chinese, but his response only confirmed that we didn't understand each other beyond the fact that we were headed in the same direction
Eventually a taxi came by and I managed to flag it down. Although I was in no position to haggle with so few cars on the road, I gave it a go if only to minimise the degree to which I got ripped off. While negotiating I made it fairly clear with my arm gestures that my farmer friend would be coming too, but the driver was having none of it! I tried various ways of getting him to take both of us, including pushing for one price for me and a higher (but not double) price for the two of us, but the driver was immovable. His attitude stank of elitism, as if the country bumpkin wasn't worthy of a lift in his vehicle – so much for the egalitarianism of communism.
With the taxi driver threatening to leave both of us stranded, I had to concede defeat. Offering an apologetic shrug to the farmhand, I clambered in and abandoned him to his fate.