wolfe with an e's blog
#ThrowbackThursday: Cold Coca Cola
Learning Capitalism in China
They say it never snows on the road to the Great Wall of China. They lie.
By the time the bus arrived at the Ming Tombs the snow was really coming down. The soldiers discussed the situation with the driver. The driver discussed it with the tour guide. The tour guide discussed it with us: The rest of the road to the Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall was covered with snow and ice. When the guide said the driver knows these mountain roads well and had made the trip in snow before, the driver half cracked that “the-government-tells-me-not-to-disappoint-you” smile. We looked at the bald tires of the bus. We didn’t see 1,000 good Chinese citizens with brooms sweeping the road like everywhere else in the country, since this place is so remote few good Chinese citizens live nearby. So we decided to turn back.
Completely prepared for summer, this smiling woman was selling ice cold Coca Cola. But at that moment, thinking of crawling back into a big bus with a faulty heater, all we wanted was some hot Jasmine tea.
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