Sunday, July 03, 2011

July 4th Weekend - Day III - Part II - Achieving Refuge Status

So coming to the conclusion that the helicopter ride back up wasn't happening, we set about just chilling on the boat for the next 2 hours taking a lazy ride further down river. In some ways, it was really just 2 hours too long this ride. After having spent the entire morning and an hour after lunch at the bottom and being wow-ed by being under the massive canyon, another 2 hours of the same scenery really isn't all that magnificent.

But it was a nice lazy ride, the warm breeze and the splashes of water was nice, but it would really have been nicer to be on the helicopter ride.

Anyhow, 2 hours later, we finally dock... to find that the greyhound was no where to be found. The weather has also warmed up now that we are back on land, so it was a scorching heat with the bright red sun beating down on us. Waited what must have seemed like 30 minutes, and the 2 buses finally come. Not too impressed with the tardiness, but hey, at least it's not a school bus again.

So an hour or so into the bus ride, the bus driver stops and tells us that 5 people on the bus needs to go to the West Rim and so he was going to take this detour. This detour would add an extra 2 hours+ for those on this bus. Wtf?!?!

Now this is where I am very confused.
1) The tour is suppose to end back at the lodge, so I have no clue why these 5 people would be taken to West Rim
2) Just what were these 5 people's reason to 'MUST' go to West Rim for? To catch a flight (which can't be right since there's no airport around)? Or just to see the Grand Canyon from there... as if 4 hours of staring at it is not enough?
3) There were at least 20 to 30 other people on this greyhound...

So apparently the driver might be the manager I was told, so it was pretty ridiculous that he had to nerve to tell (not ask) the other 20 to 30 people on the bus that we would need to waste 2 hours of our time because of this. Obviously all of us went wtf... why do these 5 people get preferred treatment. And more importantly, shouldn't they just boot off those 5 people and put them in a smaller car or something?

So this driver (or maybe manager) seemed pretty adamant about what the mass majority of people that day thought was a poor choice, giving the rest of the people the choice of either:
1) Asking that the people on the bus fight for ~15 seats on the other greyhound
2) For those who really needed to get back to the lodge at a reasonable time, sit on the corridor of the other greyhound if a seat cannot be found

Well, so the 20 to 30 of us all cram into the other greyhound, 14 of us got seats... and the rest? Well, only Option 2 was left (so yes, 15 to 20 of us actually all sat on the corridor of a greyhound, pure refugee style). There were alot of disgruntled or simply appalled people on the bus - not just the people sitting in the corridor, but even those who have seats were just amazed at this situation.

The only thing that probably saved a bloodbath was the lady driver. She was one of them very nice ladies - had she been like the male driver, I am pretty sure even in a 1st world country such as this, things would be turning out pretty ugly.

So making the best out of the situation, Travel Buddy and I decide to make 3 videos. One at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. This will be linked once I get the videos. But for the next 2.5 hours, we would be like refugees, sitting cramped in this Hoola Hoola arranged $350 a person day tour of the grand canyon... lol. You'd think $350 goes pretty far... even in the US of A!... Dammm inflation?

Anyhow, it wasn't too too bad I guess. I mean, it could be worse - like stranded in the middle of a sandstorm, or having to walk back to Hoola Hoola lodge. Right?

Amidst the refugee ride, we did get some good information on what to do for our final day. The original plan was that we would do a day hike to get halfway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but having spent the last 6 hours at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, it wasn't really all that appealing to look at the same rock formations, but from a mid level vantage ground. So talking with others on the bus, we hear about this meteor site near where we were, so that would be one of the places we'd check out the next day.

Arriving back at a reasonable time, we drove 2 hours to Williams, and then went to Pizza Hut. Superbly slow service (slow to the point where they gave us free food), but the wings were really good there. Interestingly, this is the 2nd time in a row that Pizza Hut had to compensate me for their poor service. The last time it was a long wait time too. I wonder if this is a new thing Pizza Hut is doing... Hrm...

Reading back, pretty sarcastic post... hahaha...

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