The Rolling Casino

We've made it to Hotan and have been resting up for our first ever sleeper bus experience through the desert (I hope the bus doesn't break down!).

Our trip in to Hotan however was much more interesting. From Kashgar, we stopped one night in a small town named Yecheng. It's small...real small...so small it's not on our map because it's that small! ;) Anyhoo, one night and next morning we're off to Hotan. A 5 hour bumpy ride. We reached the "South" Hotan bus station and some people got off and some people got on and just as the bus took off again, some guy starts yelling something in Chinese and pulls out 3 playing cards. 2 Jacks and a 4. Puts them face down on top of his jacket over his lap and starts to move them around like in the carnivals where they shift cups with a ball or cards around and you need to guess where it is.

Well, he starts this and some other people on the bus were pretty eager to play. First dude puts in 50 Yuan. The guy starts by showing where all the cards are and proceeds to shift them around. You can totally follow the 4 and for whatever reason, this guy picks the wrong card. He looked so surprised too. I was thinking no way he couldn't have followed. Then he decides to put in another 50. Shuffle shuffle shuffle...bam, same thing. Picks the wrong card!?!? "No way" I'm thinking.

Well, after that, some other guy across the isle beside me starts talking and so the dealer moves into the seat in front of him. Great, I can see clear now and so can Jenni. This new guy decides to put in like 90 Yuan and AGAIN picks the wrong card. We both saw the way the dealer shuffled and there's no way you can miss it.

Another guy from the front of the bus comes back, throws 100 Yuan in and loses the same way. I think this guy overdid it a bit, he's asking about all the rules really loud. "What if I put 50 in, what do I get?" (That's what I think anyways.) And then the dealer tries to get some other people to play including us.

We're not suckers, so we said no and the charade kept going. The guy beside me checks out the cards to make sure they're legit by crimping the corner of the 4, the dude who was asking all the questions put more money in but this time won back what he had lost. Then the dealer keeps trying to get us to play. I'm thinking everyone who has played so far is in on this. No one wanted to play and after a while, the bus comes to a stop. I don't even know how far we went but all of the guys who played in the beginning got off...and I was watching the dealer as he was trying to sucker some more people, but he ended up getting off too!

Looking back as the bus drove off you can see the 5 of them chatting together! What a riot. It WAS a scam! The locals behind us started laughing too cause they knew it was all faked.

I wish I knew what they would have done if we decided to play. My guess is, he would have saw the crimp in the card and said he needs new cards and these would have the trick in them. The driver had to be in on it too.

What great fun. I just hope we can recognize other scams when they occur.