The time we were interrogated by the Chinese miliatry

Last night we boarded yet another overnight bus back to Kunming.  The bus left after ten, so it was already quite dark by the time we left, and I was unable to indulge in my normal bus activity of looking at the scenery.  The night was even a little cloudy, so the stars which have been ever present since coming down to Yunnan were also absent.  I started to read Middlemarch.  I was at the part when old Mr. Featherstone was on his deathbed and he was asking Mary Garth to burn his will for him in the dead of night.  Just as I was about to read her reply, the bus stopped.  I expected the stop to be a routine stop for gas or a toll booth or so the driver could buy more cigarettes, but as I looked out the window, I noticed a several Chinese soldiers waiting outside the bus, wearing camouflage and helmets and carrying machine guns.  To my complete surprise and horror, two of the soldiers started to board the bus.  They began checking everyone's passports and residence cards.  They reached my friend Katie first, and when she presented her American passport, they began shouting unintelligibly.  All of us know a little Chinese, but under the circumstances, it shouldn't be too hard to believe that we couldn't pick up anything.  After a moment, the soldier realized Katie couldn't understand him, probably from the look of sheer terror on her face, and said, in perfect English, "Sorry, do you speak Chinese?"  Struck mute, Katie shook her head, and after a few more moments of intently investigating her passport, the soldier moved on to me.  Luckily, my blond hair counts for a lot in China, and he passed by with only a cursory glance at my passport.  Lex and Jess were towards the back of the bus, so we couldn't see what happened after the soldiers reached them.  The two soldiers must have left out the back door of the bus, because after seeing some commotion outside, we pulled away and continued on our journey.