After leaving the Bus station on the fancy new road, smooth and easy, the bus was pulled up twenty km before the border and an officer came through and checked
everybody's passport. One person obviously didn't have the right paperwork and was asked to leave the bus and was left behind. As we proceeded to the border more and more concrete buildings appeared and the wealth gap between Laos and China emerged. The bus stopped and we all got of to get our exit stamps for Laos we proved easy with a 1 dollar fee. Back in the bus we proceeded to the Chinese border which felt like a metropolis in comparison to where I had been. Multi-storey buildings start appearing on a regular basis and signs in Chinese start increasing. We reached the border and got off the bus and for the first time, I had to have my bag searched. This made me nervous as I hadn't thought at all about what was in my bag and whether it would be legitimate to take into China, including a bottle of Metholated spirits. But the Officer could find nothing objectionable, after smelling the methylated spirits and the three of us were allowed to pass . Surprisingly the officers on the border were very friendly and greeted you in English and spoke English to you. You were questioned multiple times as you progressed through the border crossing and like other border crossing in South East Asia the procedures and processes to get through took some figuring out. But without any major dramas we three crossed the border safely and headed on to Mengla.Arriving in Mengla a few hours later we then transferred to a bus to Jing Hong, however getting cash to pay for the bus proved difficult. None of the banks accepted foreign cards and the only bank that exchanged travellers cheques or cash would not open for another 2 hours; we had to leave ASAP. So we returned to the bus station
where a man was offering black market exchanges. After 10 minutes of dealing we eventually came to the conclusion that trading Euro's would provide the best outcome for us and so we go hold of some Chinese Yuan to pay for our ticket. The lady behind the counter pointed us toward a bus which took us to the correct destination. On the way we stopped for lunch in what looked like an old commune building. And inside while the kitchen looks initially like a very unhygenic place, but a second look at the serving of the food revealed that everything was on polished stainless steel. Lesson 1: the Chinese are generally very hygenic around food.Arriving in Jing Hong we were coaxed to stay in a hotel next door to the bus station (very convenient!) which had a room with three beds in it for a reasonable price. After obtaining more cash to pay for the rooms we settled in before walking the night markets. After eating some very spicy fish soups on the street for dinner (Mmmmn, at least I thought so!) we headed towards a park were hundreds of locals had congregated (a scene that is repeated across china), with people talking, selling goods, dancing and playing and singing traditional songs. Here we also got a few friendly hello's as we passed. People generally seemed in a good mood and were friendly towards us; something that I had been taught somewhere not to expect. Not sure where? We continued to walk through various streets before returning to the hotel, buying a pack of cards and playing cards on the street, much to the intrigue and amusement of local passerby's who quickly gave and audience. I think generally they though our game was simplistic and boring particularly as there was no money on the table.
The following morning back on the bus to Kunming to arrive one day early for the 22 day tour to Beijing. Enough time for me to have a look around town. Kunming the regional capital of Yunnan province. A city that rides entirely on electric motorcycles. In the whole time I was there I saw 2 petrol motorbikes. the bus trip was scheduled to take nine but took 12 and arriving late in the evening we were not sure if Nelleke and Marga could catch a connecting line to Dali, their next stop. But again the friendly staff at the bus station pulled out all stops to make sure they got a ticket and made it onto the right bus. I left the bus station and hired a private driver, for the same price as a taxi, to take me to my hotel, where I spent the night in a hotel room with two japanese tourists.
The following morning I changed room to the one booked by the tour company and spent the day walking the streets and observing the large contrast of giant shopping centres that would rival anything in Sydney and the small streets and houses where families still live together in a simple life. The Islamic district that is mentioned in the Lonely Planet of 2007, had been turned into a construction site and there were only two streets left which didn't contain a lot. I also sat in the main square in the middle of the city where I was approached by two Chinese girls, but as son as they found that I couldn't speak Chinese, they promptly left. I was refreshing to meet young women that just wanted a conversation with you and not anything else.
The whole was city had a very good feel about it and on my way home I stopped to watch a game of Mah Jong and was promptly invited to play. The group of younger Chinese were quite surprised that I could play, and after I sat down, I even managed to win a few rounds. This even though they could not speak english and I could not speak Chinese. Particularly the pictures stone where hard as the numbers were not written on the stones. But nearing the end of the day I had to return to the hotel to meet and greet the tour leader and rest of the tour. I said my goodbye, though we didn't understand each other and moved on. A great beginning!The tour group consisted of seven people including me, which was a nice size for a tour group. It consisted of a German, now living in Switzerland who spent the month wrapped up in relationship issues, loved his hat, but was a mean tap dancer .
A young Australian girl that could eat like no woman i've ever met and could be employed as a smoke detector. A middle aged Australiam male who worked as a truck driver, recovering from a chest infection and quiet was his middle name (he was somehow there but not there.) A English woman that toured with tours, takes life as it comes and with whom I shared a lot of laughs. And lastly and middle aged australian couple that have been backpacking the world together for years, enjoyed cryptic crosswords, and spent most of the spare time by themselves. Of course there was me and the Guide Anton. Anton was a complicated character who enjoyed the drink, his parents had issues with the Chinese government post Tianamen square and subsequently spent time in Canada and the parents of his girlfriend refuse to give approval to the relationship for lack of money. I spent a few late night in the nightclubs and bars with him and was impressed by his love of country and hospitality. His daily instructions to us included the memorable, "Get your stuff, get your belongings, don't left anything behind." So it was with this group that I spent the following 22 days from Kunming all the way to Beijing.
The first day in Kunming there was nothing on the schedule so as a group we went to Green Lake Park to watch more Tai Chi and Aerobic, getting shoes polished before heading to the student district to find an english bookstore, successfully.
After this we returned to the hotel to eat the locally famous "Over the bridge Noodles" which is served with various tasty condiments including chickens blood, with the group. Our first serious foray into Chinese food. The Yunnan food uses a lot of seaweed and chilli in their soups giving at a very complex and unique taste. The chicken's blood turned a few people off but over all it was very nice but far too much to eat. We would find out that this is quite normal in China as we always had food left over. In the afternoon we proceeded to Walmart, to prepare some snacks for the overnight train to Dali. Man I hate shopping centres and this was was one of the worst!On the overnight soft sleeper to to Dali we had a very comfortable trip and arrived in the early morning full of verve. The train arrives in the new city, so it is another 40min bus trip to the old city which contains much of its city walls and old interior though as it is a UNESCO World Heritage site is one big tourist park. We stayed in a guesthouse just outside of the old city and served 'Internet Coffee' and had a pool
which Anton enjoyed for a midnight swim after a bottle of Vodka. While the other ate breakfast in the hotel I walked down the street I picked my usual breakfast of noodle soup for less than a third of the price. Then we walked into the old town a picked up our bicycles and cycled through the old town before heading in the direction of Erhai Lake, though the rice fields. We had joined with another group so now there were about 20 of us. Our group was lazier so we spent most of our time at the back particularly as one of the group had sore hips and struggled for much of the way. As we got close to the shore of the lake we entered another village with small cobbled street and through my lack of attention lost the rest of the group ahead of us. So a small group of us missed the opportunity to visit a locals home, who wasn't home at the time anyway. We were told to head to the pier and 15 minutes later the rest of the group appeared. By this stage I was already starting to feel like one of the rat pack and was taking every opportunity to make some space for myself.
After reconvening we all got on the boat to the other side of the lake were we would continue cycling through some more old villages before eating lunch and having some
free time. The whole region is very picturesque as a large mountain range descends onto the lake and much of the old regional architecture and dress remain intact. The Chinese government is also taking efforts to protect the environment by charging a protection tax for everyone that boards a boat on the lake and fishing is only permitted for six months of the year leaving the boats lonely and unattended on the shore. Lunch was the usual good feed and afterward we spent an hour walking through the streets. Upon peeping through one of the doors, I saw a whole load of a suspicious green plants with five pointy leaves, commonly found in Amsterdam. As I would find out later the is a substantial industry in Dali.Walking through some of the smaller passages an old lady was just leaving her house when she saw us. She then turned around locked the second lock on her door before walking away. I guess that would be normal if you see a hoard of tourists from
foreign lands coming at you. At one point I managed to lose the crowd and ended up being the last one back on the boat. The return trip was fateful. We were meant to dock in a village far north of Dali and then cycle back, but the low water level and growth of weeds meant we were unable to get to the shore, so we continued to the next point were we also could not moor. Finally we docked were we left from but were now a few hours behind schedule, by which stage some were not in the mood to ride back, so they hailed a bus from the main road while the group cycle back. Not easy or pleasurable with the strong headwind and a moderate incline at the which broke the hearts of some who walked it. But we all made it, took photos of the Three Pagoda from the outside to avoid the fee and returned our bikes to the store. We where then left to ourselves for dinner and some drinks in the nightclub district, where local singers performed for the non-existant crowd.The group had settled in by this stage and everyone was getting along nicely, and I was becoming lazier by the day. The following day I was interested in getting away on my own, and planned to head to a small village north of Dali as it was said that a small festival was going on. However two others decided to join me and after walking to the wrong gate because I got my North-S-E-W confused hailed a bus from the side of the road and travelled to Xizhou. Arriving on the edge of town we were greeted by Ponies with cart offering lifts and other city chaos. We walked into the town which was ripe with activity, though I could never really make out a festival. Walking down one of the market streets, we passed a small hairdresser and with time on my hands decided to have an impromptu haircut. Indicating to the old man waiting in the shop that I wanted a haircut he called to someone outback. Out came a middle aged lady with short hair whom I guess has recently migrated from Vietnam. Friendly she was not, but certainly willing to rip me off. We negotiated and with the help of the German, Tobias managed to negotiate a price. However never let a nearly bald man negotiate for you, for somewhere along the way the hairdresser had got the idea that I wanted my hair short like him. So I could only look on as watched my hair disappear at an alarming rate with inconsistent quality of hairdressing technique. It was too late to pull out as she continued to cut, and shave and cut, and shave until I was left with about 3mm of hair left on my head. Not what I wanted, but if I wanted a real haircut, I should
have gone to a real hairdresser! Left left on good terms and with hair freshly cut and washed we proceeded through the market street. At the end of the street we came to a small square with lots of stalls with food to eat and locals dressed in traditional clothing. I order some noodle with the deft use of my fingers while those with me looked on with skepticism. To old ladies on the same table started smiling and talking about us and eventually for reasons I cannot remember she pulled out her pension card with a photo and age. we found this quite charming so I pulled out my drivers license and showed it to them which they found amusing. And so we communicated a bit, with the help of Tobias, our personal translator. I asked if I could have a photo but they refused. they will live on in my memory though. It was reaching the end of the day so we headed back and like usual the bus found us rather than us it and so we were back in Dali in a flash.
We ate dinner as a group again expertly ordered by our fearless leader Anton. Marga and Nelleke who had spent the previous days in Lijang joined us halfway through and we had drinks together back at the hotel with the tour guides and others from the group. At the end of the evening we parted again vowing to meet up again at some stage. In the same way I will meet up with you, my beloved readers again.
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