Scaling the Great Firewall of China

We have been in China for over a week now, and have made our way to Dali - a high-altitude, cool, touristy retreat in Southwest China. I think we're somewhere in the foothills of the Himalayas, along the route to Tibet, which is still, I think, a few overnight bus rides away. No, we're not going - we've just got time (and energy) enough to relax for about a week before setting off for Guilin, where I'll attend my teacher orientation and then get shipped out into the hinterlands for my teaching assignment. I also promised Matthias that we wouldn't take any more long bus rides "just to see another Chinese town." He has a point - traveling is not all that comfortable here, and we are lugging a lot of stuff along with us (winter clothes, gifts, etc.) Following is an account of our travels after we learned that we couldn't get a boat from Northern Thailand to China. It's not that the boat doesn't operate anymore, the agent told us that there were just no boats through the end of July - not enough people, she said. And we had to leave Thailand by the end of July or renew our visa.

Matthias on the bus to Chiang Khong

So...from Chiang Rai in Thailand we got the local bus to Chiang Khong (about two hours) and found a place to stay for the night. That was a mistake, actually, since after we booked the room, we found out there was a bus to Meng-la, China leaving early the next morning from Huay Xai, Laos. Huay Xai was just across the river from where we were, but we would have to spend the night there in order to make the bus early the next morning. So, since the bus runs only every other day, making the next available bus two days later, we decided to stay in Chiang Khong an extra night, make our way over to Laos for another night, and then get the bus to China. I don't recommend spending much time in either Chiang Khong or Huay Xai, especially in high summer, as there's not all that much to do. We were able to rent bikes one day in Chiang Khong and took a nice ride along the Mekong, before the intense afternoon heat set in.

Catfish beach on the Mekong

We booked the bus (including 'taxi' to the ferry, ferry to Laos, and transportation to the bus station in Huay Xai) through an agent in Chiang Khong - probably overpaying, but we wanted everything taken care of as the heat was starting to take its toll on our moods. Anyway, we had lots of time, and we ended up paying about half of what the boat up the Mekong would have cost.

Matthias on the bus to China

The bus to Mengla (ordinary, non-air-con bus) left the Huay Xai bus station at 8:30 in the morning, stopped in Luang Namtha for lunch at around noon, and arrived in Meng-la at around 4pm (China time - 1 hour ahead of Laos time.) We had enough time to catch a bus on to Jinghong, where we wanted to spend a few days, but decided to stay in Meng-la overnight. The hotel right at the bus station was quite nice (save for the squat toilet - though it was clean, and part of an otherwise very nice bathroom) and cheap, so we got a room and went out to get some dinner. After what seemed like quite a search, we ended up at a noodle shop right near the hotel, where the hand-pulled noodle soup thrilled Matthias. And when Matthias is happy....

The next morning we got the bus to Jinghong, a town on the Mekong River (we were supposed to get the boat here). The bus ride was smooth, but by the time we walked to the College Hotel (recommended in Lonely Planet), we were dripping with sweat. And the a/c in the room wasn't all that powerful. Actually, we were quite disappointed with the room (I was, until I found the DSL Internet cable.) Jinghong was probably a good (re-) introduction to China, but it was a bit too hot and humid in the afternoons to really enjoy roaming around. So, on our second day, we decided to spend another two nights and then head on to Kunming. After we bought our bus tickets (two days in advance, we happened upon a hotel right next to the bus station - we checked it out and found it to be nice, so we decided to spend the night before we left there, so as to be closer to the bus station. When we checked in the next day, they gave us a two-room suite for 60 RMB (about 10 bucks), with butt-kicking A/C, cable TV (one english channel), water heater, tea, etc. - all but internet.) Had we known it would be so nice, we actually would have hung around a few more days, just to eat more of the delicious noodle soups! For anyone looking for a place to stay in Jinghong, China, it's called the Traffic Hotel, just to the right as you exit the long-distance bus station.

Best noodle soup so far - in Jinghong

We took an early bus to Kunming - it was actually a sleeper bus with beds - as opposed to an overnight bus because, as Matthias rightly pointed out: (1) we can see more during the day, (2) we never get a good night's sleep on a bus, and (3) we don't save that much money by not getting a hotel. The bus was comfortable, but without bathrooms. I haven't found a blog about China yet that hasn't complained about the horrid conditions of public toilets in China, so I won't go into that now. The bus took about 3 hours longer than we expected, and we arrived in Kunming as it was getting dark. Luckily, we happened upon a decent hotel not far from the bus and train station (I'll see if I can find the name.) Very little English spoken, but pointing to the phrases in our Lonely Planet book, along with our handy picture book did the trick at check in.

Sleeper bus to Kunming

Kunming was, as advertised, much cooler than Jinghong, but as a city of 1 million, it wasn't as laid back" as I had hoped. We spent a few days walking around town - looking at stores, parks and markets - and of course trying all the food. I had the best dumplings yet from a food court stall we happened by. Can't wait to have them again when we go back (on the way to Guilin.)

Central Kunming

After a few days of exploring the city, we got the bus to Dali, and we have finally found a place to chill out for a while. It's really touristy here - the "old town" seems to have been torn down and rebuilt to cater to visitors - and the streets are teeming with (mainly Chinese) tourists. That's okay, we'll get enough of the 'real China' once we're living here.

Street in Dali

For now, we'll enjoy our super-comfy, wifi- and BBC-equipped hotel and the quiet and cool surroundings. I even figured out how to access facebook and Picassa (at least for now) so there are new photos which can be accessed by clicking the following links:

July 2009 album (new photos added at the end)

August 2009 album (new)

That's all for now. Better post this while I still can.