December 2015 – Page 2 – three pairs of pants

22 December 201526 January 2018

Day 99 (Tue 22 Dec): Kunming (Yuantong temple, Green Lake Park)

Why aren’t there many tourists in China? Two reasons, I reckon: firstly, because hardly anyone speaks English, the international language, so it’s difficult to communicate; and secondly because the Chinese powers-that-be have made it so darn difficult to obtain/extend a visa. To get a visa, I had to produce: proof of transit into and out of the country, proof of funds, completed application form and a hotel reservation (and passport, obviously). Compare this to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam who issue visas on arrival (I knew that I’d stay more than 15 days in Vietnam so applied online for a ninety-day visa and just collected it from their embassy in London a few days later). With these countries so close to China, it’s not surprising that most people don’t bother jumping through the hoops. Rudy wanted to extend his stay for another 30 days so duly jumped through said hoops… And was then told to come back to the embassy in seven working days. If someone only has a thirty-day visa, do they really think they’ll hang around one place for nine days? Come on, China, think about it. Mind you, perhaps I should keep quiet because the lack of westerners is often a blessing.

After his wasted morning, Rudy and I hit town:

Stopping a sweet potato vendor for breakfast, we pointed at two large spuds that in Jianshui would have cost about 10 yuan. He signalled 25 yuan. We laughed and walked away… then back to the jacket potato vendor opposite him and duly bought two for 10 yuan. We shrugged at his gesticulations. That’ll teach him to try to screw the tourists 😉

Walking through the city:

… I tried to articulate what made it so fantastically different to London: wide roads, buildings not so high or old, much less variety in building style with most being of the modern, metal persuasion. And it was sunny 😉

Yuantong temple is the largest in the city:

… and proudly displayed this accolade:

Monks were out in force, with many worshippers both inside and out:

It appeared to be a Buddhist shrine, but a very different style, posture and decoration than that I’ve seen before:

And they don’t take their shoes off when they enter a temple. Whilst taking off my laced shoes got a bit of a hassle, I quite liked the gesture and it seemed odd not to do it here.

The locals seemed to be enjoying the sunshine, too:

Bakeries were few and far between in SE Asia, mainly being found where the ex-pats congregated. China has them in abundance, which is both good (I’m rather partial to a currant bun or two) and bad (I’m rather partial to a currant bun or two). English translation were welcome, although this one worried me slightly:

Green Lake Park is a social hub of the city, with communal dance sessions:

Live music:

But all a bit too circus-like to be relaxing. For instance, near the entrance we saw people holding bread in one hand and smiling inanely at a bunch of cameras pointing at them. Various people were making squawking noises. Turns out that one of the “things to do” in the park is get a photo with one of the seagulls taking food out of your hand. No idea, sorry, don’t ask me, I’m just telling you what I saw, not explaining it.

Candy floss as art:

But we’re still the main attraction. It took me a little while to work out that he didn’t want me to take a picture of him, wife and child, but that he wanted his wife to take a picture of him and child with Rudy and me. Sorry, I’m just not cut out for the limelight.

21 December 201526 January 2018

Week 14: Travellers’ tales

Not much this week, but a note from SE Asia that I forgot about. Can’t verify yet whether it applies to China.

Backpack sizes

Someone’s worked out that the higher the number, the more they’re worth. What they haven’t figured out is that it’s related to the size. So you get small day packs with labels saying “65”. Useful when assessing whether it’s genuine or not, though 🙂

21 December 201526 January 2018

Day 98 (Mon 21 Dec): Pugaolao to Kunming

Up early to catch the sunrise:

… and the mini van to Xinjie, with the front passenger smoking a cigarette. China, this is not progressive. Please re-think. Thank you.

Asians might be able to handle their chili, but they have weak stomachs: travel sickness is more common than not and most buses have strategically-placed bins and bags. It doesn’t help that they eat lots at the beginning of the journey, so it’s not surprising that they spend most of the remaining time being sick.

Just outside the town, the driver stopped and dragged four bags of rubble to the rough bit of road in front where he emptied them:

I think it was so that the front spoiler didn’t get damaged. Never seen that before.

Another unexpected difference was that we didn’t stop for lunch proper, just two toilet stops with a snack shop. But Rudy found a little stall selling spicy potatoes that went down very well indeed:

But the lack of lunch was more than made up for by the scenery:

Unlike Laos, here they have money so the roads cut into the mountainside used wire and concrete to hold back the earth. Like the Twyford bypass. Except completely different, of course.

And finally to Kunming and the signs of prosperity: traffic jams and high rise buildings.

The metro into the centre was clean, fast, efficient and cheap.

I had a flashback to the Dubai metro and it suddenly dawned on me how far I’ve travelled and how long I’ve been away.

20 December 201526 January 2018

Day 97 (Sun 20 Dec): Pugaolao (rice terraces)

The rice terraces of Yuangyang are considered one of the top twenty sights in China. For good reason.

Sunrise started the day, as it is wont to do:

And with the sunrise came buffalo up the steps beside the hostel:

Four main viewpoints round a big loop could be visited by taking local buses between them. We were only there for one day, so decided to do it properly and hired a mini van for the day. Great decision.

Our driver took us to places other tourists don’t reach. Our first stop was a local village:

Complete with communal pool table:

And friendly local people:

To a view of the rice terraces beyond:

… And the mist:

Three minutes later, it looked like this:

Mist moves around this place quickly:

On the way back, Rudy took a photo of a little boy who clearly loved the limelight and proceeded to dance around us, showing off for the camera:

And, unexpectedly, their communal toilets were the best I’ve used in China so far, with a constant flush courtesy of the diverted river. I tried not to think of the rice terraces downstream :/

Whereas the women are generally cool with having their photo taken, the men don’t seem to like it:

But we were as much of a novelty to them as they were to us.

Driving back to the hostel for lunch, I noticed that many of the construction workers were female. Division of work seems to be much more equal here.

Then on to another place to see the rice terraces:

There are many valleys, with terraces flowing down the mountainside, spotted with villages. This one has a corn seller who was drying the corn:

At the next stop, a young girl ran over to Rudy as we got out of the van and stuck a boiled egg into his open pocket. When he smiled his friendly smile, and asked how much it was, another went in. As he was getting some money, a third followed. He took it out and tried to give it back to her, but she was a little businesswoman:

We were making unplanned stops in addition to the itinerary the chap at the hostel had put together, seeing the real side of life. Emerging from another stop, we realised we were just 100m from the official entrance of one of the four viewpoints: not only were we getting the real deal, he was saving us £10pp in entrance fees. What a star. And there was no rush: he’d take some photos (he liked Rudy’s camera so Rudy kindly let him play with it a few times)…

… and then would hang around until we were ready to leave. We stayed ages at the last site, and when we finally got back to the van (he hadn’t walked with us this time), he checked we were ready to leave and off we went. And he was a really good driver, too. We’d decided to tip him nicely, and when we handed over the agreed fee plus the extra, he tried to give his tip back to us! I love the Chinese – they’re so genuine, friendly and kind. I wonder if the lack of western tourists means that these traits haven’t been hidden by the lure of the tourist dollar.

An amazing day, nicely finished off by these lovelies…:

… and sunset:

19 December 201526 January 2018

Day 96 (Sat 19 Dec): Jianshui to Pugaolao

Sorry, China – you do many, many things right but your toilets are very, very wrong. There was a morning’s worth of poo in the channel this time.

I don’t understand – why don’t you just flush, for Confucius’ sake? And why do you poo in front of everyone else? The second toilet was more basic and had a bucket and vat of water:

But i can confirm that nobody had flushed for a while. Why, why, why?! And still everyone did their business in semi-public. Why, why, why?! Where is your dignity, China? Even the back yard toilets in Cambodia were private and flushable, albeit in a metal shack with a bucket flush.

Smoking on the bus is another surprisingly unprogressive trait, and another way in which Laos isn’t as “behind” as people say (including some Laotians). I was sat at the front of the bus when we arrived at the final stop. I made it clear I wanted to get off but didn’t push into the queue. Nobody let me in. Rude? Only by European norms (even the busiest trains in the UK empty front to back, with people letting those in front of them out first). Here, it’s the norm. And I realised people were probably wondering why I wasn’t getting off the bus! Everything had to be taken in context.

It was cold. It was freezin-beezin*. It was so cold the bunk beds in the dorm we stayed in had electric blankets. Yes, that cold. But the views from the bus had given a taste of what was to come, so we knew it’d be worth it:

And, finally, a mention about the bars under the tables. At first I thought it was structural, but now I’ve realised it’s specially for me. So i can’t get my legs under the table 😉

* For those who don’t know (which is pretty much everybody), this is my term for very, very, very cold. There’s freezing and there’s freezin-beezin. It was freezin-beezin.

18 December 201526 January 2018

Day 95 (Fri 18 Dec): Jianshui (Swallows’ Cave)

Yunnan’s “Swallow Cave” is impressive:

During the spring and summer, thousands of birds make it their home (hence the name), but as it’s winter they weren’t in residence. At 8.3 million years old, it’s magnificent in its own right:

And didn’t really need the coloured lights and flowery descriptions (one area was called “A dream-like world”):

… nor the tourist trappings (it was “the main area in the swallow cave for sightseeing, shopping and taking a rest”; I’m not sure shopping was on the Creator’s agenda, but maybe it’s me who’s got this all wrong). Nevermind, with only half a dozen people, it was easy to ignore the out-of-season circus and wonder at the stalagmites:

… and stalagtites:

Then we joined the civilisation line up:

… for the Dragon boat back to the entrance:

The toilet situation is deteriorating. Whoever went before me needs to get themselves to a doctor. No really. And, halfway through, I suddenly panicked about splashback. Ugh!

But noodle soup at a little local cafe was the best of my trip so far – it’s wonderful how these unexpected pleasures jump up to surprise you when you’re least expecting it 🙂

Local bus back to town (where trumpets were not allowed):

Past fields of spring onions:

And our third steam pot of our three-night stay. I could get used to this 🙂

Other random stuff from today:

I like trying new things. Unfortunately, you have to expect a few epic fails between the pleasant surprises. This mixture was something between a yoghurt and one of those probiotic things. It looked like it would taste foul. It met this expectation:

Beautiful carvings:

Cars are a reminder that we’re not in a third-world country anymore:

17 December 201526 January 2018

Day 94 (Thu 17 Dec): Jianshui (Confucius’ Temple, Zhu’s Garden)

Chinese tourists are rude, thoughtless and ignorant. My conclusion after four days in China is that they are in no way indicative of the general population who have consistently been exceptionally kind and friendly. It was dark when we arrived in Jianshui last night. A young couple from the bus were stood waiting for us when we got off. We showed her the address of our hotel (I stupidly hadn’t taken a screenshot of the map) and were gently bundled into the car that had come to pick them up. Couldn’t find the hotel. They called the hotel, pulled up near the pedestrian area, then got out and walked us all the way to reception. We were so incredibly touched by their kindness.

And these aren’t isolated incidents – they’re happening regularly and frequently. Today, Rudy had a problem with both his bank cards meaning that he couldn’t get any cash. He needed to call home so we went on search of a SIM card. Unavailable at the first place we tried, the lady walked us ten minutes through the city and explained our requirement to the sales assistant. We gasped: £150 for an international SIM card. And started discussing our options, gesturing to the lady that this was far too expensive as we just needed to make a call. She held her own phone out to Rudy. He explained that he needed to call Belgium, an international call. She nodded and pushed it further towards him. We didn’t move for a moment. Then Rudy took it and showed her the number he was about to dial. She nodded again and gestured encouragement. Rudy made two calls to his bank and sorted his problem. We thanked her profusely, but she just smiled, said “You’re welcome” and disappeared on to the street. Above and beyond the call of duty, by any standards. Another wonderful RAOK. And another amazing welcome to their country. Thank you, China 🙂

We’d breakfasted at a local place and weren’t charged tourist prices (we’re definitely off the tourist trail here), which made us feel surprisingly good.

Then off to the Confucius Temple.

Originally built in 1285, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as the educational and cultural centre of Yunnan, over the last 700 years it’s been expanded and repaired at least fifty times and now covers 76,000 sqm:

The “Dismount archway” (there was a rule that you had to get off your horse) was originally built of wood but destroyed in the war (1647) and rebuilt in stone (1764):

Instructive inscriptions on everything from medicine to political affairs are housed here:

Confucius’ shrine was a similar style to the Buddhist ones so far, with a statue of him seated on an elevated platform, but was less ornate with distinctly less gold spray:

It was also home to two beautiful birds (well, probably more than two, but these are the ones I photographed):

And even the bins were getting into the spirit of things:

Sweet potato for lunch. Just a baked, naked sweet potato. Nom, nom. She was doing a storming trade with her goods sold by weight – you picked one dependent on how hungry you were and then paid for what you had. No trying to source potatoes of similar size, nor customers always wanting the biggest one for the set price. Very good idea.

And it was much better than the tasteless barbecued fare, which seems so popular here:

Back on the street:

… It was cold. Really cold, especially after the warm climes of Laos. Hat. Gloves. “Jingle bells” in Chinese. And then Zhu’s Garden.

It started with a lovely welcome as their “swimming guests”:

The residence and ancestral hall of Zhu Chaoying (1871-1927), it covers over 20,000 sqm, consisting of 42 courtyards and 214 rooms arranged in a crisscross pattern:

Best bit was the “Water stage” whose splayed proscenium extended to the pool which served as amplification and fire prevention:

Very neat.

A pretty house within the grounds:

But, once again, toilets with no doors or water.

Back outside I spotted a new building and noticed that it also had the ornamental quiffs so typical of Chinese architecture (so far, anyway):

At the bus station, there were barriers, presumably to stop queue jumping – rarely seen in England.

Serious communication problems. Nobody speaks any English and I didn’t learn any Chinese before I came. Downloaded another app as Douglas Adams’ “babel fish” hadn’t yet been invented.

Later we went in search of dinner… And realised that the steam pot we’d fortuitously found yesterday was, in fact, the only cuisine available. But it was really good. So we chose another place and feasted:

A great end to a great day 🙂

16 December 201526 January 2018

Day 93 (Wed 16 Dec): Jinghong to Jianshui

I turned the corner into the ladies’ toilet. And was presented with an old lady, squatting side on, with a poo coming out of her bum. I froze. Then pretended it was completely normal and went to find my own doorless cubicle over a single channel running the width of the room. There was no flush. No wonder Chinese toilets stink. Not just an unpleasant aroma, but a choke-inducing, breath-holding stench. But why, China? You’re so much more advanced than the SE Asian countries but don’t have flushing toilets. Everywhere in SE Asia had flushing toilets, even if it was with a bucket.

It was one of about a dozen stops on our journey from Jinghong to Jianshui. We’d got ourselves comfortable at the back of the sleeper bus (although we were travelling during the day), reorganizing the blankets, draping our not-quite-dry laundry over whatever we could find and generally making ourselves at home for the ten-hour trip. We’d only been on the road twenty minutes when we stopped for the first of many checkpoints. Not just a “tick in the box” drive-through jobby, but a spot-check luggage inspection. Twice we were required to show our passports and our visas were inspected. First time, all passengers had to show ID, and she clearly took it very seriously indeed. But once she had inspected our passports and asked us various questions (“Where do you come from?” “Where are you going?” etc), she was very friendly. It was only once she’d gone that I realised my pants had been hanging right there in front of us, like a fourth party in the conversation.

The second time, of the whole bus, only the three tourists were targeted. It didn’t make us feel welcome, but I think it was just because he found our documents more interesting than theirs. Again, once he’d done his job, he was very friendly.

And, rather disconcertingly, one of passengers couldn’t take his eyes off us. It was like we were a beautiful lady that he just couldn’t resist looking at. Eventually, we started waving at him each time he glanced our way. He’d look embarrassed, pretend he wasn’t looking… And less than a minute later his eyes would be back on us. It was either a fascination with westerners… or a crush on Rudy 😉

Our day had started early, up to watch the school run:

Pavements were a hive of activity as children and adults got their noodle soup before school:

And then suddenly they’re gone:

Children were making their way to school unsupervised at a much younger age than back home. Is it safer here? I don’t think so. But the Asians seem to have a much braver approach to child independence.

Noodle soup for our breakfast – quick, nutritious and customisable:

Rudy reached for the salt, turned the cellar upside-down and shook. Nothing. He shook harder. Nothing. He shook harder. And a single toothpick stuck itself upright in his noodles. Silence. Bursts of laughter.

Dinner in Jianshui was more successful – most places were closed by the time we went out (Asians eat early, by my norms anyway), but we stumbled upon a steam pot restaurant. A flashback to our fondue over the bamboo bridge in Luang Prabang.

Pleased with our luck, we retired happy and full, past this lovely creature:

That one was for you, Sis 🙂

15 December 201526 January 2018

Day 92 (Tue 15 Dec): Jinghong (round town, games park)

Q from back home: “How do you know where you’re going if all the signs are in Chinese?”

A: we don’t.

And as we can’t speak any Chinese, and most Chinese can’t speak any English, it makes getting anywhere “part of the experience”. Or a bl**dy nightmare, depending on my state of mind. And so I downloaded a translation app and we attempted to navigate the streets of Jinghong. After three phases, it got stuck on “fried rice” which isn’t the worst phrase to get stuck on…

… but not entirely helpful when trying to buy bread. We were clearly pointing at the wholemeal loaf on the bottom shelf, but the assistant just kept saying “No” and waving her palms face down. But that’s the one we want – the first non-sweet, proper-looking bread since I left England. Still she wouldn’t sell it to us, instead pointing at the sugary stuff on the shelf above. Noooo, not that one! Eventually, Rudy went to pick it up. “It’s plastic”, he said. What? Nooooo! But it was. We burst out laughing, expecting them to do the same, but all the staff kept a straight face. I hope they had a good giggle at our expense when we’d left.

We’re the main event in town. It seems that tourists don’t come here often and we’re a bit of a novelty. As the main town closest to a border crossing, this surprised me. But not as much as being asked for selfies and given lots of attention – sometimes they literally just stood there and stared at us.

So I wasn’t surprised when they asked me to play. Tables and tables of people playing a card game I didn’t recognise, so I’d stopped to watch to try to work out the rules:

Unfortunately, he just jabbed at the cards I was to put down so by the end of two games I was none the wiser. But apparently spectators from the other tables came over to where I was!

Continuing round the park, another group of tables. Chinese chess. A spectator sport with everyone putting in their two-penny-worth:

Mah-jong was further round, and when they came to the end of their game the mechanical tables took over. Awesome:

Other things we saw included: people wearing their jackets back-to-front on their motorbikes, or with special protectors from the cold:

Umbrellas over bikes:

Bong shops:

A supermarket:

Chocolate bananas (quite good festival food, actually):

Carp:

Suction-cup therapy in the park (the way it was making her skin swell looked gross, but I know nothing about the therapy so won’t comment on its effectiveness):

Toilets that absolutely stank and were missing doors again. I’m still surprised by this, given how much more advanced China is, in so many ways, than the other SE Asian countries I’ve visited.

Another very Asian moment at dinner. When I ordered the chicken, I got the whole bird:

… And I mean, the whole bird:

And over dinner I realised that, with only ten days to go, I have no idea where I’ll be for Christmas. You can’t, and I don’t want to, plan that far ahead when you’re travelling. So for the first time in a long time, Christmas is not planned. Weird and exciting 🙂

14 December 201526 January 2018

Week 13: Travellers’ tales

Planning

I’ve developed a technique for itinerary planning: arrive at a new place, find the travel agents, see what they’re advertising and then do it independently 🙂

Laos

A summary:

Kind, friendly, open people
Hard beds, harder pillows
UXO has a lot to answer for
Chocolate brownies (well, in Luang Prabang, at least)
More advanced than people had led me to believe
I want to come back some time

Wall tiles

Wall tiles are for walls. Putting them on the floor makes things very slippery. Please reconsider.

A Spanish saying

The Spanish guy on the bus to China told me a great response when he’s given an impossible request at work: “I have a deal with Jesus: he doesn’t do marketing, and I don’t do miracles.” Gotta remember that one 🙂