Into the Middle Kingdom

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To exit Vietnam we had to return to Lao Cai for the border crossing there, and I was glad to leave. My overall impression of Vietnam was overwhelmingly negative, with too many interactions with people that were designed to rip me off or get money out of me, a generally poor infrastructure (with Internet access being uniformly hopeless throughout the country), and almost nothing in the way of compensating attractions. I can't think of one reason why I would ever return there, which makes Vietnam unique among the countries I've visited in my life.

In China, we were given assistance from the moment we appeared in the immigration building in Hekou, being shown which forms to fill in and where to queue. It took a while for all the admin to be done, and then I was left with the formality of passing my rucksack through an X-ray machine. The guy asked if I had any books, so I produced my various bits of reading material and, as an afterthought that almost proved fatal, my RG to China. He immediately pounced on this, looked through it, and announced that because it didn't include a section on Taiwan, it was implying that Taiwan wasn't part of China, which was "wrong", and hence he'd have to confiscate it. Having never heard about such a possibility, and feeling sure that thousands of tourists must bring the RG into China every year, I made the argument that the book was simply for mainland China, and it was a non-political guidebook that I'd be lost without. He considered this for several minutes, then reluctantly waved me through.

When LA Woman came through immigration, I explained to her what had happened. It was a mistake to hang around there, as seconds later the guy appeared again, this time brandishing his own copy of the RG - presumably from his library of forbidden publications. We had exactly the same discussion, fortunately with the same ending, but this time we beetled out of the building and into the streets of Hekou before he could reconsider again.

After tracking down an ATM and obtaining some yuan, we headed to the bus station and discovered that the last buses to our first (Yuanyang) and second (Gejiu) choices of destination had both gone (though it was only 2PM). A town called Mengzi, about which neither of us had any info, seemed the only likely compromise so we bought tickets (with, intriguingly, a small insurance charge added on to the listed price of the ticket) and hopped on. It never got more than about half full, but we were introduced to the oft-mentioned Chinese pastimes of smoking inside buses and spitting outside of them.

Arriving in Mengzi at 7PM, with many stares as though foreigners rarely came this way and with no timetables in the bus station containing the Chinese characters for Yuanyang or Gejiu, I suspected we'd have to overnight there and was steeling myself for a hotel hunt when a woman approached and asked if she could help. She was studying English at the local university and not only figured out for us that we needed a different bus station in order to get to Gejiu, but came with us in a cab to this bus station in order to ensure we got on the bus, then refused the taxi fare back to where we'd originally met her. I was amazed at this level of helpfulness, having not experienced it for a couple of months. The ride to the bus station showed that Mengzi - a town meriting no mention in the RG and only a passing one in LA Woman's guidebook - was in fact a large, modern, bustling city with more than a hint of affluence.

The short journey to Gejiu was mainly on a 4-lane expressway, and the approach to the city centre revealed that it too was no bumpkin location, with malls, boutiques, and neon lights much in evidence. It was more like how I was imagining Shanghai or Beijing rather than a provincial city in Yunnan. At our hotel of choice, the reception staff spoke no English but 2 girls who were there as guests kindly helped us out - the second such boon in less than a day. Unfortunately we'd arrived in town rather later than most restaurants were still serving, and we ended up in a backstreet place with a menu in Chinese. Though the RG has an extensive section mapping the Chinese characters for certain dishes to their English equivalents, it's a tedious process searching that entire section for each item on a menu. LA Woman said she was vegetarian, and ended up being served just about every vegetarian option on the menu (which would have fed about 5 people), whereas I wasn't feeling adventurous (or particularly hungry) and had nothing.

So my first impressions of China are generally positive. Though China is often lumped in with India as the 2 most significant emerging economies in the world today, China so far seems streets ahead with regard to infrastructure. In fact it looks better than even Thailand. The general lack of English speakers seems surprising given that this is one of the commoner tourist routes in China - even in the backwaters of Laos, people knew words like "bus station". But I think my biggest surprise has been people's helpfulness, which frankly is not one of the first things travellers usually mention when they are listing out good points about China.

Dull but possibly useful info
Getting there: Last bus from Hekou to Gejiu is at 1:30PM. Alternatively take a bus to Mengzi (many through the day - we took the 2:30PM), costing 32 yuan and taking about 4.5 hours, then take a taxi to the new bus station and catch a bus to Gejiu (buses run until at least 7:30PM), costing 10 yuan and taking about 50 minutes.
Stayed at: Don't know the name! Find the Hong He hotel near the south end of Jinh Xi Lu, go down the alley opposite, and it's just down the first alley on the right. Cost 60 yuan for a twin room with Asian loo. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. Remember that China is 1 hour ahead of Vietnam.
ii. Remember that displayed bus ticket prices often don't include the 1 yuan insurance (to protect the government from lawsuits rather than to compensate you in the event of an accident).
iii. If coming from Vietnam, try to get rid of your Vietnamese dong in Vietnam. We couldn't find a bank, even in Hekou, willing to change ours.
iv. Hide your guidebook when crossing the border!
v. The only buses from Hekou to Yuanyang leave at 6:30AM and 9:50AM.

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Photos

Ditch toilet
Copyright LA Woman 2007