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Published: August 27th 2009
Day 412: Sunday 16th August - Intimidated by China
I’ve done numerous border crossings on this trip but none have intimidated me as much since the first one in Mexico City’s airport on day one than the one today into China. I don’t know why this is, whether it is irrational or maybe the fear of the unknown. I pack my bags for the trip into China ensuring that my Chinese guidebook is deeply buried in my main rucksack. I’ve read stories that Chinese border guards will confiscate guidebooks as they show Taiwan to be a separate country from China. I catch a minibus down to Lao Cai on the border and over 1000 metres below Sapa.
Descending the valley, the bus passes rice terraces clinging to the steep mountains, my last glimpse of the stunning scenery of northern Vietnam.
In Lao Cai, I must locate a restaurant where my passport has been sent to. I soon find the restaurant and I am reunited with my passport complete with a Chinese visa - my travel agent was a man I could trust. I jump on to the back of a motorbike and get it to take me the two
kilometres to the border. I am met off the bike by a couple of Vietnamese money changers. I have a small amount of Dong left (about 4 pounds worth) and don’t want to chance the fact that I may not be able to change it in China. I’m offered a terrible rate which I manage to improve somewhat through negotiation but the deal is still weighted favourably to the money changer. At the rate we agree it works out that he has to give me 49.7 Yuan, so I say 50 which he agrees reluctantly to. He counts the money out and hands it to me to check and I count only 49 Yuan. Not only has he screwed me on the rate, he now is trying to cheat me in the exchange. It may be only be the equivalent of 10 pence but I’m not letting him win and I make him hand me another 1 Yuan note. My last encounter with the Vietnamese is another one which typifies their greed.
The border crossing on the Vietnam side is straightforward and I am soon leaving the immigration building and walking across a bridge which separates Vietnam and China.
The Chinese immigration building is straight ahead, but my confident walk up the steps betrays an apprehension inside. I am handed a couple of forms to fill in, and then I join a queue as the only westerner. Before reaching the immigration counter to get my stamp of approval an official works his way down the line with a hand held laser gun. I’m a bit nervous as he points it towards my forehead, unsure what this is for. I can’t ask as he won’t understand but I do spot that my reading is 28. I guess that my temperature has just been taken to see if I have swine flu but I’ll never know, maybe it was an IQ check!?! The first of many strange things in China I’m sure. The official at the immigration desk takes an age to stamp my passport and so allow me to enter China. He studies closely the contents of my passport, the countries I’ve been to in particular before granting me access.
As I walk to the exit of the immigration building I get my first experience of why I believe China is the ultimate challenge to a traveller. There are
two roads leading from the immigration building into the centre of Hekou, the border town I now find myself in. Which one do I take? I need to locate the bus station and unable to speak a word of Mandarin and doubting whether anyone will understand English I’m on my own. I get lucky, I take the left one and 200 metres up the street on the left-hand side I find the bus station. I get a further stroke of good fortune at the bus station. The bus to Kunming leaves in 10 minutes but even better, I am offered a share taxi all the way to Kunming for the same price. Despite my reservations on the taxi (too good a deal to be true) I decide to take it over the bus. My reservations on the taxi are soon overturned as I chat to the Nigerian guy I’m sharing the taxi with. He has paid 300 Yuan for the taxi to take him half way to Kunming where he hopes to catch a bus to Xishuangbanna and on to Laos as he needs to do a border run in a hurry to renew his Chinese visa. With the taxi
already effectively paid for and heading to Kunming anyway I am a bonus fare.
My first hour driving through China is not what I expected. In a country of 1.3 billion people I expected to find a busy, crowded country, bustling with people. Instead, driving through southern Yunnan the roads are empty and the mountainous countryside stretches out in front of the car as far as the eye can see. The frequent road signs warning cars to keep a distance of 200 metres in front of them are unnecessary. In an hour of driving until I nod off we pass 3 other cars on the dual carriageway. I wake when two Chinese passengers join me in the back seat, some more bonus fares for the taxi driver. They aren’t in the car for long and as we get to the first city in Yunnan they get out and I can reclaim the back seat as my own. An hour further into the journey and the Nigerian guy is dropped off at the bus station in Jianshui and I have the rest of the 7 hour journey to Kunming on my own.
Kunming is the capital of Yunnan province,
a city of over 3 million, and before travelling one I hadn’t heard of. Yunnan is one of China’s 32 provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions. As I travel through a number of these, think of each as a country. Yunnan has a population of 45 million people and is 50% larger than the UK. It is only the 12th most populous province and the 8th largest. This trivia starts to paint a picture of the scale of China, it boasts megacities that are virtually unknown outside its borders, is the third largest country on the planet as well as the most populated.
My journey to Kunming has already opened my eyes to a few of the contrasts which is modern day China. On the 400 kilometre journey to Kunming we’ve been passed by top of the range cars and passed tractors with uncovered engines on the front only a few versions removed from those in Laos. We’ve driven through some beautiful, empty countryside and then been confronted by gridlock as we tried to make our way into and through central Kunming. Speaking of traffic after inching our way through Kunming the driver has had enough and stops the
car just off the main thoroughfare through the city. He rings the guy in Hekou who set up the taxi ride who explains that the driver can’t find my hostel. Can’t be bothered yes, can’t find no. He hasn’t even tried. My hostel is in the main square in the city. If he knows Kunming he will be able to find my hostel or just drop me in the square. I don’t argue. One because I decide that my progress on foot can’t be any slower and two because I’ve done alright as I’ve arrived three hours earlier than I would on the bus.
Still, I’m stood in the middle of my first Chinese city of any size without any idea where I am or where my hostel lies. This feeling of not knowing what is going on or not being in control is one that I soon discover is a fairly common one whilst travelling in China. It’s almost like being in a parallel world whilst Chinese life goes on around you at 100mph whilst you just look on overawed trying to work out what you need to know to continue your journey. I walk a few streets
next to where I’ve been dropped off to work out exactly where I am but I’m struggling so I’m going to need help. I walk into a mid-range hotel in the hope that one of the staff will be able to speak English and come to my aid. Not for the first time today, I get lucky and the boy on the check-in pulls out a map and points out where I need to go. He tells me it is a long way, but checking my rough location with the map in my guidebook I decide it is walk-able. 30 minutes later and I’m at the hostel.
Travelling in a country where it is so difficult to engage with and speak to the local people because of language difficulties, choice of hostel is going to be key. I get my first choice spot-on. Hump hostel is a) a sociable place b) in a great location c) the dorms are very comfortable d) the staff are very helpful and friendly. I go out for dinner with one of my room-mates, Jonathan. The challenge of my first day in China is over and I can now relax.
Day 413: Monday
17th August - The Stone Forest
Kunming lying in the centre of Yunnan province was mainly a stop off to break the journey between the Vietnamese border and the northwest of the province which is where I’m heading. It has a spring-like climate lying at an elevation of 1900 metres and just above the Tropic of Cancer. For the first time in 7 months I’m out of the tropics, and it is nice not to be covered in sweat after 10 minutes. There isn’t too much that I’m bothered to see in Kunming although by Chinese standards it is supposed to be an attractive city. I book a bus ticket through the hostel to go to Lijiang this evening on the night bus which gives me the day to kill. The only place that really interests me in and around Kunming is Shilin or the Stone Forest which lies over 100 kilometres to the southeast of Kunming, a 3 hour bus journey away. Jonathan said he was interested in coming with me last night but he is fast asleep when I need to leave so I go alone.
The bus station is a half hour walk away and
it is mid morning by the time I reach it. With 6 hours of travelling involved today I don’t have too much time even though my bus tonight isn’t until 9pm. When I arrive at the bus station I don’t really know what is going on, but a couple of helpful Chinese people who can speak English point my in the direction of the ticket office. My first experience of buying a bus ticket myself is relatively painless although the ticket office is bedlam and despite the fact I have to wait an hour for the bus. As I wait for the bus I befriend a Chinese girl from Chengdu who is travelling through Yunnan for a few weeks. Dan is a student and can speak good English and I stick close by her to make things easy.
When we arrive at the Stone Forest it is lunchtime and I haven’t eaten but Dan invites me to join her and three Chinese boys she’s met on the bus on a guided tour of Stone Forest. The tour is conducted in Chinese and lasts two and a half hours but Dan is on hand to translate the important pieces of
information and the tour ensures that I see the main highlights and don’t get lost. Shilin is a massive collection of grey limestone pillars eroded by wind and rain which reach up to 30 metres in height. The pillars remind me very much of The Pinnacles in Malaysian Borneo in appearance. There may be more pillars here in the park in Yunnan but the attraction is spoilt to an extent because it is heaving with Chinese tourists. A pleasant day trip but it certainly isn’t worth the steep 140 Yuan (£12 entrance fee).
China’s increasing wealth has fuelled an increase in a middle-class who can afford to take holidays. This is almost the first time I can recall in 14 months of travelling where I have visited a tourist attraction and the foreign tourists been outnumbered by domestic tourists. This is also my first real experience of Chinese tourists. Whether they’re as inconsiderate as their Japanese counterparts I’m not yet in a position to judge, but their effect, simply a factor of their sheer numbers is greater. I find this same detrimental effect to my own experience a few days later in Lijiang. However, it is me who is
the guest in their country and it is me who will have to like it or lump it.
After the guide has led us through the park to some of the more popular sights for a couple of hours we get a tea demonstration. The English may be famous for their drinking of tea but I think I’m right in saying that it was the Chinese who first started drinking tea. A woman dressed in the local minority attire talks us through various teas in Mandarin but I sit in because we get to taste them all after she’s finished speaking. I also manage to spill the contents of one of the cartons of tea all over the floor!
We finish in the park at about 4pm, which is ideal for me as I need to get back to Kunming for my night bus. When we get to the bus station we are told that the next bus may not leave for another hour or until it is full. Thankfully it fills within minutes otherwise I would have been pushed for time. Poor Dan has even less time than me as she has a flight at 7:30pm and
as the bus gets stuck in traffic in the centre of Kunming she has to jump out and make a run for it. It’s a shame in a way as I never got the chance to say thank you. She may not know it but she helped me immensely on my first full day in China and with her being able to speak Mandarin and English made my day much easier than it would have been otherwise.
On arrival back in Kunming I have just enough time to walk back to the hostel, grab a bite to eat, pick by backpack up and then catch a taxi back down to the long-distance bus station which is near where I was dropped off just two hours earlier. Getting a taxi in China is a much more straightforward and therefore pleasurable experience than it was in Southeast Asia. You don’t have to ask them to use the meter, they do it automatically and there’s nothing in the back of your mind making you think you’re about to be ripped off.
My experience with Dan, with the staff of the hostel and even the guy I met in the bus station
in Hekou who set me up with a share taxi have all helped to create a very positive first impression of the Chinese. In the main it is very difficult to approach the Chinese due to my inability to speak the language but when you find those that can speak English they have all been so kind and helpful. The only truly negative experience in my first two days in China is at the bus station in Kunming. A guy who I presume hawks the bus stations rather than is an employee of the bus company approaches me on the bus and demands a charge for excess luggage. The price and the boundaries on the excess luggage keep changing so I know he is trying to cheat me out of money. He’s also just tried it on when ‘he helped’ me buy a bottle of water from a stall in the bus station, telling me the price was double the fair amount and the amount I paid. However, I can’t shake this idiot off and he’s getting more and more verbally aggressive telling me he will take me to the police station if I don’t pay. In the end I
reluctantly give him 25 Yuan (2 pounds). The cheat still comes back for more and after I warn some English girls, he tells me to get off the bus as he is upgrading me to a better one. I tell him I am staying put in the most uncomfortable bed at the back of the bus he has put me on. What I really want to do is punch the cheat but that will cost me my visa and chance to travel China. Despite my rage, I put it down to an isolated incident....after two days in China so far, so good.
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anonymous
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