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Published: September 15th 2012
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Me my brother (Jeremy) and sister (Virginia) left Kunming on a sleeper bus for Tengchong. For Y200 we had a soft sleeper bed for the journey. I was a bit nervous about the long bus ride but after a sleeping pill i was asleep after an hour and managed to sleep 10 out of the 12 hour journey! ..., despite the cockroaches running around above me. We arrived at Tengchong about 8am and made our way to the Tengchong International Youth Hostel which we had read good things about. We wernet dissapointed as it ticked all the boxes; cheap, clean, good location, and good source of local info. As we only had a day in Tengching we didnt muck around and hired some bikes and set off to explor the area. First stop was the "Anti-Japanese War Memorial" Yip that is actually what it was named. Clearly the feelings still run deep between the 2 nations as evidenced by the recent activity and subsequent protests over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Next stop was the historic town of Heshun. Like many tourist areas the chinese government try and enforce an entrance fee (fckn cheeky really) - for this town
it was Y80. Not much in $NZD but regardless out of principle mainly we took the hostel advice and rode our bikes through a back entrance to the town hence missing the check point and paying the fee. This also allowed us to explore a different section of the village. It has cobbled streets and old buildings with a small lake in the centre the locals were swimming in. We had a good slap up feed cooked for us which gave us the energy to bike (well maybe push the bike {except embarrasingly my sister actually mananged to bike all the way}up the hill. On the way back to the hostel we stopped in at another attraction - a waterfall just a km out of the city. Unbelievevbly they try and enforce an entrance fee for this site also but we dodged round the back and took a bush path to base of the waterfall. Without sounding like a dick it had nothing on an NZ waterfall - still worth a stop as a waterfall is always cool. Then back to our hostel for a beer before heading out for a dinner. Another great feed for literally a couple of
dollars each. Leaving Tengchong the next morning we all really felt like staying longer but our time was limited so it was time to move on. I think the city deserved more time than we gave it as it was very chilled out and by all accounts there were plenty more sights to see. After a mix up with bus stations we finally had our tickets booked for a 7 hour bust to Luiku (the main transport hub for the Nu Jiang Valley - our desired destinatation.) Waiting for the bus we were entertained by the locals letting off fireworks. And these arent any normal fireworks - dynamite is a closer description. Crazy loud and bright and lighten just on the side of the street. Definetly got to get my hands on some of these before I leave! The 7 hour bus was actually a 5 1/2 bus ride so that was pretty good. Except for the dodgy toilet stops. Also had the army come on to the bus at a check point and all the foreigners (which was just me, my brother and sister) were taken off the bus, had to show our passport and were quizzed about what
we were doing in the area.. all sweet though and they were quite firendly actually. Once we arrived in Liuku at about 5:30pm we went straight to find somewhere to stay. This proved a bit more difficult than we thought and were turned around by the first place who said "no Laowai" (foreigners). We finally found somewhere cheap but with the basics and set off for some food. A local lady who was an english teacher stopped to talk to us and after we said we were looking for somewhere good for dinner she took us to a local restaurant. By this stage we hadn't seen another white person since Kunming and were suprised to see a table of 10 German guys and girls about 18 years old. Turns out they were on a program in Luiku where they taught at the local schools. We had a great meal (can't believe how cheap and good the food is!) and a few beers before hitting the sack ready for our big bus ride the next day. We left on a 7am bus which was meant to take 9 hours to Bingzhingluo (which is basically the end of the road before the
mountains to Tibet/Burma). The trip was absolutely stunning. The wild Nujiang river bisected the road and the scenerey either side was awesome. All through out the trip were crazy swing bridges and even flying foxes the locals would use to get to either side of the river. We had a really interesting lunch stop at Fugong. There was a crazy market there with everything you could imaging (including some suspect items like bear claws, antlers, and other sure to be endagered species). After that we contiuned on our way through some really hairy roads with big drops to the side. The condition of the roads is pretty bad but it was a cool if somewhat dodgy journey. All was going well until about 40km out of Bingzhonglu where our bus came to a stop. They are actually still constructing or re constructing the road to Bingzhinglu and they were right in the middle of it. We stopped on the side of the road for at least an hour until the path was cleared for us. The rest of the trip was even dodgier but just as stunning. After 12 hours (was meant to be 9) we finally made it to Bingzhonglu - no skipping the Y100 entrance fee to this town as the bus had to stop at a check point. Instanatly upon arriving in the town we knew we were in the right place. Hardly any tourists make the mission here but apart from the long drive its hard to believe. Right up against the Burma and Tibet boarders the scenery is awesome and the potential for treks and discovering minority villages is huge... Hopefully on the next blog I'll be able to update you on this. For now time for another beer, a few darts at the hostel, a feed, then early night ready for our adventure tomorrow....
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