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Published: August 11th 2006
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We are in China again. Tonight we travel to Beijing, but for the last two days we've been in the capital of Yunnan province. Despite being August in Southern China, it is very mild here. Kunming is known as the 'Spring City' within China because of it's year-round mild, sunny climate and it's elevation of almost 2,000 metres makes it more airy than you'd expect from a provincial capital.
Planes, trains and automobiles In leaving Laos, we experienced yet another epic border crossing. After an early morning bus from Luang Prabang, we were faced with a choice between spending a night in a two-horse, one-street town in Northern Laos and entering China the following day by bus, or hitch-hiking to Southern China on the same day. We opted to hitch, and our perseverance paid off. As we were about to give up after half an hour of rejection from Lao drivers, we decided to stick it out. Around the corner arrived a Lao guy who stopped his car and agreed to take us. We made it into China minutes before the border closed, and the next day we took an 18-hour bus trip to Kunming.
In
hindsight, our plan was naively optimistic. We had hoped to catch a train to Beijing asap. Turns out other people had the same idea. Apparently at any one moment in time, there are over 10 million Chinamen travelling by train within China. It seemed to us like there was around half a million of them in and around Kunming train station. We soon discovered that there trains to Beijing were booked-up for 10 days. 10 DAYS! Faced with this unexpected spanner in the works, we went back on our vow to travel only overland through Asia. We had no other choice. A last-minute flight deal has allowed us to avoid hanging around Kunming, as pleasant as it is, for 10 days. Tonight we catch the Chinese "red eye" to Beijing.
I have been surprised at how developed Kunming is. Parts of it resemble any major Western city - earlier we drank smoothies in a chic outdoor cafe and walked through sophisticated urban shopping districts. There are small parks everywhere and there are more bicycles and electric motorbikes on the road than cars. It all feels so new - clean streets, ambitious architecture, cutting-edge infrastructure and advertisements everywhere. It's a
far cry from remote, untouched Laos - where we were only days ago.
Nevertheless, Indie warns me that this is not the real China, and I believe him. However, I refuse to let his negativity drown out my enthusiasm!
The real China? *The other day we were having breakfast in a market when, all of a sudden, Indie jumped out of his seat in shock. I was about to ask him what was going on, when I noticed an 18-inch long snake slithering along the floor only a metre from our table, getting nearer. Beside it was a burst plastic bag from which three or four similar-sized snakes were emerging. Indiana Jones-style, we got the hell away from those things!
*Here in Kunming we've seen some bizarre Government propaganda lining the streets. Some of the city centre avenues are bordered by Govt posters outlining plans for urban development and regeneration. These posters helpfully come equipped with English translations, some of which are, at best, misleading. Others border on crazy. There is something cool about them, so I've attached a few examples.
*I'd been told that the Chinese like to spit a
lot in public. However, nothing can quite prepare you for the image of a professionally-dressed, seemingly well-heeled lady making that awful noise with her mouth then unleashing a mouthful of saliva across the pavement.
*After 5 weeks of eating almost exclusively local fare, we had a real craving for junk food when we got to Kunming. As such we set off in search of a McDonalds. It proved to be a mission. We knew that there was at least one hidden in the heart of the city, but finding it tried our patience. Even with his conversational Mandarin, Indie was unable to find out how to get to this elusive McDonalds. As we got increasingly hungrier, his attempts at communicating with the Chinese became ever more unhinged. At first he tried to pronounce 'McDonalds' in a Chinese way, but to no avail. Next he decided to draw a rough sketch of the famous 'golden arches' symbol, only to receive blank looks. In desperation, my poor friend resorted to wild hand gesticulations to depict the 'M' symbol. I was cracking up!
Understandably frustrated, Indie complained bitterly about how the Chinese hadn't heard of the world's 2nd-most recognised brand. Finally
we came across a young student who pointed us in the right direction. I commend Indie's command of Mandarin, not to mention his perseverance. Later the same day we tried to find a shop that sold deodorant. I'm not even going to start describing how difficult that was.
*Snakes aside, the food in China is excellent. After we got the junk food craving out of our system, we reverted to local food. Today we went to a Xin Jiang style place for lunch. Xin Jiang is the vast Northwestern region we are excited about visiting next week. We shared a bowl of spicy soup with thick noodles, mint and mutton; a dish of chip-cut boiled potatoes with chopped mint, chillies and spring onions; and a couple spicy lamb kebabs. It was delicious, and between us it cost only 8.5 yuan (less than 60p).
By the way, I am currently unable to access my yahoo account, which is the one I primarily use. The Chinese govt periodically blocks access to yahoo and hotmail - I have no idea why. Indie tells me it's sometimes possible to access email via private servers, but so far this hasn't worked.
If you want to get in touch with me, for the time being email me at BOTH
ianrp82@hotmail.com and
ianpri02@yahoo.com Cheers!
Before I sign off and head to the airport, it's time for Indie's say. He's back, and more opinionated than before! This week,
Indie on EU farmer subsidies EU farmer subsidies - a waste of money! Governments subsidise farmers to keep them in jobs. This is bollocks. I mean, to think that in the West there are piles of food building up, which no-one is eating, while there are people starving on the other side of the world. It disgusts me. The irony is that this grain cannot simply be given to these countries as it will put farmers there out of work. A brown man's solution: stop giving these EU farmers money!
Surely in a place of opportunity like the EU, these people can gain new skills and have access to finding other jobs. Use this freed-up money to relieve debt, improve education or sanitation, clean water facilities etc... in the third world.
How can Tony say "I want an end to poverty" on one hand yet provide money to farmers to
produce food that no-one is eating on the other hand? It makes no sense. But then again, who wants to listen to the opinion of a humble, brown man ?!?
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Dipika
non-member comment
Hi
Hi nandi, how are you? hope you and ian are enjouying your trip. I want to see all the pics when you are back in london. hopefully you will be back this year!! I am really enjoying reading the journals that ian had written. Anyway i just wanted to wish you a happy Raksha Bandhan, which was a few days ago. take care, have fun and see you soon. dips.