There was a bit of a nightmare that I went through as I tried to cross over into Thailand from China - on a river boat. False information coupled with language barriers made for a frustrating time. Hilarious looking back however!
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Saturday, December 9, 2006, 20:59, Guan Lei, Yunnan Province, China
BLAH! So I arrived into the wee town of Guan Lei this afternoon at around 1:30. I had been in the little minibus since 7:45am! It was a bumpy ride, all through the hills of southern China. Going through all these villages and vast banana plantations, it was gorgeous. The van kept letting people off and icking people up .. with all their things, cigarettes and other random things, it was a hoot! When I finally got dropped off, however, my pack had 3 holes in it from being bounced around in the back..shitty! I guess now I have some reasons to get patches. Although I have no idea how to sew, so I don..t know how useful they will be! I just don..t want the stuff to get wet inside.
Chinese Martime Customs have passed a new ..law.. that bars cargo ships from picking up passengers. I had been in contact with a guy in Jinghong (town to the north here) that had done that before; I checked here with the Immigration Officials and they said this was a new law. Which is bull because there were clearly other Chinese people on these cargo boats! The rule only allows passengers to be carried by passenger ships .. which of course cost more than twice as much as the 300 RMB that Walter told me he paid. I knew that it sounded too good to be true! And I even met a couple early this morning who were on their way to the Lao border .. a sign indeed! Our paths crossed, and I think for a moment I considered going to Laos instead of the unknown boat. But part of traveling is to try things, forge into the unknown and see what works out. This one didn..t work it, at least not completely. I could still take the expensive tourist boat, which would be cool because I would still get the river ride. But the kicker is that theres no banks here, so I would have to take a mini-bus to the town in between here and Jinghong. In this town I can also get another mini-bus to the town near the Laos border. From there, I can get a ride on a motorcycle or something and cross the border on my own. A visa costs $40 and is available at the border, although I know there are two border crossings and I..m not sure which one I would go to. So the question is: do I get cash in Mengla and return to Guan Lei for the fast boat to Thailand on Monday or do I try to make my way across the Laos border where there are no guarantees? I have 4 days to get to Bangkok; it would take one day to get to the border, one day to cross and get to Vientiane and then one night bus straight to Bangkok. I have no info on what this all would cost as there is no internet here; I assume it would be cheaper than the 700 RMB that I would have to pay for the fast boat. The question comes down to time and availability of seats. These are the moments when having a guidebook would be invaluable! I want to call Walter again but I don..t want to be a pest..hes already helped me out so much! The other unknown is if the border is going to be open..I read somewhere that there have been reports of isolated border shutdowns with Thailand after the coup. I really don..t want to get into a situation where I miss Cory..s arrival..
One minute ago, before I started writing, I had decided to go to Laos. Now that I am thinking about the myriad of possibilities for things going wrong: the border not being open, the bus/train to Vientienae not arriving, the lack of possibilities to get to Bangkok..it seems so risky but would indeed save some money. But if the border is closed on Monday, that would mean it would be very hard to get to Bangkok by Wednesday. Its probably wiser to just go get money (even if it costs $6 to get there and back) and take the guaranteed thing at this point. This is what happens when time becomes a factor .. you can..t afford the luxury of just going and hoping that it will all work out! It would also be comforting to have another traveler at this point, someone to bounce ideas off. That..s why I want to call Walter without being a huge ass. Or why I need the internet, dammit! Maybe there will be an internet café in Mengla that can help me make my decision. I don..t want to take too long or else my decision will be made for me!
I am going to get up, take the 8am bus to Mengla. Then I will do two things: check and see when the next bus is to the Laos border, and how much it cost, then see if there is a bank. If there..s no bank, its either back to Jinghong to take the fast boat from there (800 RMB) or to the Laos border where I can change money.
Wow. That is the only word that I can use to describe the intensity of this journey to Bangkok. CSer Michael Sutherland told me to leave at least a week for an overland journey to BK and he was right. I will have traveled for at least 6 hours each day of the past 4 days, as well as the next 3. I have NEVER been in motion like this in my entire life .. an epic journey indeed!
As I read over my comments from last night, I wish I would have thought them over more thoroughly! Here is the story about what happened in my Travel Life today.
Woke up at 7am in order to get out of the hotel and down to the ..bus stop.. on the main street by 8am. I managed to do this just fine; even had some time for a tea and oatmeal using the hot water that they so generously provide in Chinese hotels. I arrived down the street just as a second bus was paralleling parking; there was a bus in front of it but had no driver. I approached the driver of the second bus as he switched the ignition off, and asked, ..Meng La?.. (pronounced mung-la). He said yes in Chinese, then motioned for me to put my bag in. Then he made motions of moving his hand to his mouth .. he was going to go eat breakfast. Lucky him, I thought. As I was waiting around it occurred to me that the first bus might be leaving sooner, although I was not sure if it was going to the same place. A woman tout from that first bus came up to me and started to motion for me to get in her bus; she nodded when I said Meng La. However since she was being more aggressive I was reluctant. Also her bus was full and I had the a seat by the window in the 2nd bus where I could control the flow of air (Chinese men SMOKE) and stretch out. So I declined. And of course, that bus left first. The woman was most probably trying to explain that her bus was leaving first. And it left FIRST. My bus didn..t leave until a FULL HOUR after the first bus. I was standing outside the bus, hating myself for not getting on the first bus even if it would have been a miserable experience.
I was still stressing about the whole boat thing. I was not sure how long it took to get to Meng La, and did not know if I would get there too late to take another bus back to Guan Lei where I would catch the fast passenger boat to Thailand. I had no information; and my Internet-addled brain could not handle it. I was almost exploding with the rage of uncertainty and doubt. I did my yoga breathing and stress chant and chilled out. I knew I had to just go with the flow on this one.
And the flow was going to take me into even more adventurous territories. The bus ride to Meng La was the most magnificent bus ride of my life. Skirting the Xinshibanna Nature Preserve (in southern Yunnan province) the views of a meandering river and landscape were awesome. It was worth every penny, that ride was! On a side note, this minibuses are a unique experience. Used by locals who just flag them down wherever, it is interesting to see the types of cargo they carry: chickens, birds in basket-cages, food, clothes, babies. Peasants with hoes and colorful clothes; ..city.. girls in high heels..everyone is welcome! It..s a hodge-podge insight into rural Chinese life.
After leaving Guan Lei at 9am, I arrived in Meng La at around 1:30pm. On the way, we stopped in another larger town where there was a bank; I ran swiftly to the ATM there only to discover that there was no response when it tried to verify my card. Bad sign ..1. Bad sign ..2: the banks, while open on Sunday in China, have limited hours. The bank would not be open until 3pm so I would have to wait to change dollars. Or try my luck at the ATM, which would become Bad sign ..3: none of the 3 ATMs (from the same bank) would take my card. There was just an endless ..please wait.. sign and then it would reject my card. Shit. I was broke and did not have the money to get the boat to Thailand.
My final chance was changing most of my emergency US$ money into Chinese RMB, which would allow me to pay the steep 700 RMB ($92) for the tourist boat to Thailand. At 3 pm, I pulled my pack on and walked to the nearest branch from the bus station. He pointed down the road, where the other branch was. He motioned me to go there. Upon arriving, 10 minutes later and 1 pound of sweat heavier (its tropical here!), there was a line twelve deep at each of the three open counters. Waiting for 30 minutes with a bunch of Chinese people pushing your pack as they move is quite trying, not to mention the HEAT. (I cant imagine what its like here in the summer!) I finally make it to the counter……….let the suspense build..
She told me to come back on Monday; they only chance US dollars on Monday.
No money, no problems? I tried everything to get myself to Thailand guaranteed for Cory..s arrival on Wednesday and nothing panned out. In the end, the Travel Gods chose my path for me: I..m goin.. to Laos! And hopefully I will only actually set foot in the country as I cross over the border going in and out..I want to just fly through that country the quickest way possible!
So I trudge back to the bus station to get my minivan ticket to the Chinese border town of Mo Han. I splurge and buy some peach juice, some cold, wonderfully synthetic peach juice. It was the most refreshing thing that has ever flowed past my lips; I was sweating all the way through my T-shirt. In fact, the T-shirt (says ..Lewisburge Baseball.. on it, you remember that one Tata?) is yellow with my sweat and black with exhaust fumes. I have been wearing it since I left Yangshuo on Wednesday.
The minivan to Mo Han was a packed affair, with me pretzeled in the back. Again a beautiful countryside experience .. unbelievable the landscape that is Yunnan province in China. This ride was a bit shorter; but coupled with my 6 hour ride in the morning, I had been bouncing about rural China for 8 hours. In fact, I have been traveling for at least 6 hours a day since Thursday: 20 hour train ride Thursday to Friday, 12 hour bus ride Friday night, 6 hour mini-bus ride Saturday.
And let the epic continue: I am now holed up in a quaintly shabby hotel in the laid-back calm serenity that is the border village of Mo Han. The pace is slower, the people more friendly. There are lots of smiles here. In fact, I met the most helpful person of my entire trip within my first 5 minutes here. The mini-bus drives you all the way up to the border to Laos, which was a relief. I thought I was going to have to take another bus to the border; I will just be able to walk up there tomorrow morning and go to Laos! I was talking with the driver, then to the immigration people about when the border is open. They have very strange times, open only for a few hours in the morning and then the evening. I knew that I was going to have to stay the night here so that I would be able to find adequate transportation once across. But it was still surreal just to stand there, and Laos is just ten feet away. And the only thing marking it is one long gate .. nothing fancy. That..s when I realized that after 6 weeks, today would be my last day in China. And what a day to remember .. just like in Russia, these Communist countries don..t let you leave without throwing a few curve balls.
I walked 10 feet past the immigration office, looked up and saw a sign indicating that there was a travel agency inside. I walked in, and I heard some very good English coming from the man behind the desk. This man, whos name turns out to be (are you ready?) Jankerson, doesn..t even work at this agency. He is a young businessman who just happens to be here for a few weeks for his company. Fate has worked out in my favor! I must mention here, that there have been many indications throughout the day that I should go to Mo Han and get to Bangkok overland: first, as I was waiting for the bank to open, the tout at the bus station kept thinking I was waiting for the Mo Han minivan and kept trying to get me on it. Second, as I was walking to the further bank branch to change money I ran into another foreigner, a stranger English man with many twitches who was also, in a few days, heading to Laos via Mo Han. He was able to answer many of my questions about traveling overland through Laos. So I knew from lunchtime that I was bound for Mo Han, but had to try everything I could for the guaranteed entry into Thailand.
Jankerson turned out to be a mountain of information. He had a friend who took a bus from Kunming all the way to Vientiane, the capital of Laos that is right on the Thailand border. This bus stops in Mo Han for immigration; he says that if I am lucky there will be a spot on this 9:30am bus. Score! That would be perfect; 24 hours later I will be right near the Thai border, almost at the same time I would have been if I had taken the ship! Then I can just take a motorbike to the border 12 miles away, cross into Thailand and take the night train into Bangkok arriving on Wednesday morning..so if all goes well that is what I am going to do!
Jankerson and his friend were very interested in hanging out with a foreigner and practicing English; jankerson works for a company in the UK and is considering a move there. Or to the US. So they took me out to dinner! Which was the most wonderfully kind thing on my trip to date because I hadn..t eaten anything but peanuts, peach juice and one small cup of oatmeal that I had in my pack. I wasn..t sure if I was going to have enough money to make it, so I didn..t want to buy anything else lest I get deeper into money-less-ness. We had a huge meal, and when I asked for some ice cream (its hard to find a geletaria or any sort of fresh ice cream in China, but this place had it!) they obliged. So I had my dessert too..what an excellent and reassuring way to spend my last evening in China!
So now I lay here on my exceptionally hard bed in my increasingly smelly room (my clothes, mixed with the general sewage stench that comes from most Chinese bathroom squatter toilets) feeling guardedly optimistic about the days to come. Of course, once you read this, you will know what has happened. But this will give you a mid-epic insight into how difficult this particular Travel Setback is becoming. Just have to do it in baby steps, one leg at a time. Eventually I will make it to BK, the question is only when.
Jankerson is a little strange; I think he may be gay. There was some small talk about girls, but mostly geeky things since he is a skinny, average Chinese dude with glasses. When we went back to the travel agency in order for him to ask his friend a few more questions for me, he asked if he could take a picture of me. At first, I thought he just wanted to document his new Western friend (he kept offering to help me out with whatever I needed, including a website..!) ..You are very handsome,.. he continued. But it wasn..t in a creepy or flirty voice. It was just a simple statement. It is one of those statements that might be ok in Chinese, then taken far out of context if spoken in English. I just smiled and obliged .. at this point, after this many days traveling and my pants starting to turn black with dirt, a compliment like that goes a long way. I feel like I got run over, so if I can look good to some random Chinese people like this, then I..ve got it made!
Squatter toilet moment: all Chinese cheaper hotels, hostels and many houses do not have Western toilets. And some squatter toilets do not have very strong plumbing. This si the case with the hotel that I am currently staying in: I took a shit and it just wouldn..t go down. I flushed 4 times, still not moving. So I grabbed the shower head (in China the shower and toilet are often open, right next to each other) and started to spray. It began to break up in little chunks but the principal wing, if you will, of the shit still would not budge. I switched off flushing and showering the shit, wasting all of the precious water of this village, and nothing. I left it and came back, watered some more. Stubborn shit. I looked in the trash, found an empty soapbox and pushed that shit down the hole. Now it is just floating there, in the squatter toilet hole, resisting going down each time I flush. Ahhh, the joys of traveling in developing countries! Your life are filled with moments that you could never enjoy in your normal, Western life..
BOY WITH FRANZIA BOX: walking back to the travel agency, a kid on some stairs was playing with an empty box of Franzia. He was knowing at the cardboard, seemingly like he was a drunk who needed his fix. He was having a great time, and all I could think was, ..Pike in the making… I snapped a shot and wished I would have gotten video. Best Travel Moment indeed.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 21:47, Chiang Mai, Thailand
And I am finally here, I finally made it!! After waiting for 2 hours for the express bus that was supposed to come to Mo Han to drive to Vientiane (Laos capital), a Frenchman arrived coming into China from Laos. He began to explain a much shorter route to the Thai border, saying that I might be able to make it in 2 days if I was lucky with the bus schedules. I was also hearing that the Express Bus might not be so Express after all: could take up to 48 hours. I made a snap decision, grabbed my pack and walked across the border. I looked over at the travel agent who came to help me get a tuk-tuk to Nam Tha (nearest village where I could catch the bus to Huaysai on the Thai border) and said, ..I am finally leaving China. This is a huge moment for me you know?.. He just looked at me.
After organizing an expensive ..private.. tuk-tuk ride to Nam Tha ($15 one way), I felt better about it all. I was in LAOS!! What a gorgeous country, poor but beautiful. I loved just to be there an experience it all. It took one hour to get to Nam Tha. And to my dismay, there was only one bus a day that left to Huaysai: leaving at 9:30, it might take up to 10 hours to get there since they were rebuilding the roads. I had heard about this in China, but it didn..t occur to me that it would also slow down the bus. This meant that I would still not get to the Thai border until Wednesday morning, since I would arrive in Huaysai too late to cross. I started asking around about private rides to the border: $120, $100..I was feeling pretty desperate. I thought, ..Shit I should have just waited another 20 minutes for the bus to Vientiane, at least I would know when I would get in… Then a guy came up to me and told me his friend was going there with two Thais that wanted to get there today as well. He started at $100, then I got him down to $40. Somehow I ended up paying him $50. I still cannot recall how that happened, but he was a slick Lao that..s for sure.
Once I put my bags in the pickup and climbed inside, I felt good. Then that feeling of accomplishment deteriorated rapidly as I realized that I only had $15 left. Period. No more emergency money and no ATMs in undeveloped Laos. Shit. I tried not to stress, just to go with the flow. It was a 5 hour ride and money was not just going to appear. I still stressed, wondering if now I was just going to be stranded on the Lao/Thai border rather than the China/Lao border. 5 hours of dust, bumbs and bulldozers all around us. I could hardly breathe. But at least I was getting someplace.
The driver was fast, and after he tried to drop us off far away from the border, we yelled at him and he brought us right to the river (which is the border). I hopped out and looked at the clock: 5pm. Still one hour to cross the border! Wicked, this means I..ll save some money on accommodation. Everywhere there were signs advertising minibuses to Chiang Mai .. even better! I had no idea it would be this touristy here! The first place I tried was full, but it was only $10..meaning that I would have enough money to get to Chiang Mai where there would be ATMs! I was going to make it!
I wandered down towards the river, passing a large group of backpackers. Being the good solo traveler that I am I befriended them, asking where they were headed. ..Chian Mai,.. they replied. It was a large group, and I wasn..t sure if they were in a package tour. ..Y..all have space for anyone else?.. I asked. ..I think there..s one more spot…. one girl told me. I almost leapt for joy, if my pack wasn..t so damn heavy! I was going to make it to Chiang Mai .. TONIGHT! From China to Thailand in just one day..overland..I did it! So I paid and jumped on the boat across to Thailand with the biggest smile, lightest heart and emptiest mind that I had experienced in more time than I could recall. After all this hell, I felt invincible.
Until we got a flat tire one hour into our minibus trip from the border to Chiang Mai. No joke: ..Pop! Pssst..thunk, thunk, thunk…. A flat tire. The only other time I had gotten a flat tire was within an hour of arriving into Russia from Estonia, when our bus had to stop and I took a Lada into the city. Bad news! We had to wait for another van to come because our driver had no idea how to fix the flat ..he managed to break all the tools that he had in the back. 2 hours later, we were on our way again. Only 4 more hours to Chiang Mai..
We arrived at 2:30am. Guesthouse were full and I could not afford a room to myself. I begged 3 of the other travelers to let me sleep on the floor of their room. Thankfully, they agreed. For $3 I had a place to sleep. The next morning I was at the front counter asking about bus tickets to Bangkok. The woman was awesome, answering all kinds of questions. As she was leaving, she asked if I wanted a ride halfway to the station since that was where her house was. I declined, as I wanted to check my email to see if the CouchSurfer could host me for tonight. As I was checking the CSers profile, scanning for a cell phone number, my eyes hit the profile picture and I could not believe it: this was the woman who had JUST been helping me and offered me a ride! I got her cell phone number and called her..she came back to pick me up and now I have a host for the evening! And not just any host, I got HOOKED UP: she owns the Ping River Palace, a restaurant and guest house overlooking the river. My couch is a private room with canopy bed and ensuite bathroom. My kitchen is her restaurant: I am welcome to eat anything and everything that I want: free dinner, vodka, drinks, whatever. She also took me out for a lunch with her family and a friend from California (who..s daughter is James Cameron..s assistant .. I knew this trip would pay off!!!). The Travel Hell has, in the end, been worth every moment. Cory arrives tomorrow; I am living like a king for a day in Thailand; the weather is perfect; the people are calm, gentle and absolutely nothing like the cruder Chinese. I am in heaven and feeling good. Finally.
Next stop, BKK baby!
