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Places
- Móhān, Měnglà, and Měnglún (transit)
- Měnghǎn (Gǎnlǎnbà)
- Jǐnghóng
- Měnglà, and Móhān (transit)
- Měnglún
- Jǐnghóng
- Kūnmíng
- Kǎilǐ
- Shīdòng
- Lángdé
- Xījiāng
- Kǎilǐ
- Guìyáng
- Hong Kong
- Shēnzhèn
- Hong Kong
Móhān, Měnglà, and Měnglún (transit)
March 28, 2010
Unlike most of my previous border crossings, I arranged my own transportation from Luang Namtha in Laos to China. Of course, when I say “own transportation”, I mean public buses of various shapes and sizes. This time, I crossed into China at Móhān, stocked up on Chinese cash, took the next bus out of there to Měnglà, and then took the next bus out of there to Měnghǎn (a.k.a. Gǎnlǎnbà), only I had to take a van from some village between Měnglà and Měnghǎn. Overall, pretty smooth, if a little long.
Měnghǎn (Gǎnlǎnbà)
March 28, 2010 – March 29, 2010
Měnghǎn (I use the alternate (original?) name of “Gǎnlǎnbà” to avoid confusion) has a Dai (ethnic minority) “park”. The park encompasses five Dai villages, a few Buddhist temples, and ticket checkpoints at each of the roads leading in and out of the designated park area. There are also park-specific features, like daily water-splashing and dance shows in the afternoon, tourist facilities, and other attractions.
After wandering through an enormous open-air market in town, I took a motorbike taxi to the park entrance, declining the driver’s shady offer of a half-price ticket. I wandered around the park for a bit and then went to find a guesthouse for the evening in the park, enjoying the evening’s thunderstorm.
The next day, I simply wandered around the park, unobtrusively watching the Dai inhabitants going about their daily lives while doing their best to ignore my presence. I avoided getting very wet during the afternoon rainstorm, but I didn’t avoid slipping and falling on my tailbone. Ouch! Besides that, the rest of the day was relaxing. With the Chinese tour groups that came rolling in, I watched both parades and water-splashings and also watched the dance numbers in the theater.
Jǐnghóng
March 29, 2010 – April 5, 2010
I mostly worked on resting and recovering from various ailments. When I felt up to it, I walked around town, checked out the “new” bridge, walked through a bit of the night market, took a look at the town’s Tropical Plants Garden, and also visited the quiet water-splashing park. I also had to replace the power cable to my netbook’s power brick, which had gotten its exposed wires crossed.
At the last minute, after waffling, I decided to do a visa run to the Laos border to reset the 30-day clock on my visa. The morning of the visa run, I broke my Cowon, but that wasn’t going to stop me!
Měnglà, and Móhān (transit)
April 5, 2010
I made my visa run on the last day that my 6-month visa would allow me entry into China, ending up in Měnglún.
Měnglún
April 5, 2010 – April 6, 2010
After an evening of rest in town, I got up early to visit the Xīshuāngbǎnnà Tropical Botanical Gardens (XTBG). The XTBG has a western section, full of designed theme gardens and parks, and a much larger eastern portion, mostly pristine rainforest used for scientific study. The eastern secton also has a paved walking trail for tourists in a small part of its expanse. I walked through most of the eastern tourist trail in the morning, then walked through many (but not all) of the gardens in the western section. I got a small rip in my pants legs mended while I waited outside a supermarket, snacking on popsicles, then took a minibus back to Jǐnghóng.
Jǐnghóng
April 6, 2010 – April 16, 2010
Upon arriving back in Jǐnghóng, I holed up in the same hotel as last time, using the provided internet and seeing if my stomach bug would give me more trouble. I finally went on a two-day solo trek in western Xīshuāngbǎnnà, wandering into a no-foreigners region, sleeping outside, and then hiking for hours down and up hills. After returning to Jǐnghóng and showering away the days’ worth of grime and dust, I rested and enjoyed the annual Water-Splashing Festival. Due to a scheduling mistake, I had an extra day in Jǐnghóng, and spent some time at the rather interesting Minorities Park before heading to Kūnmíng.
Kūnmíng
April 17, 2010 – April 26, 2010
I took an overnight sleeper bus from Jǐnghóng, arriving around 07:30. I made my way to the hostel I had booked, then after a brief rest re-reading about Kūnmíng, I went out to Xī Shān, took the ropeway up as a short-cut, and wandered around the paths and roads cutting through the hills, visiting places like Dragon Gate. On subsequent days, I visited the Bamboo Temple, with its 500 arhat statues, Yuantong Temple, Green Lake, and Yúnnán University’s campus. I also took a day trip out to Shilin (Stone Forest), which was bizarre (in a good way) and exhausting (in a bad way). I had several sessions of quite good foot massage to get my feet back in walking shape.
After a few nights in a dorm room, I was shamed out by my incessant snoring. I moved into a nearby business hotel and holed up there instead.
On the food front, I totally fell in love with the Yúnnán dish “across-the-bridge noodles” for its rich broth. In addition to eating breakfast youtiao at a local place, I sampled more noodle soup varieties at a nearby Brothers Jiang chain outlet. I had a huge lunch at 1910 La Gare du Sud, a fancy Yúnnán-cuisine place near the center of town.
Instead of continuing westward, I decided last-minute to head east instead. I booked an overnight sleeper train to Kǎilǐ to be in striking distance of the impending Miáo Sisters Festival, but I missed my train after a relaxing day at the Provincial Museum and Green Lake, and shopping for some gear. I ultimately decided to stay one more night (more cross-bridge noodles!) instead of taking the next train that night.
Kǎilǐ
April 27, 2010
The train arrived in Kǎilǐ in the early morning. I took my time and walked into the town center. I was invited to sit and wait inside the ethnology museum‘s staff office before it opened, then had a guide give me a tour of the exhibits (and then the downstairs shops) in Chinese. I walked to the local CITS office to get more information about the upcoming festival, but the office seemed closed (staff probably all out as tour guides). I went ahead and hopped on a bus to Shīdòng anyway, not knowing if there would be a place to stay or what to expect.
Shīdòng
April 27, 2010 – May 1, 2010
Arriving in town a day before the three days of the local Miáo Sisters Festival gave me a chance to get situated before most of the other tourists arrived. I ended up eating at the same restaurant for most of my lunches and dinners, and breakfast at a youtiao place run by a dry-goods shop. The festival was incredible, one of the coolest spectacles I’ve had the privilege to catch. I know I missed a lot, like the dragon boats, firecrackers, and bull wrestling, but watching Miáo girls parade and dance in full Miáo outfits for three afternoons was a visual and audio treat.
Lángdé
May 1, 2010
After an extra night in Shīdòng, I caught a morning bus back to Kǎilǐ. The CITS office was still closed, so after some consideration, I took an impulse day trip to Lángdé, a pretty Miáo hillside village with cobble-stone streets and beautiful wooden houses. After working up a sweat hiking up through terraced fields and woods to the local cemetary, I learned that the next bus back to Kǎilǐ wouldn’t be until the next day. I could have stayed at Lángdé for RMB20, but I walked out to the main road and soon flagged down a bus heading to Kǎilǐ.
Xījiāng
May 1, 2010 – May 2, 2010
Another impulse found me on a bus to Xījiāng, the largest Miáo village (actually, a group of several villages) after arriving back in Kǎilǐ. On the bus, I met a couple of girls, Ya-ya and Niu-niu, from a town near Guìlín, and we ended up wandering through Xījiāng together in the evening. We had trouble finding a place to stay, since all the guesthouses were full. The place was full of Chinese tourists! There had been some event the day before, and May kicks off with a week of holidays for many Chinese.
Luckily, we found a guesthouse high up in the hills. I woke up early the next morning and found myself hiking through the misty terraces, waiting for the sun to appear over the hills. I met up with Ya-ya and Niu-niu back at the guesthouse, and then did more wandering through Xījiāng. After the daily song-and-dance production in the dancing square, they saw me off at the main gate, and I took a shared taxi back to Kǎilǐ.
Kǎilǐ
May 2, 2010
To my surprise, an internet cafe let me hook up my netbook into their network. I checked my travel options. My China visa was expiring in a couple of days. I could have taken a bus or train to Guìlín, and then maybe fly or take a long train to Shēnzhèn, from where I would cross into Hong Kong again, but Guìyáng was much closer, so I ended up taking an afternoon bus there.
Guìyáng
May 2, 2010 – May 3, 2010
After all the hectic, impulsive touring since first arriving in Kǎilǐ, Guìyáng was pretty relaxing. Room rates still seemed inflated due to the early May holidays. After a much-needed shower, I fell asleep early after arriving in the late afternoon, and missed dinner. I considered taking an extra day in Guìyáng to sample more of the local cuisine, but I decided to head on to Hong Kong instead, via a short flight to Shēnzhèn.
Hong Kong
May 3, 2010 – May 16, 2010
It seems like I’ve been eating non-stop since arriving. What was a simple visa run turned into a culinary blur. Wonton noodles, congee, Mos Burger, and other low-budget but good fare kept me going, but I also splurged, bordering on binging. When I dropped off my passport at the China visa office, I had dim sum at Fu Sing. When I picked up my passport at the end of the week, I ate at Fu Sing again. I had dinner at Steik World Meats, twice. I snagged a counter spot at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (two-star Michelin), and it was so good that I returned the next night. I also sampled the local Peking duck.
It wasn’t all about food, though. I was able to rid the funk plaguing my Vibram FiveFingers. In a change of pace from the usual guesthouses, I rented a spare room in an apartment at Whampoa Gardens, possibly suffering from food poisoning.
Shenzhen
May 16, 2010 – May 19, 2010
(To be continued…)
Hong Kong
May 19, 2010 – June 10, 2010
And I was back, for more food! Not only did I finally find my favorite brand of jelly babies and gorged on cupcakes in Mong Kok, I also revisited an old favorite (two hits and a miss at Fu Sing) and established some new favorites, like Xia Fei, which I visited a few times, despite their goofs with the credit card currency exchange rate. I wasn’t too impressed with Lei Garden in Wan Chai, but I really liked Lung King Heen (despite my concerns about the dress code).
I took a walk through Kowloon Park (with my friends, the mosquitoes), looked at a bunch of different wet floor signs, and cast my eye on some new gear. Proving I could also think about the future, I considered learning a language, before committing to studying Japanese. Then I was busy getting ready to leave and finally was off to Walnut Creek!
