March 2: we entered China, after 24 days in Laos! It's the 4th country on our trip and we're really excited to explore China. We've had great times in Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, now we're leaving South East Asia and enter the giant China. It's such a huge country, we'll only be able to travel in a small part of it with the time we have (roughly 5 weeks): Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
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| Just before the Lao border |
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| And just after the Chinese border; notice the difference in style and size of the border posts... |
Getting the visa was the hardest part of getting into China, the actual border crossing went smoothly. We arrived at the Lao side of the border just after 8am, and getting our exit stamp was done within a few minutes. From there, we ride through nomansland to the Chinese border check, where we park our bikes just outside the building. We get into the (short) queue at immigration and an official who's walking around comes to me to check my passport. He takes a few looks at it, a bit puzzled, then hands it back to me. He does not need Ellen's... We get to the booth, another short check, chop chop and off we go! We get out at the other side of the building - logical - and try to get back to our bikes, but a guy in uniform tells us we can't go back that way. So back into the building, back to another guy in uniform, explain our bikes are still outside at the entrance. He looks amused (very amused), his face says: "did you really say bicycles?"; he seems to like that. He lets us through, we're back at the bikes, ride through the gate with the uniformed guy, and into China! As simple as that, it was still before 8.30am (well, 9.30am in China), and here we were! Ready for the next part of our adventure!
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| It was a bit a cool day, and it had apparently rained a bit before, so the road was muddy in parts - it couldn't spoil the fun |
We were really happy and excited. Immediately, just after we crossed the order, 2 random guys come to say hi enthusiastically and come over to make pictures with us, so funny! It's amazing how, once you cross a border, you often immediately notice it's different, and that definitely counts here too! People look and behave different, are dressed differently. Buildings, streets, even cars and other vehicles change. We fully realise, excitingly, that we've entered this new country and with it, a new experience.
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| On the left our road, the "national road G213", on the right the expressway. Most of the time they did not follow each other so closely though. |
From the border town of Mohan you have a choice to take an expressway (a relatively new road, with bridges and tunnels, making it a very smooth ride), which you can cycle too, or go the "old" G213. We decided to go for the old road, the more scenic road, even though it's more hilly, and did not regret that choice at all. It was so beautiful! We often saw the expressway and were really happy to be on the scenic alternative, also because there was as good as no traffic at all. Most of the road was in good (or good enough) condition, although there were also some very bad parts, some muddy areas, some construction sites. On one such construction site we were told we could not pass; we just patiently waited a little, asked a few times more, and suddenly we could continue. Ah so nice, just stay friendly, smile, and insist gently, it makes so much possible. We enjoyed this ride so much, and without traffic we could ride side by side comfortably for once, the weather was overcast but that also meant cool (with even a few raindrops at some point, maybe 10).
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| View during our coffee break, notice the very different building style - the triangular roof construction is typically Dai, an important part of the population here. |
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| Once we get a bit further north there will be enormous tea plantations, this was our first "Chinese tea" plantation (nothing yet compared to the ones in Cameron Highlands) |
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| Beautiful cycling without any traffic |
Around lunch time we got to a small town, where we found 1 restaurant. From the outside it looked pretty dodgy, but as there was nowhere else to go we still went in. And... it was great! The owners were incredibly friendly. We just showed what we liked in the fridge (mushrooms and eggplant), showed the Chinese word for vegetarian food, and they just made something - very tasty. Of course, food comes standard with a cup of tea. The owner came to our table, took an interested look at my camera. I gave it to him to take a look, next thing his wife comes over and makes a picture of us; they both had clearly never held a camera like this. Hahaha, just fantastic! It's already clear that people here are amazingly friendly, and food is quite a bit cheaper than in Laos.
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| Our lunch restaurant |
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| The enthusiastic owner of the restaurant joins the picture |
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| You get your eating utensils packaged in plastic; I heard the cleaning is outsourced, it comes back clean and disinfected - and wrapped in plastic... |
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| The kitchen |
We do have big communication problems, however we get them solved one way or the other - like just pointing at what you'd like to eat. We have Google Translate, which can also translate from a picture of Chinese characters, and it helps a lot! So far, we have not met anyone I think who speaks even a bit of English... But the people are so nice and helpful, with a "can do" mentality, that everything gets solved, very different from Laos... Another communication related topic: internet access. The Chinese restrict all access to Google sites (including Blogspot, Maps, Photos, ...), Facebook and many other - often referred to as the Great Chinese Firewall. The only way to get through, is by using a VPN connection. So we have now installed ExpressVPN on all our devices, and that's how we can still get through.
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| Mengla street view |
Looking for a hotel has become a much bigger challenge as well. Firstly, previously we often knew where we had options, which were nice guesthouses and so on, because we found it all online. Not in China, or otherwise we have not found the proper channel yet. Secondly, it means you arrive somewhere and need to start looking for a place to stay - with all signs in Chinese only! OK, we have some idea now what characters and places to look out for. Thirdly, something we experienced today in Menglun, not all hotels accept foreigners. So yes, it's a bit of a search...
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| View from our room in Mengla - less idyllic but I still love it, this is China! |
We arrived after 64km easy cycling, and did find a nice hotel in Mengla (Xin Qiao Hotel) for 100RMB - quite a nice comfortable hotel, with a soft bed and a fantastic shower, really nice for a change! We bought a SIM card and a few small snacks, withdrew cash and then had a super delicious Sichuan style noodle soup, with a beer, for the total of 2,5 EUR. Not bad!
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| We continued cycling on the beautiful G213, direction Menglun |
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| On the right side of the road we continuously followed the nature reserve, on the left we often had plantations, like this rubber plantation |
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| Tunnel works in the valley. The expressway is being upgraded, another 2 lanes being added so traffic will have its own 2 lanes in both direction afterwards. In many places, these new 2 lanes are separated by quite a distance from the existing ones; a huge construction project like you find it almost only in China |
From Mengla we continued on the G213, and cycled all the way to Menglun - around 100km. It was a fantastic day, despite (or actually, thanks to) the 3 big climbs, each 400-500m high. With all the other smaller climbs throughout the day, it was again a day of around 2000m climbing and 100km distance; not bad!!! Today was absolutely wonderful however. We followed most of the day the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which is mountains clad with lush jungle. In terms of lush, pure nature, this has been the longest and most beautiful ride of our trip so far - surprisingly in China! And on top of that, there was as good as no mess, no litter. The road was perfect (new asphalt) for the first 40km, then a bit rough for a little while, and then just fine for the rest of the ride; in any case, absolutely fine. Towards the end, we went through a bit of a gorge (astonishingly beautiful), and when we came out of it we came to a bridge over a bigger river: the Mekong!
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| More beautiful cycling |
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| With some short bad stretches |
In Menglun we experienced for the first time that hotels do refuse foreigners: we had to try 4 before we could get into one. It would not have been our favourite hotel to chose from, but we had little choice and were tired, and it was getting late... - and no complaints, it's fine too! We bought a cold beer to enjoy it during the sunset at the Mekong (inspired by Claire and Andy's
blog 😉), only to find our we had bought cans of herbal tea!? Well, it was also tasty, and after that we found a place for dinner with a menu with pictures for all dishes - makes the choice much easier to communicate! We ate giant portions of food again to refill our energy, and went back to our hotel to rest, read and write.
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| Banana plantation on our way, the bananas are packed in blue plastic to protect them (but I don't know from what); the bananas are delicious here! |
2 days into China, what great days they have been!!! China is not disappointing at all, to the very contrary, so far we absolutely love it! Let's hope it stays like this for the next 35 days or so!
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| And: we got to the 5000km mark today!!! |
In Menglun we experienced for the first time that hotels do refuse foreigners: we had to try 4 before we could get into one. It would not have been our favourite hotel to chose from, but we had little choice and were tired, and it was getting late... - and no complaints, it's fine too! We bought a cold beer to enjoy it during the sunset at the Mekong (inspired by Claire and Andy's blog 😉), only to find our we had bought cans of herbal tea!? Well, it was also tasty, and after that we found a place for dinner with a menu with pictures for all dishes - makes the choice much easier to communicate! We ate giant portions of food again to refill our energy, and went back to our hotel to rest, read and write.