While looking at bus options to get to Lijian, we realised that it was 15+ hours each way on the bus and we only had a few days spare in China. Instead, we decided to relax in Kunming for a few days before continuing south to Vietnam. Our flight landed in the evening, so we found a reasonably priced hotel room with a free ride from Kunming airport.
The hotel ended up having a sleazy bar in on the first floor, a card gambling table in our room, sleazy items in the bathroom cabinet and the stench of cigarettes. It was reasonably clean and habitable (and paid for...), so we stayed the night.
The next day we set about organising bus tickets to Vietnam and different accommodation. We found less sleazy accommodation, although it was very basic - a bed and a shower room, no extras!
After booking out tickets, we met a little boy who had no legs. He was dragging himself down the street on a skateboard with his hands and begging. He was very thin, malnourished and a truly sad sight. We had to buy him some food!
We walked about looking at the shops and markets, eyeing the weird variety of produce and other goods on offer. This shop had lots of cool machine parts and buttons obviously stripped from old installations.
Who knows what this once controlled, but surely Toolman could make something cool with it!
Our trip out of Kunming was a sleeper bus that travelled to the Vietnamese border. Another nightbus, this time with winding roads and varying road surfaces down to gravel in parts. Fire up the iPods and try to relax and sleep, its going to be rough. At least there was no smoking on the bus.
We arrived at the border early morning, around 8am. The border crossing is across a large bridge so we joined the queue through the control building. In addition to travellers like us, there was a lot of local trade being pushed in both directions. It was slow getting through the lines as everyone needed passports and paperwork sorted, and they were scanning baggage for prohibited items.
We saw multiple travelers having their China Lonely Planet book confiscated. Apparently the fact the book represents Tawain as independant makes it illegal for export. Curiously, we had no problems bringing them in. Toolman suspects that the Chinese border town has a bookshop that does a good trade in second hand Lonely Planet books...
We walked across the bridge with an assortment of tourists and locals, many pushing goods back and forth between the 2 border towns. Across the bridge we arrived in Lau Cai, Vietnam.
Good morning Vietnam!.......
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