Journey: Chinese Border - Muang La (2hrs), Overnight in Muang La, M.L - Kunming (18hrs), 4 days in Kunming, K.M - Dali (4hrs), 4 days in Dali, Dali - Li Jiang (8hrs), 2 days in Li Jiang, L.J - Kunming (16 hrs/due to bus crash), Flight Kunming - Vientiane Laos (1hr.), V.T - Vang Vieng (4hrs), 10 more days in Vang Vieng, V.V - Luang Prabang (8hrs), 3 more days in Luang Prabang, L.P - Nong Kiao (4hrs), N.K - Muang Noi by boat (1hr), 5 days in Muang Noi, M.N - N.K - Odomxai - Luang Nam Tha (8hrs), Overnight in L.N.T, L.N.T - Thai border Huei Xai (4hrs.), H.X - Chang Mei (3.5hrs) Overnight in Chang Mei, C.M - Mai Sariang - Mae Hong Son - Pai (3 days/driving motorbike through the mountains.) Total time for this journey, approx. 25 days...Phew!! It looks like a lot when you list the amount of hours traveled... It's no wonder I am vegging in Thailand at the moment and not wanting to move! Looking at my pictures and hearing about all the places I've seen in the past 4 months you might assume that I am the kind of traveler who likes to cram as much as possible into a short period of time. Really it's an art, this type of travel I mean... It takes a lot of energy, non-planning and lack of trusting instincts to pull off what I've done in the past month. Oh the stories to tell...
It all began with a coin toss and a rock fall. Sasha and I planned to go to China from Laos to meet up with her boyfriend Lloyd in Kunming, Yunnan province. Being the painfully awful decision maker that I am, I was debating on staying in Laos a little longer as China just didn't feel quite right. So I tossed a coin, and it landed tails on China. We went to the bus station and as the bus was minutes from leaving, we stood in the rain, Sasha wrote a C in the sand on one side of a big rock and L on the other, gave me a small rock and said "drop it." It, of course, landed on the C side... So I paid my 20,000 kip (2 bucks) and hopped on the bus to China.
Two days, 4 buses, a scary taxi ride, and much lack of sleep later, we arrived in Kunming, at 3 am. The woman at the front desk wouldn't let us see Lloyd in the dorms so we checked into a room and decided to kidnap him James Bond style. We tip toed past two guards and a hotel clerk, carefully working our way up the stairs and woke everyone up in the dorm, but we accomplished our mission, obtaining one surprised and sleepy Canadian boy.
We spent 4 days in clean and modern Kunming, doing I don't really know what... That much travel makes one delirious. We then headed to the old town of Dali. It is apparently one of the only places where one can get a true glimpse of old China. The town and buildings were charming but it seemed like somewhat of a theme park with travelers from all over the world eating in "Tibetan" style restaurants with vegetarian lasagna and brownies. The mountains are said to be spectacular in Yunnan province, we sadly could not see any due to the massive downpours of rain. I had a very unfortunate mishap involving a poorly run guest house and a crazy Chinese man, making me question what I was doing in this country, with public rest stop washrooms that need a sign which says "Beware, enter only with blindfold and gas mask," when I could be enjoying beer Laos and relaxing in Vang Vieng. Nevertheless we continued on.
We paired up with a couple from Holland and took a minibus to Li Jiang. Our goal was to see Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is supposed to only be around for a few more years due to plans to build dams and destroy the nature in the surrounding area. We drove past the oldest pagodas in China, where they were charging something crazy like 20 USD to enter, and continued on. We had strong hopes that the weather might be better in Li Jiang but sadly it wasn't, and it was colder. Unfortunately I started to get sick from the wet and cold and spent our first night sucking back inhalers and fighting off the hotel cat, who insisted on sleeping in my bunk bed. The following morning, I decided to turn around and go back to Laos.
I said a sad goodbye to Lloyd and my lovely travel partner Sasha before boarding the overnight bed bus to Kunming. This bus actually has three rows of bunk beds all along the bus, without any seats. It was a cozy bus ride, until in the middle of the night I woke up to the bus swerving, and a sound that can only be described as terrifying, as the bus collided with a transport truck and the highway's central railing. It was a little like a movie, people screaming and crying, the smell of leaking petrol, nobody knowing what to do... With only a small bruise on my leg, I left the bus to find the truck overturned, the metal coils it was transporting all over the road, along with its gas supply. Not surprisingly, people were smoking while standing in the gas puddle, so with my Chinese ability I told them how dangerous that was and luckily no one was blown up. Almost everyone seemed to be ok, most surprisingly the driver of the truck as it was crunched. The front of our bus was as well, and I heard later that our driver had lost his leg. It was truly one of those moments where you look over the other side of the highway, see the huge drop off and realize how incredibly lucky you are to be alive...
When I arrived in Kunming I changed my game plan of taking the 40 hour bus ride to Laos and hopped on the first flight back, which just happened to be an hour after I arrived. I made the flight, which also connected perfectly with the bus to Vang Vieng. Perhaps it was all the chaos of the previous night, but It wasn't until then that I realized I had a full blown respiratory infection and felt like I was going to die. I made it to the organic farm in a few pieces and said a quick hello to some friends before checking into a room and sleeping for 12 hours straight.
The next ten days were spent doing exactly what I needed; relaxing, laughing with friends and getting my health back on track. This return also gave me a chance to truly see what an impact the owners of the farm, the employees and the volunteers have on this community. It was so impressive to see the way in which this village was united and how everyone had so much interest and respect for the English class, run 4 times a week. I taught a few times and had a wonderful experience, getting to know the kids and the adults in the community. As fellow travelers know, its very rare to get an opportunity to have an authentic meeting with locals that are not working in the tourism business. I was happy to be a part of this and to be back in this amazing place.
A friend from Australia, Cam was still at the farm when I came back, so we decided that when he was finished his teaching contract with the farm, we would head north and travel together for a while. We left on the 27th after vegging in town for a day, getting a good dose of movies and friends episodes. We went to Luang Prabang and took a day trip to the waterfall that I had visited 3 years previous, and was now about 1/10th the size... From there we took a bus to Nong Kiao in the north of Laos, and then a boat to Muang Noi, our desired destination.
Muang Noi is a quiet and very undeveloped village which has streets of mud, is run on generators and has only been seeing tourists for probably less than 5 years. We found a bungalow with hammocks overlooking the river for a dollar a night (50 cents each.) On our second day we talked to some travelers who had visited the villages in the surrounding area and raved about how great it was. So we packed our bags and the next morning we headed out into the unknown. (I say the unknown because we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!)
We first visited a cave, about a half hour from town and hiked through rice paddies to the first village for lunch. We indicated that we wanted to hike to the village close to the waterfall, and a villager showed us the way to the path. He left us with a point uphill and a laugh saying "you go uuuuup!" Ok, how hard could it be? Three and a half up hill climbing hours later, knees shaking, skin burnt and only 100 mils of water left, we finally spotted the village. Both Cam and I are used to being stared at, that's the nature of being a foreigner in a foreign land, but this gave a new definition to "stare." When we entered the village, I think everyone came out of their house, and every child gathered around us. Luckily they understood "water" and people even said "you stay here!!" offering their houses for the night. We settled into one family's house and shortly headed off to the waterfall. About half of the kids, maybe 20 of them, surrounded us and then showed us the way. It happened to be straight downhill about 40 minutes walk, but the kids ran, in bare feet, I slid most of the way, mostly on my bum. When we finally got there, the waterfall was nice but all we wanted was to rest. 40 minutes later we were back at the house, fed a dinner of instant noodles and bamboo shoots and then attempted to go to sleep, when a group of mid 20s guys arrived with a boom box on one of the guy's shoulders. They played their music and sat in our room, very little was said due to the language barrier, it was all very bazaar. After an hour or so they said good bye and we got some much needed sleep.
The following day we hiked down the 3 hour mountain trail and made it back just in time for a massage in the first village. We made it almost the entire way back to Muang Noi when for the last 20 minutes we walked through torrential downpour and sloshed our way through the mud. We finally made it back and I had my first leech on my leg. There were a few travelers in the restaurant who looked horrified at the state we were in, no doubt rethinking their plans to venture into the void the following day.
From there its all travel talk, border crossing into Thailand, motorbike trip around the mountains of Mae Hong Son, and finally a chance to settle in Pai Thailand, where I am now. Cam stayed for 3 days, then to stay on schedule with getting back to Aus in time for the school semester, he had to leave. It was sad to say goodbye to another fantastic travel partner. That's the tough thing about traveling, always bidding farewell to good people... But there's always more lovely folk to meet right around the corner. I'll probably stay here for the next ten days, teaching Chi Gong and chilling out in my bungalow by the swimming pool of my guest house. Life.. Is good.
I am heading back to Taiwan on June 28th to teach summer camp and make some more money before going to India and Africa. If you're going to be in Taiwan, let me know so we can grab a coffee and swap stories.
Love and miss you all,
Kusuma aka Tiffany xo
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