Crossing the Border into Laos

OK so it has been a while since I posted, but the Internet has been tricky here on the border. We spent one full day in Jinghong, the least Chinese city I have ever been to. The architecture, language (in addition to Chinese), and the people are SE Asian.

We rented some bikes then tooled around the outskirts of the city. I caught my first sight of the Mekong, one of the world's great rivers, which I was pumped about. At dinner that night we complained to the waitress that Yunnan food was too bland and that we Hunnan people would want something spicier. They threw their best at us... and ya, it was spicy. While at dinner we met some Chinese guys, and after going home to change our clothes, we met them at a club on the less populated side of the river. The place was completely empty except for our new-found friends. As hard as we tried, there was no way to make this a party so we headed home early for our trip to Laos the next day.

The bus was already close to full by the time we boarded it at 11:30. The reputed Jinghong to Laos bus clearly had its true origins somewhere to the north. After clumsily taking my seat I got ready for the long trek south of the border. I passed the time by listening to audio books and pretending to be asleep.

After a few hours we stopped in Mengla, on the Chinese side of the border. All the passengers hopped off(I unfolded like an accordion) and got some stuff to eat. While we were gone our bus was packed with everything from Lays chips to some odd metal satellite looking things. It wasn't until then that I realized our driver had parked in the import/export section of Mengla's bus station.

Another hour and we were at the border. The Chinese building was a magnificently clean, new, and large hall where silence was required and the customs officials checked and rechecked each passport. Actually the guy who was in charge of our line was kind of an idiot and I noticed that he changed my name to GRAIG thinking that I had mistakenly written CRAIG. The Lao border... was a cement shack where people were jostling to get through the fastest. It was quite a disorderly process but, of course, we made it through.

The Laos countryside is gorgeous but impoverished. North of the border a giant highway cuts straight through the hills, cutting tunnels and hillsides away. In Laos the highway tries to meld with the hills. Instead of dominating the landscape, the highway makes you feel to be a part of it.

At the border some Laos people got on the bus, and one sat next to me. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that he pooped his pants right before he got on the bus. An hour after that we reached Luang Namtha. This tiny border town is full of foreigners in transit to or from China. We will spend the day today renting motorbikes and hopefully penetrating the countryside a bit. Tomorrow we will go farther south.
C. Johnson