China When we crossed into China, we were in for a quick shock. It had been fairly straightforward to get around most of South-East Asia, and most stores had signs written in English or French. In China, all the signs were in characters. It was weird at first, but we learned a dozen words, pointed,
China
When we crossed into China, we were in for a quick shock. It had been fairly straightforward to get around most of South-East Asia, and most stores had signs written in English or French. In China, all the signs were in characters. It was weird at first, but we learned a dozen words, pointed, and got around fairly well.
Our first experience was trying to eat. We found a restaurant and sat down. Immediately we received tea. Okay good, we can drink anyway. We then waited for a menu, but none came. Feeling a bit perplexed, a new friend (who spoke English) pointed out that we had to "select our food". Alright, I thought. How hard can this be?
We were led to a large buffet table, where in amongst plates of vegetables, there was a full aquarium, and piles of tofu and various meats (at other restaurants there were large cages filled with various rodents). I carefully selected several veggies, and pointed at some noodles. The waitress scribbled this down, then asked me a very pointed question "how do you want this prepared?"
I was confused now, so I suggested boiling. She looked disgusted (Actually she was disgusted with our interpreter friend). She finally agreed to make a noodle soup, but stopped me from sitting again, because I had not selected enough items. Frustrated, I pointed at some potatoes, and some mystery meat. She seemed much happier, and then asked me how I wanted these new items prepared. I was ready to not eat, as I stood in the street mimicking a man standing at a stove frying. She seemed confused by my pantomime, but I got it cooked.
After this we were in for another surprise. We found the bus station (and the lady who ran it spoke a little English). We asked for a bus to Kunming, and she showed me a layout of the bus, and asked me to select where I wanted to be. I looked at the picture and commented that there were only 28 seats. "No" she corrected "28 beds"
In China, there is the wonderful sleeper bus. For long distances, buses are equipped with bunk-bed style sleeping arrangements. It was very reasonably priced, and allowed a person to get a night’s sleep. What was bad about these buses, is that it is perfectly acceptable to smoke, which everyone did all night long. It was also very common for everyone to spit on the floor of the bus. In retrospect, we laugh about this, but at the time we were very worried about our packs, which were rolling around under our bed – through the butts and spit. Later that night, we discovered the Chinese symbols for male and female bathrooms, the hard way….
When we arrived in Kunming, we had just spent 12 hours on a bus, so we quickly found a room. To find our hostel, we had to get a lady who spoke a little English to write down the address in Chinese for us to show the cab driver.
Note: if you go to China, I suggest you buy a phrasebook before-hand.
We found a room, and then found the Laos embassy. Once again we left our passports, and spent two days roaming Kunming while our Visas were processed.
Once we had permission to enter Laos, we took a 30 hour sleeper bus to Mengla, and then caught a mini-Van to the border. We really didn’t see much of China, and can justify this by eventually coming back. It was beautiful for what we saw, and I know when we return, we will be more ready to deal with this unique society.