1. Laos – China’s border, immigration
at Chinese side was unbelievable. First time ever an officer gone thru again
and again my passport. She wasn’t satisfied the first officer who took my
passport for inspection. She questioned me if I were in china for some other
purposes. It was the longest ever I stand in front of officer waiting for her
clearance to let me in.
Boten to JiunHong has the most impressive highway with at least 20
tunnels. The longest has 4 km. Also first minor bus accident in China – I was
wondering why people just grab their bags and left hitchhiking on the street
and then found out a minor accident like that can be 2 hours long waiting for
district police and insurance agent to solve the problems.
2. JiunHong – I have been to the
smelliest toilet ever for first time, and get to see squat toilet without door.
JiunHong to Dali – My first night sleeper bus. The bus has 3
double-decker sleepers in a row.
3. Dali – Been watching too many old
ancient Chinese – Hong Kong series, I finally get to experience the old ancient
town, like it but feel like it was new with an old style buildings.
Frustrating, you must pay “super” expensive admission fees to every
tourist spot in China. One good highlight, we were hiking mountain by-pass the
ticket counter thru the apple farm and saved us 30 yuan admission fees.
Dali – Kunming – China’s train soft sleeper was comfy but journey has
been whole night and train can be quite expensive way of travelling. Even
surprisingly, night sleeper bus and train have nearly similar prices. Of
course, train is far more comfy.
4. Kunming – A great day spent drinking
with a mate. A long day waiting for train, got into a hostel and pretending you
were staying there, using their free wifi, and shower – sweet…
Also a nightmare for my mate who has been puking and shitting same time
on the train toilet.
5. Yangshuo – It was the best stop so
far, with cool people and a lot more fun. Been to 20 yuan note’s scenic area
and also very impressive (or maybe not as I been to one in Vietnam) rice paddy
fields. The best was Monkey Janes’s bar.
6. Hong Kong – Impressive with its
buildings. Didn’t do much of travelling. The best part was 7 eleven’s pub
crawls with cool people. Hostel has been the worst compared to China.
Apparently China has much better hostel than Hong Kong and Macau.
7. Macau – Not so impressive, similar
to Genting Casino.
8. Guangzhou – A lesson learnt, to buy
train ticket in advance. Stuck a day in town, looking for an accommodation
without internet and no guide book. Don’t quite like the town.
9. Shanghai – Tried the Jian Long Pao,
which was very nice and like it a lot. Got into a disco for free and free flow
of spirits. A fun night with cool people. Taste funny but no complaints. Been
to people park, found that parents are looking matches for their daughters and
sons. Hmm, arranged marriage still happening. Also tried the first bullet train
to Hangzhou, up to 170 km/h.
10. Hangzhou – The most touristy area in
China, get to see tour groups wearing the same caps following different colour
of flags. Again, thinking of getting to Beijing but no luck with last minute
bookings. The best to arrange train to Tianjin but failed to book accommodation
for the night, slept on couch back in hostel. It was freezing but staffs have
been very nice, provided warm quilt and it’s free.
11. Tianjin – Jump on a bullet train to
Beijing, the fastest train ever tried so far, speed up to 330 km/h.
12. Beijing – Secret wall has been one
of the impressive tour, expensive but worth-it. It is unrestored great wall, very
original and no other tourists, very tranquil.
Have learnt a trick, use non-chinese character identity card, or driving
licence with photo can get you a student’s discounted admission fees. It has
saved few hundreds yuan so far in China.
Tianmen square has been the most heavily guarded place ever in China so
far. Police and army are everywhere, every entry to the square needed xray,
army armed with bullet proof vest at night. Curiosity; is Beijing the safest or
the most dangerous place in China? Of course, the safest.
Silk market has been the best place to shop for fake stuff. Bargain is a
satisfaction also a disappointment when you realized you can get even cheaper.
13. Xian – Army Terracotta, has been
popular but didn’t find it so impressive.
14. Lanzhou – Planning to go Xiehe but
failed to get in as area closed due to Tibetan things. Very dusty town. A
Muslim town.
15. Xining – A stop-by town for Yushu.
Very dusty place.
16. Mardu – Worst night ever this trip;
At altitude of 4300 metres, I got headache, diarrhoea, nausea, and freezing
cold.
A Tibetan lady invited us to her very Tibetan house, having a yak tea. First
time hitchhiking, but China has been different, you need to pay for
hitchhiking.
17. Yushu – Very Tibetan snowy town. Saw
the Tibetan monasteries, mountains decorated with praying flags and stones. The
most unusual is the sky burial site – Tibetan would place the dead body in an
open air and cut the body and feed the birds. Second time hitchhiking but for
free this time. Saw the first china’ riot police car, looks like a safe car but
with camera and water canon on top. Police – armed patrolling the town.
Yushu to Ganzi – It was the most tiring and longest journey but
worth-it. The bus has been very bumpy (sit-dancing) all the way for 14 hours
(300 km) – a disco bus huh? It has the most impressive scenic and snowy
mountains - one of the best of China.
18. Ganzi – again very Tibetan. The best
monastery I have been so far. The town is another heavily guarded place, maybe
more than Beijing’s Tianmen square. Fully armed police, riot police car, and
army barracks and army everywhere. According to Tibetan monks, army has moved
in last year and has temporary setup the barracks just outside the monastery.
Monks want to be independent but China has different views? Hey, they even got
the bunkers setup along the bridge.
Ganzi – Chengdu – The worst longest bus trip ever. Bus broke down in
middle of dusty and windy road, trucks accident and blocked the whole road and
the worst road conditions ever seen in China. The journey took 20 hours(700 km)
long pain sitting on the bus instead of 14 hours that been told. Glad to be back to Chengdu.
19. Chengdu – Dealing with Chinese bureaucratic
over visa extension. My visa was near expired in 2 days and I have to rush 2
hours bus to Leshan to renew my visa. Despite Chengdu has bigger PSB, they were
full of bureaucratic. Also the most unproductive trip ever, waiting for Tibet’s
permit; I have been staying in hostel doing nothing but online and enjoying tasty
Sim’s famous cheese ham burger with egg.
Seen the icon of china, the panda breeding centre; Pandas have been so
cute by the way they eating while lying back.
Chengdu – Lhasa, Tibet – Some Chinese had been so fucking idiots. Okay,
I am Asian, but were I looked like translator or a tour guide to Westerner.
Lost counts of how many times I had been asked past 2 months. Asian travel in
China has been hard compared to Westerner, in term of respects.
The highest, the longest train journey ever so far, 43 hours climbing to
peak 5000m plus above sea level. Awesome. How to spend the time on the train?
Watching a few movies I downloaded the other days and it has been great
accompanying for me. Hey, they did provide the oxygen tube for each of the
person, the one I usually found in the hospital.
20. Leshan – Big buddha, big but nothing
impressive.
21. Lhasa – Very Chinese, we were restricted
to go monastery by ourselves, armed police and army everywhere, spy camera
everywhere. Potala palace has been
amazing. Jokhang monastery is great,
Tibetan are passionate about their religion.
Lhasa to Shigatse – It has been tiring trip; maybe we were drinking a
bit too much the night before. But, the Yamtrok Lake has been amazing, very
blue. We stopped in Gyantse, nothing impressive but just another small town.
22. Shigatse – an overnight stop to Mt.
Everest base camp. I decided to skip the Shigatse Monastery. I was started to
get bored with monastery after so many I seen past few weeks.
23. Mt. Everest Base Camp – Mt. Everest
looks smaller than what I expected. But it was cool to overnight in the tent.
Feeling wasn’t great when night was freezing. Not a good night, slightly heavy
breathing but no headache. It was a great experience.
Mt. Everest’s base camp to Zhangmu – Views had been amazing, from snowy
mountain to desert to very green and waterfall. Frustrated with road block.
According to local, the Chinese army was trying to show their power and block
any Tibetan’s car to pass thru. We had been waiting for two hours.
24. Zhangmu – China – Nepal’s border
town. An overnight stop. It was nothing but surprised to see prostitutes
everywhere on the street; very rare to see elsewhere in China.
End of China
