We were to leave Laos at 10pm to go to China on a sleeper bus. The bus station was a fair way out of town and at a sort of Lao diner. There were 2 other westerners(americans) waiting as well.
When we booked our bus ticket the lady at the travel agent told us we could only book a ticket to just over the border (Mohan) and then would have to get a new bus and ticket there. Very easy she says.
We get talking to the Americans and they have been sold a ticket all the way to Kunming- which was where we intended to go. We were a little perplexed at this stage. Anyway we waited and waited for the bus. It arrived a little after 11pm. Then everyone got off for a dinner break. Half an hour later we were on our way.
The first thing we noticed about the bus was that it said it was going all the way to Kunming. Thankfully our new American friends knew Mandarin and asked the driver if we could change our ticket to get to Kunming. Eventually, its a long story, but we were allowed to stay on the bus and made it the whole way.
It was a long, long trip and 32 hours after boarding the bus we arrived at our destination. The border crossing was a lot easier than I imagined. However, we were to stay at the border for around 3 hours. This is where we got to taste our first real chinese food. It was quite an experience because we know none of the language. So it was a pointing affair. We pointed at a vegetable and a meat and the next thing you know we had a stirfry before us!
The food we had on the trip was some of the best chinese we have had so far.
