The bus finally left Kunming the previous evening at 7pm. Unfortanelty the sleeper bus I had booked was designed for Chinese people, and the beds were somewhat small. It was this point I knew it would be a long ride. I was right.
Chinese music was blasting out, so much so I couldn't even drown it out with my Ipod. When the music did stop, the TV was then put on....at full blast! Whilst all this was going on, the usual hawking was taking place (very common in China). Not sure where they were spitting, but I could have sworn I saw something green fly past by my bunk! This was also in addition to the non-stop smoking.
Several "breaks" were en-route, and I was subjected the toilets I have been warned about. The toilet was just an open drain with somewhere to put your feet either side and no privacy. I nearly threw up, the stench made my nose burn. Makes Glastonbury seem like luxury.
So after 12 hours, and remarkably getting some sleep, I finally turned up at Jinghong at 7:30 am. Thank god!!!
After half an hour caught another bus to Mengla, China near the Chinese border. After 3 more hours on a bus I got to Mengla, where, yep.....got yet another bus to the actual border of Laos which took another hour or so. This was a nice journey through some beautiful scenery and by this point my destination was not far.
After a short bit of paperwork at the Chinese border, a short ride Tuk-Tuk to the Laos immigrations I had finally made to Laos. Thank f**k!!!!!!
However, it didn't quite stop there. I then got a ride to Luang Nam Tha from a local driver along with 2 Chinese guys, a Japanese guy, the drivers wife and Mother, and several large bags of garlic. I didn't really care, he was going my way and he only wanted the equivalent of two pounds fifty.
Once in Laung Nam Tha, met a bunch of travellers.... 2 Canadians, 3Aussies, 1 German, and two English. We met up in the evening for drinks and to plan the next few days.
