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August 3, 2006
A Dip in Morale :-( Xing into China :-)
LOCATION: Lao/Chinese border
SEE WHERE WE ARE!
Longitude: N: 21.15302°
Latitude: E: 101.67260°
Miles from Singapore: 2397
It's been a tough time these last few hundred kilometres leading up to the border between Laos and China. The combination of pedaling all day up these moutains and the road at times disintegrating into a dirt track has been trying enough. But add the torrential rains that have lasted all day, every day, turning the road into a muddy bog, and morale has been strained to the max, even to the point of Melissa seriously considering throwing in the towel.
At the time of writing however I am glad to report that she has steeled herself against rain, mud and gravity and pushed herself that magic 'extra mile' to the border here. It would have been a real shame if she had packed it in and taken the bus back to Vientianne. Plus, I'm convinced she would have regretted the decision some time from now, looking back with the benefit of hindsight when the more uncomfortable aspects of the trip will have faded with time, and she would have wondered 'what if I had just pushed myself that little bit extra....'.
Now she will have the privilege of knowing.
Crossing the border was a surreal affair. After a minor spat with the immigration officials on the Lao side (who decided to relieve their chronic boredom by yelling at two overheating and tired cyclists who parked their bikes in the WRONG muddy pothole outside the immigration shack), we bit our tongues and rode the 1km over no man's land to the Chinese side. Very different story! The fancy new road and bizarre avenue of brightly coloured business and residential buildings framed by immaculately manicured lawns and shrubs made for a very different impression to the shambolic Lao side. A kind of Disneyland meets the jungle. Which is the whole point of course. Showing off wealth and progress is very much a Chinese thing apparently. Go a few metres past the Agricultural bank at the bottom of town and the pavement segues abruptly back to muddy potholes, and the fancy architecture reverts back to decrepid old concrete block shacks that look like they've been there since the cultural revolution.
The immigration officials took 15 mins to check alternative forms of my ID and whisked away my passport to the boss in the backroom to check the validity of the visa with Hong Kong (where it was issued). Hong Kong is the only place where it's possible to get a 6-month multiple entry visa with the minimum of fuss. I doubt they get many such visas presentated at this remote border post, hence the raised eyebrows. Anyway, bottom line is I got my entry stamp, good for 6-months, and Melissa has her 15-day 'visa on entry'. So she'll need to renew as soon as we reach Kunming in a week.
jason
Posted on August 3, 2006 7:39 AM