February 4, 2008
Chiang Saen - Jinghong: A speed boat to China
It's chilly at five a.m. A hand full of sleepy, shivering passengers are waitingon the dock: one American and his wife, a Thai professor, three women from Singapore, the rest presumably Chinese or Thai and us. We board and the boat glides from the dock in darkness, no last views of the Thai shore.
We are served a breakfast of 'you tiao', a kind of deep fried bread, and sweet, hot soy milk. Then the stewardess and the rest of the crew, except for the captain I hope, take a little nap. The sun slowly rises over the hills and breaks through the clouds and the engines drone and the boat rocks as it navigates its way between the boulders in the bed of the Mekong.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Gradually the sun burns off the mist and we are treated to spectacular scenes: the water is a reddish brown with rapids and eddies, the mountains are covered with dense jungle of bamboo, white sandy river banks alternate with boulders in bizarre shapes, there is almost no river traffic and we seldom see a sign of human life on the banks. It's one of the most beautiful, no, most exciting boat trips I have ever taken.
At noon we are served a lunch of rice, spicy ground meat, a hard boiled egg and vegetables. After passing through Myanmar and Laos, it is around three p.m. when we enter China and stop for passport control. I am eager to take my first picture of China and thrust my camera out of the boat window. Predictably, I am told it's not allowed to take pictures at the border, but fortunately no one seems interested in confiscating the picture. The border police come on board and all passengers are photographed by a device which must be a camera but is shaped like a pistol and pointed at ones face. Crossing borders can be very unsettling even if you have your papers in order and aren't smuggling a thing.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
At five p.m. we arrive, in Jinghong I assume, and we are told to get on a bus into town. We tell the uniformed officials who are waiting for the boat that we would prefer to cycle into town. Our missing information: We are not yet in Jinghong. The water level is too low and we must be bussed to customs for immigration formalities before we go anywhere. Our bikes are put in a pick-up. It's a 27 kilometer, 40 minute bus ride and we are glad not to be cycling it at the end of this long day.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
After we pass through customs it is getting dark, we are in a new country, an unfamiliar city and we don't have a hotel. We are given directions to cross the bridge to the center of town. It isn't far and I am surprised to see how easy cycling is here. There isn't much traffic and we have wide bike lanes on Galan Lu, the main road with hotels.
Very soon we have found a hotel and breathe a sigh of relief. We are tired and just need a bite to eat before we go to bed. But the hotel wants us to pay in advance - uh oh, we have no Chinese currency. We try two ATM's but apparently they are turned off at 8 p.m. No money for the hotel, no money for food. Not a nice finish for the day. Fortunately the hotel has an interpreter available by telephone. No one at the reception of this very large hotel speaks English and my tired brain is not finding a single word in Chinese. After some palaver on the telephone we work out that we will give 100 dollars as security and the hotel will give us 100 Yuan (= 10 Euros) so we can get something to eat. A strange transaction, trading 100 dollars for 100 yuan. Nor do we get a receipt.
The day wouldn't have gone so well if it weren't for all the kindness and help we have been receiving - at the hotel, at the customs, from fellow passengers who helped us get our bags and bikes on the boat and off the boat, the women from Singapore who helped interpret and explain what was going on.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |