Hanoi

Since I'm running a little behind, just a slide show of Hanoi for the moment

Kunming, China

Kunming is a real city, maybe not as big as Hong Kong, but a city it is. From the bus station we took a cab to the Kunming Youth Hostel, Rutger told us to go. However, the hostel turned out to have moved. After a while we found the new location, but it was fully booked (that is: the cheap room were fully booked, the $20 rooms were available. However, the girl was so nice to call another option from the Lonely Planet guide ahead and ask if they had some available rooms which they had. However, when we turned up at the Kunming University Hotel, the girl at the counter told us that we were at the wrong place (we couldn't check the name since it was in Chinese ;-), so we headed out. On the street we saw a Western couple that turned out to be Dutch. We asked them if they knew where the hotel was (since the girl at the counter had not really been that helpful other than pointing at the door). They told us that it was the building we had just left, and that they had had the same experience that morning. The second the time we entered, the same girl all of a sudden helped us! Welcome to China!

Next morning, we decided to hook up with Joris and Mignon (the couple that had helped us secure the room) and find a way to travel to Vietnam. First we went to a travel agency to see whether we could book a flight to Hanoi. However, these turned out to be somewhat above our budget. Joris came up with the idea of renting a van together to travel to the Vietnamese Border while allowing us to visit the XXX rice fields. The Lonely Planet directed us to the office of Mr. Lee who could indeed arrange such a trip. For $170 we got a van, a driver, gas and toll paid for a nice scenic trip to Vietnam!

However, that trip would not start until we had seen some of Kunming. The Blackpool park and some nice temples.

Dali and the bustrips

The trip from Lijiang to Dali was actually easier than we expected. We took a cab to the station, and waited in a huge line. Although the girl at the counter didn't speak much English, she did understand Dali, and two fingers: we got two tickets to Dali! The bus (picture left) and trip in the bus, were great: the views and the experience of travelling in a local bus with Chinese (who might not have been so happy with those tall and large foreigners.


Leaving the bus, we were immediately 'welcomed' by a dozen taxi drivers (most who gave up after realizing that two Western tourists with bags, will probably not share a motor cab). One girl was the most happy insisting guest house driver and brought us to her family's guesthouse (see picture left). When we arrived, the family was decorating the place for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Dali is just not Lijiang. It is nice, it has some cute buildings (including the wall and towers), but is just isn't as cute as Lijiang is.Tip: the Tibet cafe might donate part of the revenue to charity, better to just donate the money and forget the food: awful is not enough to describe the greasy food they serve. Better food was found at a place on the other side: you can see Anna smile and they even let me take a picture of the kitchen.

After one short day in Dali, we headed off to Kunming. This time in a larger bus. Although the Lonely Planet had advised to tale the train, the girl from the guesthouse explained us that the train takes around 10 hours, while the bus covers the distance in around five hours: an easy choice. Fortunately, the karaoke set remained unused and the movie was The Rock, with Chinese subtitles!

Lijiang, China

The best start of a flight is when you find out that the airline from which you have a frequent flyer gold card has an alliance with the airline you are flying with. In this case, China Southern just joined the Skyteam alliance (KLM/AirFrance). This meant we could check in without standing in line, wait and eat in the lounge, were brought to the airplane in a luxury van and our seats were nicely separated from the rest (and the business class, it was no upgrade, just special). In Kunming we made a short stop and were asked to leave the plane. When we arrived in the arrival hall, the staff told us the use the exit and then go to the departure hall. Which we did (expecting it not to be a good plan). When we turned up at the China Southern desk in the departure hall, the nervous reaction of the young lady at the desk told us that it had indeed not been such a great idea.We were rushed through the staff entrance/security check and ran to the plane. We just made it.

At Lijiang airport we met two Australian guys who offered to share a cab with us. A cab with a female driver.....no I'm not having any issues with female drivers, but she definitely had an issue with driving. If this one is representative for all female drivers, the world is in great danger! On a two lane (four lane in both directions) road, she tried to drive exactly in the middle of the two, cars coming up from behind were not ignored, just not never noticed. Head lights were big lights. Fortunately, the speed never came over 30 km/h...

Our Aussie new found friends knew of a place they stayed the year before. However, on arrival it turned out the place had doubled its prices (trippled for the 'luxury' rooms). Fortunately for us, the entrepreneurial neighbour had decided to turn his small house in a guesthouse. No heating of the room but a lot of blankets and a heated bed (although we did not dare to leave it on at night).

Lijiang is probably one of the most picturesque towns in China, or since this is my first Chinese town, just a very picturesque town inhabited by a minority people. Tourists are mainly Chinese: during the day with huge cameras, at night drunk and vomiting on the street. (ok, the picture is not really of the pitoreque part, but still)


At night the town is lit by orange electric lights that make it look like the town is lit by candles. Fire is not appreciated though, the houses are made of easy flammable wood. The big thing is a small canal with bars on both sides. Waitresses sing songs and try to sing more loud than the other side, thus making it a song contest.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is great! After being in airplanes and on airports for more than 14 hours, a fast train brought us to Kowloon station. Here we took a cab to the notorious Chungking Mansions, where we were welcomed by some cheerful young men who were kind enough to try to help Anna with her luggage ;-). After receiving a dozen offers for nice guesthouses we decided to come with Paul (a friendly 40+ chinese guy) to his guesthouse on the 7th floor. The building is shabby, dirty and dirty again (see the picture of Anna in the hall for the lift). But then again, that's Chungkin Mansions!

Next day, we started with a coffee at the famous Knowloon coffee bar Starbucks :-), and then to the island to get our visum for Vietnam. The neighbourhood to walk through is nice and strange: you see modern officebuildings combined with old shabby apartment blocks (like you see on the picture left). The rest of the day we continued cruising the city with our nice Oyster card (electronic travel pass that unlike the Dutch system has been in use for ages ans is working perfectly). We ended the day with drinks in the Hong Kong Soho area. The night ended with the ferry trip back to Kowloon where we took the Hong Kong at night picture below.

Although the next day had many, many highlights, I'm not gonna share them (sorry, probably forgot most since I'm typing this blog 3 weeks after in Nha Trang, Vietnam....). One Highlight was the filmset we ended up: we just went for a drink to the Island when the street in front of the bar we were sitting, turned into a movie set (probably cheap soap opera but still). While enjoying our drinks, we witnessed a you man in a suit, opening the car door for a lady and letting her step in. Then, he moved around the carm got in and drove off. This was repeated and repeated and repeated....

On Friday we left Hong Kong by bus to catch a plane in Shengzhen. Goodbye Hong Kong, see you in 5 weeks!