goodbye lonely planet

the hotel in Sapa makes me an early breakfast and walks me up to the car [there is road construction so there is not access to the hotel] they arranged to take me to the Vietnam border at Lao Cai. the border crossing is easy enough then the fun starts. i find the bus station but no chance they are taking dollars or want my leftover Vietnamese dong. no bank or atm that i can identify and i end up getting my fresh cash from a black marketer on the street corner. we haggle a bit and i know it isn't a good rate but i need 143 yuan FAST to get back to the station for the bus to Kunming or i will be waiting 4 hours for the next bus in a very hot, very dirty bus station.

this is a rarely used border crossing for westerners so i am thrilled to see a western couple and then i am approached by a girl from Taiwan who speaks mandarin. BINGO this is like hitting the lottery so i know all those extra prayers mom is says must be working. or maybe it's the lucky coin i got from the fortune teller. or the blessing from the shaman. or is it?

the bus makes a toilet stop and it is like nothing i have seen or smelt since i have been in SE Asia. i see this billboard and think i have seen nothing to indicate that todlers or even adults here use any type of container to relieve themselves.   you would think that i would be used to bad toilets by now but this is a whole new level. also, the girl next to me on the bus is vomiting alot but that i have become used to that for the most part.

during one of the bus stops [it is an 9 hour ride] the Taiwanese girl asks me if i know of a cheap hostel in Kunming. i am thinking that she wants to stay there so i say the other westerners have a good recommendation for a $3US hostel. she asks if i will follow them and i say no. then she says she is very concerned about my traveling without any of the local language because no one will speak English to me. i tell her i have been traveling for months and i am sure i will get by.

later sitting alone on the bus with my ipod the doubt starts to set in. my first day in china. what if i can't make anyone understand me? what if i can't find a hotel? what if something happens that i am not prepared for? what if there is a danger my mind can not even think of? what if? what if? when i get into Kunming i get around with zero problem. i am so pissed at myself. it makes me want to cry that i let some random traveler project her fears onto me after all this time.  i vow to never let this happen again whether i am traveling or not.

 

the ride from the border to Kunming takes us through the Stone Forest.  created 60 million years ago when the Himalayas shrugged, the 'forest' resembles a vast ghostly city looming out of the landscape. 

last stop vietnam

really rough morning. arrived at the train station with no warning at 4:30AM. touts banging on our door trying to sell us minivan tickets into Sapa. by the time we get into a hotel in Sapa it is 7AM.  i get online and several people skype me as i have been out of touch for about a week.  i am in a really bad mood.  i am in a remote area of Vietnam with only 3 days left on my visa and no good plan on how to get overland through China to Hong Kong in the time frame i need for my return flight to the US. i am very cranky that i have to leave and i warn everyone i am talking to of my bad mood.

Sapa is postcard beautiful. a lush valley surrounded by slopes of tiered rice paddies and small villages of ethnic minority hill tribes with rich cultural traditions completely different from the Vietnamese.

 it is an oasis in the chaos that is Vietnam and made even better because i spend a few days with a really great couple from Belfast who shared their train berth with me.  one day we hire bikes and a guide [to drive mine] and cruise around to caves, villages and a waterfall.  the Hmong women at the caves smell cash and swarm all over Nicky and Michael.  our guide is a wealth of information and we quiz him about the culture and customs of the tribes.  he warns the women of some tribe have magic herbs which can make a man fall in love with the women.     

fellow travelers are giving me a tough time about leaving for China without a lonely planet guide. in Cambodia and Vietnam there is a micro industry of copying books and selling them cheap. so you can get a lonely planet copy for $1US - $3US. i have a whole list of excuses for them like i am too cheap or it is too heavy [lp china is 3 inches thick] or Chinese border officials are quite likely to take away a LP China and they have good solutions for every excuse. the truth is i am tired of relying on LP. i want to see if i can run the gauntlet of scams and the language barrier on my own plus i have the words Nick had written down for me.

i desperately need to know as this trip comes to an end that i have pushed myself outside my comfort zone and been open to experiences that come along instead of manufacturing them or relying on the experience of a LP writer.

throughout this trip i have used my instincts to guide me and it has served me well so i think i can rely on this to get me to Hong Kong. although when it's 1AM and i am still trying to book a flight from Kunming to Shenzhen i am cussing China before i even get there. i end up paying an extra $50US to book via Expedia because the websites for the Chinese airlines don't take credit cards. i am still pissed about the inflated price of Chinese visas for Americans and so if i hadn't paid for the visa i would skip China.