Crossing the Chinese-Lao border

Chinese immigration

50 days in China, it was time to cross the Chinese-Lao border in Mohan/Boten. We slept the night before on the Chinese side in one of Mohan's many hotels. That night we declared the end of Chinese food. We felt like having something different, something more spicy and fresh. Time for Thai food! What a taste, what a difference to the Chinese taste! And more good food was to come just across the border.

Before we continued to the border we had rice noodle soup for breakfast. Baozi are no longer available, people eat rice noodle soups in this part of China. The Chinese immigration office was just a few hundred meters away at the end of the road. Buses from Kunming or Mengla on their way to Luang Prabang lined up, waiting for the passengers to get through immigration procedures. As we were not allowed to bring the bicycles into the immigration building, we went in one after the other to get our stamp-out. The immigration building is a top modern building with latest electronic devices. To speed-up the process there was a computer that scanned our passports and printed the pre-filled departure cards. Generally speaking, a fantastic idea but the machine failed. The computer was unable to recognise our first names or passport numbers. After the first official had tried with the computer, another official tried his luck as well. Same result. They must have lost their confidence in that poor machine.

Outside Chinese tourists made their typical "victory" pose by the pole with the Chinese flag and took photographs. You could see the laid-back attitude of the officials here, nobody intervened. Anywhere else in China it would be impossible to take photographs at an official check-point or border crossing.

The chinese part was done and it was very easy. We cycled some hundred meters further and arrived at the Lao immigration building. The difference was jaw-dropping! While the Chinese have a multi-level, top-modern building, the Lao people have nothing more than a small and old building. Their electronic equipment wasn't the best either. It reminded us of the Kazakh-Chinese border in Korgas.

Laos immigration on the left

At the border we filled in a visa form that required our "pass sport number", one passport photo, 270 Yuan per person and we got our visa-on-arrival right away without any problems. One counter further our passports were stamped. Strangely many Asian people put money into their passports. A French couple and us didn't imitate them but we got our stamp-in anyway. Zai Jian China! Sabai-Dee Laos! You are country number 7!

Xishuangbanna

Total distance: 5600 km
Mengman - Menghai - Jinghong - Menglun - Mengla - Mohan

Yunnan's southern part is a special one. It's different to what we have seen so far and the name already sounds strange: Xishuangbanna. Sorry what? I simply refer to it as the Banana Republic and nomen est omen there are even more banana plantations than anywhere else in Yunnan. We rode through so many wide banana plantations that you couldn't see anything else.

2 cycling days before Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna prefecture, we were welcomed by a gate that didn't look Chinese any more but rather Thai style. Besides the Chinese signs and English letters a third language - is it Thai? - appear on road signs, shop signs etc. The buildings are more and more wooden houses built on stilts. Every now and then monks in the orange robes whiz by on their scooters.

Our next stop was in Jinghong where the Mekong flows through. After we checked into the International Youth Hostel we went out looking for food. And Hallelujah, people here use fish sauce! Fantastic! It feels like home. We had cold rice noodles and fresh papaya salad. Apart from "exotic" food Jinghong's architecture and streets are "exotic" too. The big buildings look absolutely Southeast-Asian. Streets are full of palm trees like in Cannes or Nice but there is a significant difference. Here in Jinghong you have to watch out for coconuts!

Jinghong

We stayed in Jinghong for 4 days, relaxing and enjoying the benefits of the last big Chinese city on our trip. On our last day there were suddenly two bicycles besides ours. Hmm, they looked very familiar. Surprise, surprise, the cyclists' world is so small, they belonged to Regula and Reto, two Swiss cyclist who we had met some weeks ago on our way from Chengdu to Leshan. Their plan is to cycle to Laos as well. So it's certain that we'll meet them again, probably in Luang Prabang.

When we left Jinghong it was a nice ride along the Mekong river. Since we have entered Xishuangbanna we can truly say that we are in the jungle. It's hot again and we can hardly believe that it is winter in France and Germany when we speak with our families and friends. Cold? Winter jacket? Impossible! At least on this year's tour! Did we mention bananas? On the way from Jinghong to the Lao border there are even more banana plantations. If not bananas, you find pineapples or rubber trees.

In Menglun we had to squeeze in an emergency pause. No idea what was wrong with our dinner or water but the night was horrible and dinner ended up in the toilet. That was the start for my distaste for Chinese food. Don't get me wrong, Chinese food was delicious, but after 50 days in China and that dinner in the toilet I was glad that our days in China were coming to an end.

Yunnan said good-bye with some serious stretches of climbs. While in the North of Yunnan we moved between 1000 m and 2400 m above sea level, Xishuangbanna ranges between 500 m and 1200 m. It sounds like only downhill all the way? That's far from it! There were countless mountains in between and we climbed and climbed and climbed... well, we had some pretty awesome downhill parts as well :)

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