Day 11 was a wipeout for me as i was coughing horribly and decided to spend the day in bed gobbling amoxicillin and drinking water Sadly (Alan Graham take note) i missed the trip to the rice wine distillery. Staying in bed, however, was most beneficial as I woke up this morning feeling much better.
Goodbye Laos – lovely country – or as Manu in Off the Grid, says about NZ “ah Laos”.
Day 12: Leisurely morning and then on the train to Kunming – our first stop in China. Kunming is the wild mushroom capital of China and I can still remember the taste of them from the last time i was here (which was in about 2008) with colleagues from Tsinghua University.
The train station is a part of the Chinese belt and road initiative. We build your trains and stations and you are in debt to us for many many years. And of course the train station roof is leaking like a sieve – big red buckets everywhere. This train trip is also different to the last more carefree ones. We were grilled by the train guard about our lack of visas (we don’t need them). move passage down). However , the seats are comfy and the view from the train spectacular
Apart from the bureaucracy, this is the slowest high-speed train I have ever been on – around 35kmh. At this rate the 650km will take us 25 hours.
Looking out the window there have been huge slips and trucks bogged in the mud. One house was floating down the river. This might explain the slow speed.
Border crossings are mostly an hour of hell – a scrum with no regard for the elderly etc.
Finally, arrived in Kunming after midnight and taken to our hotel. Late start tomorrow.
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