Thursday, April 17, 2014
We both slept like logs. The last two days had been extremely exhausting and draining. And just as well, as we had a huge day.
Our hotel was located about 2kms from the customs checkpoint. At the checkpoint we stopped and got our carnet stamped and changed our remaining kip into Yuan. Caroline even convinced the lady at the bank to post our postcards for us. Kuipwagen and Ivor had a different import permit paperwork than us and they passed without any delay. It took about 5-10 minutes to get our carnet stamped, which was just enough time to have a short conversation with the customs officer, who was very nice.
Another 5kms down the road we went to immigration. Along the way we passed the ghost town which is Boten. It was a little bizarre actually. It was once a town with legalized gambling and flash hotels in the style of Las Vegas. But the gambling is no longer permitted and the town has died. Apparently some of the hotels are used to shelter cattle. We didn’t stop as we were on a mission, to leave Laos and enter China. And we were now in a convoy so some of our freedoms have been removed.
Once we got to the immigration building, we all parked and exited our respective vehicles and entered the building to join a short line. This is a busy little border crossing with quite some freight trucks heading North. I think we were the only tourists there, everyone else being truck drivers. So, 5-10 minutes later we had been stamped out. Drivers got back into the cars while passengers walked across the barrier. The entire process, including customs must have been less than 30 minutes.
This was also the last day of validity of our Laos visa. Apparently it is not a big issue if the visa expires, but does involve some more paperwork and some handing over of money. It was a good feeling to exit without overstaying. This had been another thing weighing on our mind the previous few days.
It was not long before we started the process to enter China. As we came around the corner we were confronted with a huge arrival terminal, far exceeding the facility we had just left from. Before we knew it, we were driving Sterlin through a chemical spray system. It was quite high-tech. We parked our dripping Sterlin next to the others and soon found Lun our Chinese Guide. Lun seemed very nice and clearly knew the process.
The Chinese officials were quite helpful. Our passports were scanned by a machine and our arrival/departure card was automatically printed up for us. Typically we spend 5 minutes trying to find a blank card. Then we queued up to be processed by an official. At stage things became a little confused, presumably because we were special. But soon we joined the correct line. After less than 10 minutes the drivers had paperwork for the cars and we had all been stamped in. Drivers headed back to the cars and passengers walked through.
Armed with our special piece of paper for car we drove across the barrier in very short order. We parked for about 10 minutes awaiting a customs inspection, which was extremely quick. So quick, I missed it. Lun gave the signal, we started our engines and we were off.
Emotionally we were all prepared for a long day of paper work and affiliated things but what d’you know: before we knew it we were in!!! Very positive experience! And we could do with that after the ‘excitement’ and uncertainty of the previous days!!All of a sudden we found ourselves in China, meaning that the SE Asia part of our trip was now officially over.
Given all of the excitement of the last 4 days, we weren’t that confident that we would make this crossing. And although China was not on our original plan, we were so happy to be here.
The border town was sparkling. A model for all good Chinese towns. The houses and gardens were clean and tidy. The roads had curbing and painting white lines. There were street lights. Such a stark contrast to Laos.Our official itinerary had us staying the night here in the border town as it assumed we would take all day to complete border formalities. But it was only around 11:30am, and we had already crossed, so it was quickly decided to proceed to Jinghong for the evening, another 176kms away. Jinghong is actually the planned stop for the third day. So on the first day, we had managed to bank 2 extra days. Not bad!Before we got to the hotel we stopped at the vehicle inspection and registration office in the next major town called Mengla. We arrived just before noon to find the entire place shutdown. The sign clearly shows that lunch starts at 11:30am and finishes at 3:00pm. But Lun did a little magic and found some helpful people (one of which even gave us a melon). The vehicles were inspected very quickly. The only test performed involved turing the wheel full lock in one direction and then in the other and repeating until told to stop. No idea what this was checking, but it satisfied the inspector. Then magically our temporary drivers licenses and car registration placards appeared. Including the hanging around, the process took maybe 30 minutes. And now it was time for lunch. Lun found us a great little hole in the wall restaurant and we had a delicious meal, family style. So nice to eat fresh greens again. I think we are going to like Chinese food. This was also the first decent meal we’d had in about 3 days, again due to the scrambling of the days before.
After lunch we travelled in convoy to the hotel. Only the first car (or truck in this case) actually knew where we were going. We were stopped for a random inspection on the highway, I had to show my drivers license and registration card, both of which were only 30 minutes old. Lun was on hand to help with any translations.
The road to Jinghong was very pretty. It is always nice to drive on mountain roads. We did spend most of our time driving along a highway, making gazing a little more difficult. The forest was very green, and most of it had not been cut down (another contrast to Laos and Cambodia).Once at Jinghong, we Quickly settled into our hotel, which was quite nice. 30 minutes later we had our first evening conference and discussed the plans for the next day. We all agreed quickly to yet another change and improvement on the original plan. We headed off to a ATM to get cash, then a shop to get food supplies and then off to China mobile to get SIM cards. And then we all had dinner together. We are doing everything together becoming quite friendly! (should I worry?).
In summary a huge and very successful day.
