Into a New Realm

I arrived into China two days ago, all safe and sound. The train to Lao Cai and subsequent border crossing went without a hitch.Hardly any people speak English here, and the few that do are an immense help. Luckily for me a Chinese guy showed me to an ATM and the bus station, and got me on the right bus to Yuanyang (I had to pay him a bit, but oh well). Once on the bus, I was lucky to be sitting in front of another guy that spoke English, and he was a great help, telling me a bit about the country and what to expect. The bus ride was interesting; it was completely packed with people, food, cargo, and roosters (that crowed all the way to Xinje). I was a little confused when the bus seemed to be taking the back roads, all the while an empty superhighway was in plain sight. There were no stops made, or no tolls missed, so I don't know what the logic was there. When we were on the highway, it was pretty impressive. Large sections of it are built like a viaduct, basically large concrete, bridge-like structures that hug the mountainside. And there were long stretches of tunnel that bored through the mountains. It made Canadian highways look like a joke. The last thirty kilometeres, however, were completely opposite. We climbed up a road precariously perched on the side of a mountain, a three hundred meter cliff right below my window. The bus tore on like a madman, dodging vehicles barely small enough to fit on the tight road. Everytime we took a corner I prayed we wouldn't tip over from the improperly sloped bumps in the road. All in all, the scariest bus ride ever.

 

Once I arrived in Xinje, main town of the Yuanyang region, I was reminded a little of Dharamsala in India. Steep roads and staircases snake up the slopes of the mountains, connecting the many two and three story buildings to one another. Tons of little shop fronts sell everything from fruit to cell phones. I was lucky enough to find another person that spoke English, and luckily she had a guest house for me to stay in. Being here the past few days has been a little frustrating. First of all, like I said before, hardly anyone speaks English, which can make things a little difficult. And the food, while good, is not geared towards a single consumer. Every time I go to eat I'm stuck ordering one single thing and getting a giant dish of it. And the hell with eating fish from now on, it seems like Chinese don't know how to de-bone it. The lack of information is trying as well, there's no form of maps or anything, so finding things in town is difficult, like this an internet cafe, which took me two days and an Irish girl to find. Unfortunately for me, a thick fog bank rolled in the morning after I arrived, dashing my hopes of seeing the famous rice terraces here. I did manage to find an afternoon break in the fog to take a walk and see a few of them, but a sunset/sunrise tour is out of question, and I can't commit anymore time here, so I have to leave somewhat empty handed. My patience has seriously been tested here, but I'm doing my best to not let these inconveniences ruin my impression of China, for there's still a massive country to see. I do have the feeling, however, that I've crossed a magic line between Southeast and Northern Asia; one that divides two different kinds of travel. In Thailand, a blind, deaf mute could find their way around the country, and in Laos, even though it's very poor, it's not difficult to find someone that speaks English. I'm almost glad to leave that behind me though. Being back among the serious travelers I met in Nepal and India will be a welcome change for me. While the university-type backpackers in SE Asia are great too, the party oriented sentiment there is something that I've had a lot and enough of, it's time to travel again.