China - Autumn 1994

16 Oct

Although it was difficult to sleep after yesterdays excitement, I stayed in bed late - no Mr Li to make sure we follow the time-table, have breakfast or see the sights. I spent a few hours wandering around Huaihua, and as usual for a town with "nothing to see" it was remarkably interesting. The worlds biggest street market (maybe Sundays only) for a start, several kilometres of stalls, mostly clothing and shoes, but interspersed with books and fruit, food hawkers and miscellaneous goods for sale. Not so picturesque as the markets in the tribal areas, but a fasciating insight into modern Chinese materialism.

Dinner was in a very pleasant small restaurant, fish, chicken, soup and beer for 38Y, very friendly as usual, with the entire waiting staff gathering around for a conversation with the exotic foreigner.

17 Oct

Autumn has come to Huaihua, they said that at the restaurant yesterday, and it was a little bit colder today. And cloudy as I made my way to the station. The train was 10 hard-seat carriages and a dining car. The scenery was beautiful mountainous in places, small rice-fields being harvested, and new ones being ploughed with oxen or water-buffaloes. We are more or less at the confluence of Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces. Getting a ticket was no problem, and the train is not crowded (in fact empty by Chinese standards with plenty of room to stretch out).

Mr Li had bought me a ticket at Zhang Jiajie to Liuzhou on Saturday with a special express supplement for the journey to Huaihua, but no seat (the others had hard sleeper tickets). Then at Huaihua I endorsed the ticket on arrival, but the following day (Sunday) returned to the station to make a reservation for train 203 towards Liuzhou. After a couple of hours (at Huitang) the train started to fill up and the liquor started flow - my fellow-travellers downed several bottles, and tried to drink me under the table - this was at 11 am. They were continuing to Liuzhou - 10 more hours drinking time. I bought a box-lunch, a little expensive at 5Y compared with street food, but not bad, consisting of bean-sprouts, chili, a little meat all on rice.

The scenery became even more magnificent as we approached Sanjiang, and more and more minority peoples, mainly Dong, became evident. Arrival at Sanjiang was very efficient, outside the somewhat primitive station was a line of pickups and minibuses, and I didn't even have time to look around before the bus was on its way to Sanjiang town ( a 2Y trip). It stopped on the main square and the hotel described as "best in town" by LP was directly in front of me. I checked in and for 11Y (plus 5Y key deposit) got a really nice quiet single room with shower, hot and cold water, and fan - the bed was rather hard, and unfortunately the light switch was outside the door !

I spent the afternoon walking in the neighbourhood of Sanjiang, passing two or three Dong villages, which lay a little way back from the main road. On the way back the schools had released their pupils and there was a continuous chorus of "Hello, hello". None of the kids knew a single word more. Back in town the restaurant street tempted with dog on the menu, and dogs chained outside. But I chose a chicken dish, a kidney dish, greens, soup, rice and beer for 25Y. Most of the restaurant staff were local tribes, Dong, and somewhat more reserved than for example the Han Chinese in Huaihua.

Sanjiang is mentioned in LP and there were some small signs that cafés, hotels and travel agencies exist to cater for Western tourists. But I didn't see any, hadn't seen any since leaving the group in Huaihua, and in fact would not see any Westerners at all until Hanoi in Vietnam.

18 Oct	A day full of surprises. The hotel announced (on a rather old board) a bus to Longe at 6.10 am which I planned to take. So I got up early, and discovered no activity whatsoever around the bus station. At 6.30 it opened, and a notice board there announced a bus to Longe at 8.00 am. But there was no bus to Longe. Instead at around 7.30 am it was suggested that I take a bus to Gaoan and then a "little bus" to Longe Gaoan was a road junction in the middle of nowhere, some tractors were parked near the bus stop, these were the "little buses" mentioned. The first few metres in these vehicles, which pulled a trailer, and accommodated 12 people showed why there was no bus. There was no road. Obviously a lot of road had been washed away in this area by the summers floods, and this tractor ride was among the most frightening of my life as it slowly ground its way through mud and ruts and around rocks, up and down steep slopes, and along the edges of gullies. An hour of this, in which we may have covered 7-8 kilometres took us to Longe, which had a hotel and a restaurant. But before I could even have a cup of tea, someone said that there was another tractor outside going to Zhaoxing - and since that was my goal for the day I jumped on. Transport in this region is sporadic. This time the road was a little better, so I could concentrate on the scenery which was magnificent, with alpine-like mountains terraced with rice-fields, we climbed up into the mists and down again into the village of Zhaoxing Zhaoxing is a village of about 10,000 people populated entirely by Dong people, it has at least five Drum towers, and two Wind and Rain Bridges. Foreigners stay at the hotel for "foreign affairs", probably the only one in the village, and is built entirely of wood, somewhat in the Dong style. It was clean and comfortable, my room had three beds, a bucket of cold water, and a toilet outside, and cost 22Y per night. "Many foreigners" said the young Dong manageress, but according to the register the last one was in the middle of August. The young lady in charge showed however a keen sense of business, immediately showing me the souvenirs for sale, and taking 10Y for the key (a deposit I hope). However it started to pour as soon as I got to my room so the manageress borrowed my umbrella and went out and bought some oranges which we sat and ate until the storm abated. In the evening all the restaurants in town (about 3) were closed by 7 pm, but a guy from Guangdong insisted on cooking dinner for me, at a place he knew. He requisitioned meat and eggs and fuel, and made himself at home. The result cost 10Y including beer. He, and his companion were apparently commercial travellers in timber, and knew the area well. The village itself is incredibly beautiful with largely traditional Dong architecture, including the Drum Towers and Wind and Rain Bridges mentioned above. Rice fields abut the houses, ducks, geese, pigs and cows inhabit the narrow streets, alongside craftsmen and artisans. Very few vehicles traffic the main road in and out of town, idyllic, but of course a picture of poverty. Today has been full of impressions, travelling alone gives a certain stimulus, the highs are higher (and of course the lows are lower) compared with being with other people.
19 Oct	My newly-found Guangdong friend insisted on visiting a temple at 7 am, it was closed so we walked around; I tried to take some pictures but it was too dark, and then it started to rain. On the way back into town we bought some meat slivers from the local butchers (who probably would not have received any certificates for hygiene) and cooked breakfast in his restaurant while we waited for the daily Liping bus. Breakfast was a large bowl of rice congee and a large plate of noodles with meat. Filling. The bus arrived at 9 am and was surprisingly modern and comfortable, less surprisingly it was very full. After about an hour and a half the mud became too much for the bus so we stopped to put on chains. But we arrived at Liping at about 1 pm. and the rain which had been pouring all the way finally ceased. I stayed with the Guangdong guys, we traipsed around to several Liping hotels before finding a room which suited them (or me), but finally we chose a rather basic hotel for 8Y a head, clean, with a nice balcony with a fine view. Then we had a hot-pot lunch, all kinds of meat and veggies cooked at the table, washed down with baijiu (translated as white wine, but actually a potent clear spirit),and after lunch I found that I wouldn't be able to go to Tongdao but could take the bus to Jinzhou and then a train to Liuzhou. It was not raining here but quite chilly, perhaps we are quite high here? I walked around town a while, and this region of Guizhou is decidedly poorer than even West Hunan; Fenghuang and Wangcun are positively prosperous beside Liping. The town has none of the charm of the tribal areas around Sanjiang or Zhaoxing. There was no visible industry, very few cars. Horse carts are the commonest form of personal transport, and these are primitive in design, and the horses appear none too well cared for. My Guangdong friends insisted that I visited a drum tower and temple outside town so I got a chance to ride in a horse cart. The wheels were solid wood, and the suspension non-existent, so it was not surprising that the cart overturned on the rutted track that led up to the temple. I insisted on walking back. We ate hotpot again this evening, tomorrow I will, thankfully, be alone again.
20 Oct	An eventful bus trip to Jin Zhou, the day was beautiful after we rose to a star and moon filled pre-dawn sky. The bus left at 6.20 am and halfway along the narrow, muddy road we slowly rolled off the road. No-one was hurt and the other passengers took it very calmly, everyone got out, and squatted by the side of the road surrounded by the ducks and children of the nearby village, before another bus came along and pulled us back onto the road again. We lost about an hour but there was still time in Jinzhou to get the train to Liuzhou. A near accident brings home one of the disadvantages of lone travel. If the accident was any more serious, a broken leg for example I would have had some problems. My earlier slight injuries were with the group and Mr Li and I was glad I wasn't alone just then. Anyway back to Jinzhou, the bus station was some distance from the train station and one of my fellow-passengers on the bus made sure I got into a taxi and was told absolutely to pay the driver no more than 2Y. At the station a bossy woman in uniform caught sight of me and took me to the front of the ticket queue and made sure that I got a ticket, also made sure that I paid the foreigners price (for the first time) which was 30Y or exactly double the local price. While waiting for the train I enjoyed an excellent sea-food dish at one of the row of small restaurants outside the station. My ticket didn't include a reservation of course, but the train was half-empty so I secured a window seat. However it filled up quickly with Dong peasants and soldiers. The scenery was magnificent, and in sunshine too. The last couple of hours was through Guilin look-alike peaks, and was fantastic in the setting sun. Curiously I met one of my Guangdong friends just after arrival at Liuzhou, I invited him to dinner in return for helping me to buy a ticket to Nanning; the ticket office in Liuzhou was big and crowded, and he managed much quicker than I would have done, and got it for the local price as well of course.
21 Oct	It was sunny and warm in Liuzhou - it was nice to stroll around i shirt-sleeves again - and there was no mud ! Noodles and dumplings for breakfast, and noticed pineapples and coconuts in the shops, now I am in the tropics. The train to Nanning was really crowded, the car attendant let me sit on a stool in his compartment in return for an English lesson. But it was only a 4 hour journey. At Nanning I had still some hopes to take the international train which was shown in some timetables (eg Cooks Overseas Timetable) as having started up again. But nobody at the station knew anything about it, so I decided to take a bus to the border at Pingxiang. There was one leaving at 3.30 pm so I decided to take that, and look around Nanning on the way back. This bus was also crowded, but as a foreigner I was given a seat right at the front. According to the time-table the trip should take 4 hours, but thanks to soeveral mechanical failures, it was nearly 10 pm before we arrived at Pingxiang. But it didn't matter, again there was some beautiful scenery along the way, before it got dark. One strange incident - about a half-hour before Pingxiang the bus stopped at what appeared to be a border control. Everybody on the bus except me (!) had to show their papers which were scrutinized very closely by two young Red Army soldiers, additionally they had to buy a special permit to allow them to enter the border zone. But two young girls jumped off the bus and slipped away into the night, a third had a serious argument with the soldiers ??? Pingxiang is a dusty little border town, I didn't see much, but I found a room opposite the bus station for 18Y and even managed to get some food (a meat dish and soup for 20Y) even if the kitchen was officially closed. The staff stayed behind especially to study the foreigner; at times I felt as if I was in a zoo. Lili and Little Sister wanted to go dancing, I said tomorrow. Tomorrow I hope to be in Vietnam.

22 Oct

Early in the morning, after breakfast I haggled with a motorcycle driver to take me in his sidecar to the border at the "Friendship Pass". This border has not been long open for foreigners, and today there were very few local travellers either. There was no problem leaving China, I was just waved through and pointed to the Vietnamese control post about 500 metres further on.

But as expected there was a problem at the Vietnamese passport control, the soldier politely studied my visa and said "No good, this visa is only valid for air travel" This may or may not have been correct, however the Vietnamese Embassy in Stockholm had known that I intended to travel via the Friendship Pass and several times had guaranteed that the visa was valid for travel by land to Lang Son ??? So I waited a while for the boss of the passport division to return from somewhere and issue a new visa. He appeared after a half-hour and as expected wrote a few lines in my passport. He wanted to charge me USD50 for this, and after a further half-hour of polite argument this sum was reduced to USD20 as long as I changed a further USD50 for Dong; he wanted a new USD50 note. Now I had a thick wad of Dong, 500,000 in 10,000 Dong notes.

Everyone was very friendly, and for the hour or so I was there I saw no other travellers. They called a motorbike which took me on the back into Lang Son for 20,000 Dong. He stopped by the bus park, and I saw a luxury looking hotel behind some gate, so I decided to splurge. This hotel had prices in Yuan and Chinese speaking staff to ease me into Vietnam. I showered, washed some clothes and emerged to see what Lang Son had to offer.

Suddenly I knew nothing - not a word of the language, no idea of prices, customs, what to do, how to get around. I tried to eat lunch only half successfully at a restaurant attached to a local hotel. I pointed to some dishes on other tables. It cost 16,000 Dong for beer, a meat dish, cucumbers. Is it too much ? My own hotels restaurant has a Chinese menu so that might solve some problems. The scenery around town is similar to Guangxi, the people look much the same, and there are small shops and markets as everywhere in China - but I can't read the signs, can't understand anyone and no-one can understand me.

Later I eat at a street stall, a small cooking area surrounded by the ready dishes, customers sit around on low stools and point to what they want. I ate fried beancurd, potatoes, small spring rolls, together with a beer for 8000 Dong

So what are my first impressions of Vietnam ? Not so different from China, only more incomprehensible. People appear less curious, less interested in foreigners than in most places in China, although I doubt if more than a very few foreigners have ever been to Lang Son (except Chinese). Prices are rarely set out so it will take a while to learn the normal price levels, but costs appear similar to Guangxi province in China. Finally a late night snack of noodles (with chicken and egg) and another beer. And so to bed in my luxury hotel.

23 Oct

I discovered, not altogether surprisingly, that the room price had gone up from 150Y to USD25 when I came to check out, because I was a foreigner. I argued for a while, but they had my pass

All around were plenty of tropical fruits, papayas and custard apples etc, noodles for breakfast cost 5000 Dong.

The minibus to Hanoi started picking up passengers (me) at 8.10 am and finally left Lang Son after a sightseeing tour at about 9.00 am. We arrived in Hanoi about 2.30 pm, after travelling some pretty atrocious roads, women in many places were repairing the surface, one stone at a time. There was a lunch stop providing some very basic dishes in not very hygienic surroudings. The scenery was mountainous at first, but we gradually descended to the plains, and it became flatter and increasingly more populated. We passed many cemetries with war graves along the way.

I bought sugar cane for the first time ever and learned to chew it. Suddenly we were in Hanoi, the big city. And there were masses of foreign tourists. I found a hotel near the lake and took a USD30 room, they promised a cheaper one would be available tomorrow.

So - finally i Hanoi. The city is undeniably attractive, situated around the lake - but it is so full of Westerners, both tourists ad businessmen. I ate dinner at the well-known restaurant "22" (as named in LP, therefore only tourists) and the food was adequate, but no more.

China (15 September 1994 - 10 November 1994 part 3)