Not Approved by LP

The last time I did this trip was with Thai Airways and followed a hasty departure from Zhondian, on the Tibetan Plateau, when the Chinese decided to close the country down due to SARS. The trip involved countless medicals, a wearing of face masks and In Quarrantine stickers, not a pleasant experience. This time it was all a lot more sedate, with only the filling of a medical form with questions like ” have you been in contact with dead birds” – I know Thai girls like to sleep but can’t remember any being dead so I gather I was ok.

Kumming one of the more user friendly cities to arrive at and all straight forward. The people seemed better dressed and wealthier now and the shops doing a great trade. After all the talk of doom and gloom in the UK and financial meltdown no one has obviously told the Chinese.

Next morning it was an early start for the 10 hour trip to Lijiang. A fairly tedious trip in bad weather. They did provide a free meal which I ate only to remember what Chinese public toilets are like !!. Luckily it stayed down. Arrived at Lijiang to torrential rain so decided to check in to the first hotel I found only to be given that what are you doing coming in here look and basically told to leave. Some old Chinese habits die hard. But no problem, eventually found a great place with nice people. Checked out the old city, some of it probably not that old – ie not there on my last visit- but Lijiang is just so nice and all for a 80 Yuan entrance fee (About 15 Yuan to the pound I think) what a bargain. Ok it was late and I never had to pay. Yes it is fantastically touristy but with good reason and well worth the visit.

As I will be coming back to Lijiang decided to head for Lugu Lake next morning as not a place I visited previously and at 2600 metres a useful chance to acclimatise. The journey was actually surprisingly nice, over the mountains and passing some great little villages with the locals wearing traditional costumes. And unlike elsewhere not for the tourists benefit. The road whilst generally good was suffering from the heavy rains so numerous landslides and in places very muddy and some interesting passing manouvers, aforetaste of things to come. Lugu Lake required another 80 Yuan entrance fee but you get a CD, just hope its not A SONY cd coming back to haunt me.

Having got to Lugu Lake I then took a micro bus to a place called Lige. a tiny little village further around the lake. Being late and with rain starting decided to take the guesthouse with “recommended by Lonely Planets ” on it. Always a mistake but…. LP described the rooms as basic, at least they did have 4 walls and a lightbulb and a downstairs shared squat toilet. Shame the windows didn”t shut and the door didn’t have a lock. Down the road you could get lovely rooms with ensuite western bathrooms, hot water etc etc for the same price. But what the heck, this is China, this is what it is all about, going native. There was even a buzzing mosquito to keep me company all night. I moved out promptly this morning.

Now in a great place to the extent that I even have internet in my room and an electric heated blanket to go with the ensuite bathroom with hot water and a balcony to match. And the people are just so nice. Admittedly trying to work around the internet in Chinese took some time and they obviously use some tough filters, I am still waiting for the new pop up policeman to come up which warn people they are being watched. And Hotmail seems to be a no no, maybe tomorrow.

Initially thought the scenery over rated but once started walking higher up towards the next village the place does deserve its credits. The next “village” even smaller, no more than a few buildings but has a guesthouse recently opened. I asked about them about the possibility of food, they invited me to join them for a meal, really nice people. Then they pointed out a cable car which goes up the mountain so I got the girl to take me up there. At the top there are large caves to walk around and the various prayer flags and buddhist shrines. Amazingly for China we were the only 2 people there. Some great views at the top, only let down by the overcast conditions. But a worthwhile trip and a chance to start learning about the local matriarchal culture.

Have got behind on my blog updating, so will start now. The flight London to Bangkok harmless enough, only excitement was when the crew started rushing around and then the Captain announced they had an emergency. Not the best words to hear when you at 30000 feet or whatever. As it was it was only a request for a doctor onboard.

Shared a taxi from the airport to Pattaya with an Iraqui guy who made the mistake of telling our driver that he used to be a taxi driver in Baghdad. Our driver then took it on himself to try and impress. For someone reason the highway to Pattaya seems to be in a never ending state of rebuilding and now they have even given up with lanes. So it was a case of the wacky races as we sped and weaved at high speed across the four lanes plus extra ones as we needed. The “fun” was bought to en end by the police who proceeded to issue a 100 baht on the spot fine.

Arrived Pattaya and first priority was to apply for a visa, usefully it was no problem to get a 3 month visa, to be collected the following week.

So a week to spend in Thailands top fun city !. Low season so not quite as crazy as it can be and good weather however really best enjoyed with lots of money so next time…. The place still vibrant with its thousands of bars however the police were obviously going thru’ one of their periodic campdowns and so everything was very tame. The only noticeable difference was the main entertainment strip taken over by ladyboys. Possibly the Mayor had decided the girls weren’t pretty enough so it was time to bring in the “experts”. The newspapers were also complaining about an influx of British yobs who were now migrating from the Spanish Costas to Pattaya looking for cheap beer and fights. Not sure if there was a connection but a lady boy armed with 6 inch stilettoes probably a fair match for the hardest Brits.

So all in all a good week and the following Friday had my Chinese visa and decided to head for Kumming – slight change of plan there. I’m sure not the last.

The hardest part of any trip, waiting. But will be soon time to start thinking what to pack and deciding where to go after Thailand. At the moment flying to China and then to Guilin is the favoured ... [Continue reading this entry]