Hopefully, the bus to Jinghong in Yunnan is not a bad omen.

The departure of the bus is scheduled for exactly 07.10. Numerous travellers squeeze into the TukTuks, destination Luang Prabang or Oudomxai, and soon I am alone, with the exception of a seemingly lost Chinese couple.

Once again, Laotian punctuality is a matter of faith and hope, until with roar and din, the most run-down, dirtiest, dented vehicle I have ever seen approaches.

Bus to Jinhong
With this vehicle to Jinghong?

A run-down bus

The seats are in a bad condition, partly skewed or only in the lying position usable, and all quite dirty. But the bus is well occupied, I squeeze myself onto an acceptable looking seat at the rear and wait for the things to come.

After several additional loops across the village we seem to have reached the desired full capacity, and we head north, but again and again stops in villages or at strange places where someone wants to get on or off.

Rubber trees and other sins

A drive through wild country, through light green forests, dense jungle. The memory of the trip on the Nam Ou two years ago emerges and with it the anger: there, as here, the forests have been cleared for miles to make room for the cultivation of rubber trees, which are planted in straight, boring rows.

There are no animals left, nothing reminiscent of the days when the jungle vibrated with life. Another dubious gift from the neighbors in the north.

The Australian Teacher

I am astonished to note that, contrary to expectations, I am not the only stranger on the bus. A young man talks in fluent Mandarin to an old Chinese with horribly protruding ears, who clears his throat every few moments and spits the results out of the window. It will take a while to get used to these visual and above all acoustic attacks. China sends its greetings once again.

The young man, who sits next to me a short time later, turns out to be an Australian teacher who lectures English and philosophy at the university somewhere in northern China, in the Inner Mongolia.

A lively conversation develops about God and the world, about traveling and leaving home and what it triggers in you, about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Breaking Bad, but also again and again about our destination in the north, China. To my astonishment he seems to have really learned to love his host country. His confession that he feels like coming home after a longer stay abroad, puzzles me.

Border crossing
Border crossing

The border

Low huts here, mighty buildings there, high in the sky, with a single message: Look, this is China, the future ruler in the 21st century. Instead of the dusty streets, wide, palm-fringed avenues are now the measure of all things, clean, tidy, well-kept. The people are neatly dressed, self-confident, but yet relaxed.

Border between Laos and China
Border between Laos and China
So much to buy
Large selection
Chicken
Chicken
Relaxed atmosphere
Relaxed atmosphere

Visible differences

At first glance, not much has changed when you look out the window, but the second one unveils the differences. The architecture of the houses now corresponds to the image: temple-like, with several roofs nested on top of each other, dainty, of fragile beauty. And the many cars along the road shine, bear witness to money, a lot of money ...

Suddenly you feel in a different world. I do my homework, try to be aware of everything, not to miss anything. This is a country that will preoccupy us for the next few years and decades, perhaps as a friend, perhaps as a competitor, perhaps as an enemy. Or all together.

What I see here is as amazing as it is threatening. Not even thirty years ago the country was poor as a mouse, now an aspiring world power with the strategic goal of becoming number one again, as it was many years ago. The trauma of having been nonentity for hundreds of years is deep and determines today's thinking and acting.

We will have to be careful ...

Jinghong.

And then suddenly the Mekong, here called Lancang, the bridge leads directly to the center of Jinghong. Wide avenues, lots of traffic, and everywhere Chinese characters, not a single one in our writing. That will be funny ...

 

Jinghong - will I ever find my way back to the hotel?
Jinghong - will I ever gofind the way back to the hotel?

My Australian friend says goodbye, and despite the short acquaintance, a faint sense of loss remains.

In search of the hotel

My doubts about communication are coming true. Although the address of the hotel, written on a piece of paper, is also in Chinese, the worthy older Tuk-Tuk driver has trouble to understand it. Not even the reading glasses he picks out of his pocket seem to be able to solve the problem.

But we finally drive off, almost silently, because I'm actually driving on a TukTuk with an electric motor, so to speak an e-Tuk-Tuk. The old man drives slowly, unsteadily, then stops at the roadside eventually and points to a building, on which, however, the name of a completely different hotel is displayed. While I desperately try to convince him that this is not the address he is looking for, he tries to convince me just as desperately of the opposite. We finally agree that I will say goodbye and try my luck my way.

Jinghong.
Alley, palm trees

The hotel

In retrospect - shame on me and sorry, old man - it turns out that it indeed is the right address, but the hotel hides invisibly in the huge building. Although the passers-by don't understand English, I finally find the right entrance, the right elevator, the right reception with the kind help of a foreigner speaking Mandarin.

And the room's great. However, hunger and thirst soon lead me back to the street, it's dark and I still feel a bit insecure in the unknown surroundings. The pavements are full of people, laughing, friendly people, walking or crouching on the ground, bent over their noodle soups.

Dinner

I finally find a restaurant, as stated in the travel guide, fast food at its worst, but the service is friendly, yet once again showing absolute lack of understanding of non-Chinese languages. After a long conversation and with the help of the horrible pictures on the menu card, we agree on rice with beef, not bad at all, but the water glass filled with ice remains untouched.

Enough for today …

 

P.S. Matching Song:  Ann-Margret - I just don't understand

And here the journey continues ...

 

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