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Bangkok to Brighton by tuk tuk: Welcome to China

Saturday 10th June 2006: Green Diamond Hotel, Meng La, China.
Ants writes...

"It's less than two days since we left Luang Prabang yet already it seems like aeons ago, so much have we seen and experienced since then.

Jo, Ting Tong and I were reluctant to leave the safe confines of Luang Prabang. There's so much to see there and one day didn't even tickle the surface. So it was with dragging heels that we left Sayo River Guest house and turned north up Route 13. Next stop Udomxai.

Having conquered the worst stretch of Route 13 the day before, we set off with increased confidence in our new-found mountaineering skills. Udomxai was only 170 km away and we had been assured that the road was good. Slightly baffling was the fact that public buses take over 4 hours to cover this relatively short distance. Yet rather than making us suspicious of what lay ahead, we just put it down to the spluttering, bronchitic old buses and not the road conditions.

The roads in China

The first 100km flew by. I lounged in the back and admired the beautiful country slipping by and Jo skilfully navigated the road north. We'd practically be in Udomxai for lunch at this rate. Then things changed. The corners got sharper, the hills steeper and the potholes more prolific. And the road signs disappeared completely. As we rounded one particularly fearsome bend, we were met by huddled groups of people sitting in the road; monks, women, children, old men. Behind them was the bus that was supposed to be taking them to Vientiane, clinging to the edge of the mountain, miraculously held there by a tangle of plants and trees. Only twenty minutes before the driver had lost control on the corner and narrowly escaped killing all. Terrifying. I should think those monks said a special prayer to Buddha last night.

After stopping to see if everyone was ok and if there was anything we could do, we tukked off, driving even more carefully than before. In the end we didn't tuk into our destination until 4pm, over five hours after we had left Luang Prabang. In fact we had covered 215km, and having had no lunch and little water felt totally exhausted.

If you're ever contemplating a holiday to Udomxai, think again. It really is the armpit of Laos, a strange Chinese/Lao trading post teeming with Chinese construction workers and half-finished buildings. Rain, bedbugs, a plague of mosquitoes, extreme tiredness then insomnia made for a wholly unpleasant night there and in more driving rain we set off for the Chinese border this morning.

And we thought the roads yesterday were bad. As we drove the last 100km to Boten, I found myself thinking incredulously, that this was Laos' main artery, the principle thoroughfare linking it with China and Thailand. Yet a few km north of Uxomxai, the road almost disappeared altogether. It took us over four hours to reach Boten in conditions that would test the most hardy 4 x 4.

So here we are in China, in some random town 60 km north of the border. Jo and I were so flummoxed by the place that at supper we just gawped at the otherness of it all. Thank goodness we've now got our Chinese guide Sam (his English name) with us, otherwise we'd get very confused and probably end up starving and very lost."

Jo writes...

"Sitting in our hotel bedroom now with the World Cup and England's first match on TV in the background, it is hard to believe that this time two weeks ago, we were still in Bangkok. I think we are going to enjoy driving through China and our guide seems like quite a dude, although perhaps not as mischievous as we would like. Our supper this evening was nothing like what you get at your local Chinese in England, but it was tasty and after having had no time to eat all day, a plate of cat food stirfry would have been appealing.

Oh yeah, one thing that amused and frustrated me in equal measure today happened at the Laos border crossing. As we approached the exit to Laos, Ants pulled over next to a checkpoint, only to be told to drive backwards behind a line that we later realized said STOP. I was instructed to go to an office with a guard and all of our papers. He informed me that we had breached a rule as we had crossed a line that said STOP.

Tuk tukking away

He informed me that we would have to pay $3 for each metre we had driven over the line. He estimated we had driven at least 10 metres, which was a gross exaggeration. I asked to see the regulation that we had broken written down, because it was obviously an attempt to get some money from us. He asked me if I spoke Laos, which of course I don't. So we had a small debate and I said we had not gone more than four metres over the line. He immediately decided that $12 would suffice. Naturally I asked for a receipt, which I received with our misdemeanor detailed in English. I think if we had not crossed the line he would have found some other way to extract money from us, but at the end of the day $12 is not a huge amount of money to us and probably very useful to him.

If I was a border guard I would probably have great fun making up rules to get money from tourists..."

Love Ants and Jo x

Click here >> to follow the journey from the beginning
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update from Vientiane, Laos
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update from Vang Vieng, Laos
Click here >> to Ants' and Jo's update from Luang Prabang, Laos
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on arriving in China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on troubles in China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on the Stone Forest, China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on China Under Construction
Click here >> for Ant's and Jo's update; dirty tukkers in China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on Western China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on the Silk Road
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on the Great Wall of China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on sand tobogganning in the desert
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update from Turpan, China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's final update from China
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's first update from Kazakhstan
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update from Almaty, Kazakhstan
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's first update Lake Balkash, Kazakhstan
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's update on their impressions of Kazakhstan
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's first update on Russia
Click here >> for Ants' and Jo's thoughts on Russia

Why are Ants and Jo undertaking this crazy trip?
The girls are completing the 12,000 mile journey from Bangkok to Brighton in an attempt to raise £50,000 for the mental health charity Mind. Here at gapyear.com, we fully support their efforts and wish them the best of luck in their challenge. We'd also ask that anyone who has a spare few pennies sponsors Ants and Jo, as it really is a fantastic cause.

Click here >> for the full story

More about Mind Mind

Mental health problems can affect anyone, rich or poor, young or old, shattering the lives of those affected and the lives of the people close to them. One in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives. Each year more than 250,000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals and over 4,000 people take their own lives. Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales working to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.

Further info

Click here >> for an interview with Ants and Jo
Click here >> to sponsor them now - every penny counts...
Click here >> for Ants and Jo's website
Click here >> to find out more about Mind
Click here >> for more fundraising information

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