China/Laos
Posted by Karen on October 1st 2006
Written on the 2006 London to Sydney expedition
So far…
Wow, what a Bureaucratic nightmare China has turned out to be!
First we were delayed entering for weeks, and then we had to sit and wait at the Nepal/Tibet border for ages, by which time we had lost much of our ‘Government approved length of stay’ in China. When we applied to extend our stay, they made it as difficult as possible, tried charged an extortionate rate, and nothing was ever actually going to be ‘guaranteed’.
This has to be the first Country we have come across (including other Communist countries) where you can’t bribe, blag or beg your way out of a situation. You never get to literally even ‘see’ the people you are trying to deal with, they are so far removed from everything.
After a lot of time wasting and deliberation we decided to gap it for the border to be out by the original exit date given. And although disappointing (the non-government Chinese people seemed lovely), it’s naturally not entirely unexpected on an expedition of this nature.
Anyway, it was all worth it just for what we saw in Tibet!
So after travelling 3000kms in 5 days, through the mountains, on crap roads, with blowout after blowout, busted springs and at the longest, 20 hour drive days, we made it to the China/Laos border in time to exit by the date required.
It certainly wasn’t the nicest experience, but by now it’s getting to be a distant memory.
Now it seems we have really entered South East Asia, Laos is a beautiful country and the people are lovely. The terrain is lush, green and very tropical and it’s getting more and more touristy by the minute (not that we are complaining, how good it is to rediscover ice cold beers, bacon)! So far our days in Laos have been filled with a lot of chilling out in bars and restaurants, markets, temples, river boat rides, tubing, kayaking, caving and trekking and the odd elephant ride through the jungle.
The pace is very easy going and we are all happy to be nearing the beaches and islands again.
Have now just entered Cambodia,
Until next time…
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