The twenty-second week

Day 150-157

On March 4th Ivar set off on a climbing tour in the morning. I repaired a few things of mine and read the travel guide. In the afternoon we did something crazy: we went paramotoring! It's like paragliding, only with a motor behind you. You're hanging in a seat in front of the pilot, your feet are on one step and there's a long... nothing underneath you. At some point the earth will come.

Absolutely intense, especially with my fear of heights and falling! There were a lot of feelings that had to be pushed away! The flight was over after 15 minutes, but the adrenaline was still pumping!

The next day we woke up early because we were taking the train to China at 8am! We didn't know in advance, but there is a train route between Laos and China. You can drive from the capital Vientiane to the city of Kunming within 9 hours! And since German citizens have been allowed to enter the country visa-free for 15 days since December 2023, we didn't want to miss out!

The train was absolutely on time! At around 11:30 a.m. we were already at the border. Everyone had to get off the train, get their exit stamps from Laos and then get back on. Then the train moved on one station. Everyone gets out again and gets the entry stamp for China. One thing immediately caught our attention in China: cameras. Cameras and police everywhere! But it is also cleaner and more modern! A journey into the future.

Kunming is an interesting city and has spring-like weather all year round! It is the capital of Yunnan Province and has 8 million inhabitants. Plus it's very quiet! Most cars and almost all scooters are electric. That makes so much difference in traffic! The air is great too! Fresh like spring! Quite a contrast to the dusty, stuffy air in Laos.

Since Kunming is at an altitude of around 2000 meters, the sun shines differently. We applied SPF 50 cream several times a day. Nevertheless, our faces had a reddish hue in the evening.

One day we went on a free city tour. We were taken to a former military school that is now a museum. Here, sections of the school's history and graduates were presented, all of whom were successful, heroic and full of victory. In short, we felt like we were on a propaganda tour. In front of every museum, university, subway stop, train station and so on, there are metal detectors and machines that scan our bags. There were also Chinese tourists in our tour. They got through the lock using facial recognition! How scary is that? We had to present our passports. After the tour we drove to Western Hills Park. There you can walk on well-developed paths. Our destination was the Drachentor, which we reached on time shortly after the end. Oh well.
On March 8th we went to Dali. On the way we met another backpacker couple who we have been seeing again and again since Laos. The two of them are also in China spontaneously and are taking advantage of the 15 days visa-free period. We always had the impression that they both had a great plan, knew the opening times and which bus you could take where.

During the conversation it turned out that they had just as little plan as we did. Haha!

There is a large blockage of foreign websites in China. Likewise, all Google services cannot be used on the smartphone. That's why we downloaded a VPN in advance that pretends you're in a country other than China. This way you can then bypass the block. Unfortunately the VPN doesn't work well. At first we thought it was our fault. Most of the time the problem is in front of the computer or smartphone. But the other couple has the same problem. So it's not up to us after all.

So we are mostly left with Chinese websites and the worst search engine of all time called “Bing.com”. For specific research, I also wrote to a friend in Germany and he then sent me the answer. My cousin Katharina also kindly researched an interesting fruit!

Oh my God, how dependent are we on the internet and cell phones?!

We also discovered this when we wanted to pay for our accommodation in Dali. In cash. The owner couldn't give us change. In China it is common to pay with your cell phone using apps such as Alipay (the Chinese version of PayPal) or WeChat (the Chinese WhatsApp). Of course we could also download these apps. However, you need a Chinese SIM and you have to do a data striptease. China wants to know EVERYTHING about you! Every time we check into a hotel, not only our passports are photographed, but also our faces.

So we first had to go and make money. Good thing we're hungry anyway. In most restaurants there is still change. Dali has a charming old town! Beautiful old buildings and beautiful city gates.

You walk over coarse cobblestones and look at the nice houses on the left and right. Many women, especially young women, rent traditional costumes from the costume rental shop and take beautiful photos in front of the traditional buildings.

There are a lot of Asian tourists and that's why we two tall, blonde people stand out. A car honked at us excitedly. The back windows were rolled down and a European tourist looked out the window and said: "He rolled down the windows when he saw you. He probably wants to be friends with us!" Is that nice or a little racist? Just because we don't look Asian doesn't mean we have to know each other or necessarily be friends.

Unfortunately, Dali brought us to a problem. I have two big problems right away. Problem 1: neither of us has a return ticket for the train to Laos yet. Problem 2: For some reason I cannot pay for my Laos e-Visa with Visa credit card. Ivar was able to pay and even has his visa!

We hoped to solve problem 1 by going to a travel agency and asking if they could book a train ticket for us. Because as a foreigner, booking online in China is not that easy. Unfortunately, none of the 8 offices we asked were able to help. Or didn't want to because hardly anyone speaks English here!!

So we booked tickets through a Chinese online agency, which charges a whopping €15 extra per ticket. All right. It's still more ecological than flying and it's actually the same price. I'm still working on problem 2. So far I have contacted support from the e-visa service and also the Laotian embassy in Germany. Let's see who can help me. If push comes to shove, I'll actually have to fly. Because I get a visa upon arrival at the international airport.

We went on a hike along a mountain range in Dali. We took a chairlift (again something that took me out of my comfort zone) up to a panoramic hiking trail. There was a wonderful view of Dali and the Er Hai lake behind it.

At 4 p.m. sharp we took the chair lift back down. In Dali we looked at a Confucius temple and were so tired that we went to bed after dinner.