Due to the frustratingly and painfully slow internet in China it has taken me a couple extra days to get these photos uploaded. I spent Thursday and Friday (February 22 & 23) exploring the park. I think it’s just easiest to do this post as a gallery with each picture having captions explaining details.

Found some nice internet and some time to write! Just a note that my latest post and likely most following lost are being written, usually in haste, on a smartphone. So please have mercy before you criticize my spelling errors.

I thought I would talk a little bit about my initial perceptions of Chinese culture and China in general.

I enjoy reading in my spare time and I like to read about the places I’m traveling in, so in my book relating to China I learned it has 22% of the world’s population… That’s incredible. However, they only have 8% of the world’s arable land. Farming is a big concern of the government in China and as the population increases they are trying to make sure land is used as efficiently as possible. Connecting the dots, I reckon that’s why any small town smaller in land area than Pigeon (my hometown of about a thousand people) has several 60 story apartment buildings.

These little villages with massive apartment buildings would be in the middle of mountains with the tiered farming land scaling up and down the mountain sides. Then as my train zipped by I’d see another similar town appearing to be a mini city in the middle of no where. When we finally would stop at a station these cities that no one has ever heard of outside of China or maybe even outside of that region of China are pretty massive. I’m really starting to get why there population is so high.

Overall, the land was so mountainous. I was really surprised to learn that the majority of the country and surely most of my train rides were mountains. From Laos all the way to Beijing mountains. Almost everywhere with the occasional flat lands. That explains the lack of arable land.

Now, to the Chinese people. It’s been very interesting. There are a couple of things that have caught me off guard. The manners are a little different. The old lady taking care of my hostel, who spoke no English, constantly burped and farted without a second thought. Also Chinese love to spit.. Its weird, but apparently they have this philosophy that you need to get the bad stuff out of you. It’s just shocking to me to see them hacking it up on a train car right next you.

To me it’s all kind of gross, but hey it’s their country so I won’t judge them for their cultural norms. I like the idea of them not caring what anyone thinks and just farting when they want, but that’s not how Americans are typically raised. In a country of a billion people you probably can’t count on some privacy for these things so I guess you just go for it. However, there are some things that were really frustrating for me. I would really appreciate them covering there mouths when they couth or sneeze. I’ve seen a covered mouth for a sneeze, but rarely ever for a cough. On my 26 hour train ride to Beijing the lady acrossed from me coughed constantly right into my face. I didn’t not appreciate that…

Yup, that’s what’s up! Next post is my time in Beijing!

I flew into Laos and I had some plans to explore the town, which I still got to do, just not in the way I anticipated.

When I first landed I was stuck in line for 1-2ish hours getting my visa on arrival and stamp in. They were not that quick about it. It wasn’t to bad though, because there Canadians in front of me and Americans behind me to talk with.

I split a van with some of them into the main part of Luang Prabang where we flew into. Upon, flying in it felt as if we were dropping right into a secluded remote valley. In a way, as I would learn, that’s pretty much how Laos is.

In town I went first to a tourist agency to see it I could get a price for a bus ticket from Luang Prabang to Kunming, China. She told be there would be no buses for the next several days because of the Chinese New year. That totally freaked me out because if that’s the case I would miss all of the Chinese trains I had already booked.

Determined not to give up I took a tuktuk to the actual bus station where the girl working said there would be a bus tomorrow morning, which is what I had planned on. I still wasn’t confident in her reply, but still least I had some hope now. Then from the bus station I got back to the town center to look for a place to stay.

Needless to say, I learned a lesson in the cultural significances of Chinese New year in Laotian communities. Since a lot of Lao people have Chinese ties or we’re originally Chinese immigrants the entire family had come to visit and in turned booked all the hostels and hotels right up. So 3 older, probably mid 50s, Canadians and I searched for 4 hours walking up and down every street in order to find a place. I got quoted $90 for a place and they heard quotes for $200 plus! Let’s remember that a hostel in laos, much like Thailand should cost from $3-12. So those prices were absolutely absurd!

Continue reading “Laos into China” →