Kunming and south towards Laos

We still haven't decided if we're actually going to cross into Laos yet, but we're heading down towards the border anyway. The region of Yunnan just this side of the border is called Xishuangbanna, and is supposed to be China's own mini-Thailand, complete with a minority called the Dai who are related to the Thais, and plenty of wats and sticky rice and coconut and all that sort of stuff.

Being cautious types, we've decided we'll venture into Laos if and when we have enough malaria pills to be able to do the country justice. So far we have enough for 12 days there, which may or may not be enough. It would certainly mean some looooong bus journeys if we want to get down to the capital Vientiane.

The point of this previously unplanned side trip would be to delay slightly our journey towards the Himalayas, so that the weather is a little warmer by the time we get there. Initially we were thinking of a quick jaunt into Vietnam, also accessible from here, but having spoken to people who've just come from both places, Laos, with a population of just over 6 million compared to Vietnam's 81 million, sounds like more of a break from China.

Anyway, more on that later. Kunming was, as promised, the city of eternal spring. Oh, the sunshine! Ah, the blue sky! It's the sort of city you could imagine yourself living in for six months or so, maybe teaching English or studying. Very relaxed, clean, cosmopolitan, full of nightlife and young people. We moved to a hostel called The Hump Across The Himalayas after going to a fancy dress party there. It had a fantastic roof terrace overlooking one of the city's nicest squares, and was such a good place to recuperate and meet people that we stayed there several days longer than we planned. Even the nightly din from the karaoke bar right below our room couldn't put us off.

The Hump's roof terrace and some Dutchies we got talking to


The view from the terrace at night


A temple in the hills near the city






Having finally torn ourselves away from the Hump, Faye picked us out a nicely segmented trip down to Xishuangbanna, rather than enduring the 24 hour prison that is the sleeper bus. The first town, Tonghai, had a superb little park full of temples up the side of a steep hill that deserved to be full of tourists, but which we virtually had to ourselves. We must have dodged that beaten track again.




Taking tea in our hotel room in Jianshui, the next town along


Market day in Yuanyang, a small town on a mountain that seems to be permanently in cloud


'Ow much for yer cock pet?




From here there's a bus at 7.30 tomorrow morning, which we think takes us to a town where we think we can get another bus to Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna region. We'll see...