First Two Days in China, Mohan to Jing Hong Week 9 18th - 19th June 2011
 
Our last campsite in Laos.

A guest house car park and a friendly Chinese family.

I think that no matter how many times I do it successfully there  is always a bit of nervousness about crossing borders. So easy to have a stamp in the wrong place or something that catches official attention.

 
But looking forward, this is a small and obscure taste of things to come.

The hand held tractor trailers have begun to morph into the much more up market tractor truck.

Presumably much better in the rain.

 
Our first glimpse of the Chinese part of the border at Mohan.

We'd had a slight mixup at Boten with the Lao customs. They have a customs post about 5km before the border. We mistakenly had the Carnet stamped there. At the real border there was a bit of toing and froing until another stamp was added to the Carnet. I hope it works ok.

Inside the Chinese side was a new experience in border crossing. Feed passport into terminal, type the visa number in, an arrival and departure card is printed ready for signing.

Our guide Susanna was waiting on the other side of the barrier with the broadest, friendliest, relievedest smile we have seen in a journey punctuated with people who smile at the first opportunity.

Such a smile as to fill us with confidence about the next couple of months.

A few questions about why I had a UK passport when all the descriptions were of Australia and we were in China. Took a while to convey dual citizenship.

The main road through Mohan is shiny new, with new buildings either side.

Culture shock!

 
New hotel in Mohan.
 
At Mengla Susanna had organised the Traffic Police Station to be open for us on a Saturday.

Susanna's real name is Guo Hong. From Chengdu. Studied English at University. We couldn't have wished for better.

It needed two traffic police.

Vehicle inspection was to check the chassis number and that the lights work.

We now have provisional Chinese driving licences and registration for the vehicle.

Happiness.

 
The highway is super modern, as many who have trodden this route have observed.
 
Bamboo in the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences. Menglun Town, Mengla County.

A large botanical garden we tackled on a warm day.

 
Heliconia. We think.
 
This young lady was singing to the plant so that it would dance.

The young lady saw it move, and pointed to it, but we weren't quick enough with the camera.

 
Remember those sensitive plants. Low down ground cover.

This is a branch of a sensitive tree.

Not really "same same". More like "same but bigger".

 
Pretty.

Almost like plastic.

Haven't a clue what it is.

 
These two young ladies provided a bit of inside information on the park.

Their names escaped us.

The mother of the one on the left works in the park.

What a magic place to explore.

 
Near the entrance to the park.

We stopped for our first night in China in the car park of the park.

 
We parked outside a large hotel in Jing Hong. We stayed the night in the car park. A German group of four motorhomes had been there previously so there was a price - about $7 - but it was right in the center of town with security guards.

This is part of one of the hospitals in town. There is both Mandarin and Dai (Thai) script to identify it.

We'd previously read that Thailand was repopulated with Thais after the fall of the Khmer Empire by Thais moving from Yunnan. The Dai remaining in Yunnan are a minority group in China but heavily represented here. 

 
Our daughter Rachael likes dress shops. This photo is in lieu of buying her a dress.
 
And similarly the shoe shop.

These shops are such a change to what we have been used to in the last 2 months they needed a couple of photos.

 
We ate out for lunch.

"Over The Bridge Noodles". A chain of restaurants.

Someone once discovered that carrying soup plus all the ingredients separately meant the meal carried to working husband stayed hotter longer.

The ingredients of choice are tossed into the soup to be cooked.

The eggs are those of a quail.

Eating in China is obviously an experience we will enjoy. Helped by Susanna explaining it all to us.

 
The bicycle has quite a sophisticated electric drive. Twist grip on the handlebars, batteries and motor underneath. Pedals just in case.
 
The Botanical Gardens of Xishuangbanna South Medicine.

A park within walking distance of the center of town.

 
On the way back to our hotel car park we stopped in an auto parts shop.

A bit of toing and froing and we purchased a few nuts and bolts to replace a couple that had fallen off.

This little adventure was quite an achievement. First had to explain to Susanna what a nut and bolt is. Then translate for the shop keeper. It helped having a sample!

 
In the center of town this building on a busy intersection covered in adverts reminded me of Picadilly Circus without the Coca Cola sign.

We really haven't met heavy traffic yet (that's to come).

One of the first things we did at Mohan was put our iGO8 gps in a locker as it didn't have China maps and attach Susanna's Garmin gps to the windscreen.

 
Our hotel car park in Jing Hong.
 
First bird in a while that has come close enough to photograph.

How to google ......?

Edit:- apparently a red whiskered bulbul. Thanks Alan (see comment at bottom of page).

 
A night out at a modern dance concert.

Modern representation of minority group dances.

This was just the warm up outside in the car park.

Explained why we couldn't park there overnight.

 
This was a dance which represented the arrival of a golden peacock.

After this we discovered the sub-titles in English to the left of the stage.

 
The long fingernail dance from the Dai minority.
 
Dai minority Tattoo and Drum Dance.

What to say about a concert that was simply professional with a very large cast and lots of variety.

I hope that saying it kept us occupied from go to whoa for 90 minutes sums up our enjoyment.

We'd missed any local dancing in the four previous countries.

 
Jing Hong to Hong He, Yunnan, China Week 9 20th - 21st June 2011
 
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CommentsHome

Alan Wed, 22 Jun 11 21:29:39 +1000
Julian, your bird appears to be a Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) {[红耳鹎 hóng-ěr bēi, 'red-eared bulbul'] at Moli, Ruili, Yunnan, China}. Ref http://www.akpixels.com/Birds/Birds-Of-China/10665889_xyAWH#827251897_JxjBG
Cheers,
Alan N40694

Julian Wed, 22 Jun 11 23:14:35 +1000
amazing. Post a blog from the middle of China and 2 hours later there's a name for our bird. Thanks Alan.

Sharon Fri, 24 Jun 11 10:47:32 +1000
The pink flower I think it might be Etlingera elatior or the Torch Ginger,Ginger Lily, Wild Ginger or Xiang Bao Jiaing (or about 9 other names )the flowers are used for flower arrangements and the buds and ripe seed pods are eaten.

Sharon Sat, 25 Jun 11 19:11:28 +1000
and yes the 9th image is a Heliconia (a member of the banana family)

Bev Hamer Fri, 15 Jul 11 18:37:39 +1000
Frans & I had to chuckle about the heliconia and torch ginger flowers. They grew like weeds in our garden in Cairns.


 
 
 
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