The Big Surprise — Boten (Laos) The Big Red Pink Hotel and the Border crossing to China. May 2nd to May 3rd

2nd May Boten (Laos)

From Mungxay and “The Friendship Hotel” aka Mittiphap Hotel, it is a short 100kms to Boten, the last stop before China, and The Big Red Pink Hotel. We have a photo of the place and are told to look out for the building about 2 kms from the border. They apparently do not speak any English, so we are expecting a slight communication issue …..may be! It is an uneventful day and the roads are as expected, average and very windy. We pass through some of the villages we had seen two days earlier.

Along the way we encounter more of the many trucks rumbling all over the roads, carrying dirt and concrete. Of course there is more of the red dust that lingers in the air around the construction sites and is billowed up by the trucks. The sheer scale of the work being done is astounding and on a HUGE scale. “We learn that in 2006, 18 Asian countries signed an agreement to build a develop extensive road and rail networks from Kunning in China to Singapore. The funding is obviously high given the number of engineering projects along the way south. As we get nearer to Boten we look out for the hotel which is no where to be seen. Just trucks, concrete supports for huge expressways, that tower over the narrow and now rough roads below.

Then out of nowhere we go though The Laos customs post!! Still no hotel, but the border guards point through, so we must believe them?

The place is a mess. Our Carnet is stamped, but we can’t see the next stop, passport control? Only red dust and trucks!

We head off not really knowing where we are going. There are no roads, no border guards, no signs, nothing! We just follow the tracks in the dirt and of course the trucks. At one point there are six to eight lanes (Not really lanes just random tracks in the dirt and not at all linear) of ‘traffic’, just red mud and dust and still no sign of border control or any information! It’s very bizarre.

Then around the corner, a city appears like an oasis in the desert. A new city still in the chaotic stage of construction. It’s almost as if the completion deadline is next week, so everyone is in overdrive? There are tracks all over the place, no cars except us! And on the hills, or what’s left of them are hundreds of diggers loading red dirt into an equal number of trucks, who clearly believe they have right of way regardless! The scale is astounding. We spot our hotel. probably once a magnificently positioned building. However now it is dwarfed by its new surroundings. We work out a route towards it and go! It’s just like the photo we were given, only old and very tired. The windows are all barred making it look like a prison.

After ‘checking in’ we wander into town to find food and replenish our water supply. Also hoping to exchange our Kip for Yuan.

One side of the street is brand new, but is deserted. An empty duty free mall stands with staff and a guard at the door, but no customers. The streets are wide and covered in red dust……did I mention the dust? Everywhere we walk it is a construction site. On the other side of the road is a collection of old shops and food stalls. The street is being swept using local grass broomsticks, by two women wearing yellow coats, face masks and sun hats. An endless and somewhat pointless task.

We are still in Laos yet the currency is Yuan and Kip? Dinner was in Kip, yet the beer that I bought from a cabinet not five metres from my seat, had to be bought in Yuan.

True to Anton’s word they speak no English and make no effort to be helpful, communicate nor be civil. All we get is laughed at, or sent away. This has to be the most bizarre, unfriendly and dirty place on Earth! Even though it is Laos, there are few Laotians, mostly Chinese. We remain positive and hope that this is not a sign of things to come in China tomorrow?

The following day, as we make our escape from The Big red pink hotel (named this because no one knows its name or cannot pronounce the Chinese characters that make up its name), we feel glad that we are from NewZealand and beat a hasty retreat making a B-line to the border control another 1 Km away. What a surprise that was?

3rd May The Border crossing into China and on to Pu’er

We are expecting a rough entry into China, based on what we have so far seen! Getting to the border is easier said than done! We have done Customs clearance almost 2 kms back and crossed the barren red wasteland with what appears to be a chaotic exodus of trucks. Navigating the steady stream of soil and rock baring trucks who have removed any semblance of a landscape in readiness for the new city. At the border control station, it’s not clear what to do, so we stop. By this I mean that there isn’t any parking or queues, we literally stop where we were, and head into the immigration hall to have our passports stamped, and leave to go back to Fred. As we drive across the border, one of the guards, who had been sitting reclined in his chair, leaps up and demands we “stop, get out and go”. He demands we head to passport control. As we explain as clearly as we can, even showing the exit stamps, he abruptly tells Julia to get out and go inside then walk across the border, whilst I drive! Reluctantly, I get back in and drive through, hoping Julia hasn’t been held up on the Laos side, whilst I’ve been sent through the border? Not more than 25 metres on I pick her up and with some bewilderment we brush off the red dust of Laos and drive on.

It is clear that the Chinese have decided to do something with their bit of dirt. It is cleaner (except for the red dust….did I mention the red dust?) and planted with trees and bourgonvillia . As we focus on what our fate might be, we fail to see the mist of spray that each car must pass through, so with windows open we get a coating of what ever this stuff is! My glasses and mouth are covered. Naively I tell Julia it is to clean off the dust…..then we are in a queue of cars being manually sprayed by a bloke in a white coat, white gloves and face mask. As he looks up and sees us his task comes to an abrupt halt. “Go back you cannot come through here, go that way”! Pointing back to Laos! I calmly tell him we have a guide waiting for us on the other side. Then he disappears, and returns handing over his protective gear and backpack sprayer to another man. They walk around Fred looking at the pioneer tools on his bonnet, inside the back and then back at us. “Go over, park and don’t leave vehicle”! He leaves and returns a short while later with his phone and a translator app. “Have you foreigners organised paperwork formalities”? I once again tell him that, “we have a guide who has organised all this and will be waiting for us on the other side or in the immigration hall”. I have taken a screen shot of an email from Anton with her name and number just in case. This I show him. He calls the number and appears to rant over the phone at her in Chinese! The man apologised for the delay and asks us to follow him to the immigration hall, where on the other side of the barriers and glass screens is a girl waving and smiling to us. This is Yingchu Zhao, our guide. She leads us through the process and the now smiling, helpful and friendly guards. Finger prints done, photos taken and an extensive examination of our passports completed with a vast array of questions answered about the passports, which I have to admit look great and have every conceivable security gimmick going!

WELCOME TO CHINA!

Our suitcases are searched and one of the aluminium boxes.

A precursory glance tells us that they now are more interested in Fred than our gear! A few questions about the trip, and once again Julia walks across and I drive across. PHEW!

It’s like we’ve driven into a different country! haha The landscape is lusher, greener with avenues planted with red bourgonvillia and trees. The entry process is not quite complete. We must drive to Mengla about 50kms away. This is where the equivalent of VTNZ is. They must check Fred and give him a WOF. Then a temporary license can be issued to us and the Landy. Brakes are checked by driving along and slamming on the brakes……pass! Then over to the pit. All good until I’m summoned to the pit and his words are translated. “Why is there so much oil leaking out from the car”? I explain about Land Rovers and that, “if it leaks its normal. if it doesn’t leak it’s empty”! He laughs and passes us. Fred is good to have temporary registration and we get driving permits. The process has gone smoothly so we have time up our sleeves, so decide to drive to Jinghong and see what the time is. The road is good so are able to go further to Pu’er. Where Yingchu offers us options for our accommodation. 280 Yuan or the place she will be staying at, 150 ¥. As I park an old man who’s job it is to make sure everyone is parked to his satisfaction. So I put it in reverse to line Fred up……….and @#$&*@#$&.

The unthinkable occurs. The gear stick breaks off in my hand! Foot on clutch, stick in hand. Julia looks at me and says nothing. I say nothing! The actual words we both thought failed to leave our mouths. We both instinctively knew what the other was thinking. Yingchu to her credit said to Julia “we’ll check in whilst Kieran sorts it out”. Well diffused. Having dismantled the shroud around the gearstick, it is apparent that it has sheared off at the base just before the selector. An easy fix. It will need welding or replacing. The latter is not an option! In a flash Yingchu has got on the phone and in what seems a few seconds, two scruffy looking blokes arrive on a scooter. they take it away and promise to return within an hour and a half. True to their word they return and reinstall. However as I sit in the drivers seat the mechanic looks at his mate and then at me and says something in Chinese. I understand body language and the gist of what he was miming. He’s welded it back on assuming that we were ‘left hand drive’. It’s now way over to the left. Quite a reach to change gear. But I can change gear, so I am very relieved and grateful to him for fixing what could quite easily have been “game over”. He asks for 1000 Baht and refuses to take a tip. So we give him his money and a kiwi badge and pen.