Walking Into China Without My Motorcycle

Day 31 – Day 41  | 19th June 2016 – 29th June 2016

I finally reach the border town of China and Laos – Boten. After 183km from Luang Prabang. I stopped by the village (60km north of Luang Prabang) and visited the lady that housed me for 2 nights and gave her some more cash before I carry on my trip up north.

Halfway through from Luang Prabang to Boten:

I decided to sleep here for the night as it is already 530pm. Its pretty cold here as the altitude is higer. I found a Hammock, asked the owner permission to sleep in his premises. He even allowed me to use his toilet to wash my clothes and shower. Its an Inn/ Hotel but I am not going to pay for lodging..as lodging kills budget..

Reason being I did not sleep in a tent because my Tent got stolen on the first day in Laos. (Refer to “Into Beautiful Laos” Post).
My negligence of leaving stuffs on the motorcycle overnight as I thought no body would take it. But I was dead wrong.
Complacency pays.

Upon reaching Boten, I decided to stay 1 more night in Laos as it was already late, and I couldnt find a safe place to park my motorcycle.

The owners of food shops and restaurants were trying to rip me off at 10,000 Lao Kip/ USD 1.3 day and it is not really safe to park there.

I ended up sleeping at the worst place ever just for my motorcycle parking when I walk in China. I rather stay in my tent which is clean, but I had no choice. I have to seize the opportunity to leave my motorcycle at a safe spot as I couldn’t/ am not bringing my motorcycle into China. The China Restaurant cum “Motel” at the border run by the neighbouring China PRCs, in Laos, is in a really bad condition. No Upkeep. No maintenance. Hygiene and Customer Values = 0/10.  It shouldn’t even called a hotel even.

Let the photos below give you a judgement of the room I stayed in for the night. For 80,000 Lao Kip/ USD 11, this is what you get (Below).
First impression counts and certainly it doesn’t give me a good impression of China and the people of China. Its even worse when I experience this even before I step into China.

I ended up parking my motorcycle at a big chinese hotel (owned by a China national) that has 24 hours reception at the porch.
I got to know that the hotel is a safe spot to park from hitchhiking a Toyota Hilux when walking into China the following morning.

The man so happens to be a Malaysian and we could communicate so easily. Mr KB took me to his hotel and I shifted my motorcycle there before I left for China. He works in the Duty Free industry doing supply and demand.

Now why am I walking into China, instead of using my motorcycle?

It is compulsory for foreign vehicles entering China to have an escort due to sensitive areas in China. With a vehicle, they know that we can go anywhere. This doesn’t come cheap. I did not even bother to email any tour agency because I know that the price they are going to quote me will be too “ridiculous” for me to pay.
If I am not wrong, it cost at least a hundred USD or more/ day. I am not going to just give away my money like that.

As a Gauge, I did email a few Myanmar tour agencies before I started my trip (I was intending to head to India on my motorcycle). Foreign vehicles entering Myanmar also requires a compulsory escort.

The cheapest quote I got was USD 500/ day. And we are not going to stay just for a day in a foreign country. USD 500/ day?! I was just laughing my ass off from the quotation I got.

I decided to just walk into China. For my Passport, I did not need to do any Visa. Just walk in and on the spot visa. They will charge a small fee if you require them to fill up the “On the spot Visa’. Those that queued up were mostly Laos people, and a high probability they did not understand the basic english written on the form.

I filled up by myself and in fact I got into China way faster than them, even when I arrived later.
Walked into Mohan, got a room for USD 5.5 if I remember correctly. 2nd bad impression, the room stinks of Cigarette smoke, though it looks decently clean. Very clean, actually. Room doesnt look budget. Looks pretty USD 23-ish room. Good point.  Though everywhere I walk, there are people smoking. I hate that.

No tent (Stolen in Laos), No motorcycle, I cant find a place to pitch a tent. Have to resort to paying for a room literally everyday in China, because I dont have the flexibility to find spots where I can pitch my tent out of people’s way.

I found out that my laptop’s harddisk got fried due to rain water seeping in through my North Face duffle bag. I should have purchased a Touratech Dry Pack before my trip. This would not have happened. No longer able to detect the harddisk, I have to go north all the way to Jing Hong (Yunnan) to get a new harddisk.

My travel insurance Etiqa does not cover this. Total Nonsense. Freakin hell. I bought insurance to cover me in these kind of mishaps but they countered me with their policies stating that they do not cover damages in digital devices. Useless. Had I known they do not cover a huge load of things, I will not buy their pretty useless insurance then.
Yup, my mistake that I did not bother to read the policy on what they cover in travel insurance. Their insurance is pretty redundant especially for my style of travelling.

Changing to a brand new SSD harddisk  costed me USD 110 in Jing Hong. That is straight out of my pocket. Gone just like that. I will not purchase insurance coverage from Etiqa again, since it doesn’t cover the common mishaps. It just doesn’t make any sense for anyone to buy as they dont cover so much of the common accidents in a travel.

Jing Hong is about a total of 5 hours – 6 hours by bus from the border of Mohan/ Boten. Now travelling has never been so slow for me and more expensive. I also dont get to see much things as the bus brings me directly from 1 town to the other town directly. Therefore I was unable to stop and see much stuffs.

I stopped at Mengla for a few hours to find a proper hard-disk but unfortunately there isnt. Resorted to going to Jing Hong as it is a much bigger city. Expensive cars and expensive motorcycles started popping out almost everywhere, and I can see that China is  booming. Getting stronger, richer fast. This is even at a corner province south of China. I cant imagine how Bei Jing will be like. Well one can roughly gauge just by looking at the road, streets, shops and the vehicles in the vicinity.

Surprisingly, food is very cheap here and affordable here. Though I do not favour the Chinese food here ironically as some of them have a pungent smell to it. I was getting used to paying more for little quantity back in Laos. Over here, I pay lesser and have more quantity. A pretty huge bowl of rice and ample amount of meat (2 meat) and a vegetable dish will just cost about USD 1 +.

Back in Laos, it would easily cost me about USD 2 just for a plate of fried rice with a negligible amount of meat/ veggies on the plate. Probably foreigner price. I got the Special price? haha.

I decided to leave China within a week as I couldnt explore much as I do not have a vehicle with me. The nearest Place of Interest (Non City) for me was The Great Wall Of China, but it certainly is too far for me to visit as I only have 15 days Visa in China.
Being stuck in the cities and town was not a great idea as I could not visit much places. The bus/ coaches would usually bring me directly from 1 city to another. It just bores me (And not to forget, paying for hotel/ lodging everyday) and I am not really interested to see cities. I too couldn’t stay in a tent (bought a Tent in China), as I am stuck in cities. Pretty difficult to pitch a tent in a busy areas.

Re entering China was through the same way (Mohan), no complications and stress free. No one asked for Coffee money.

Upon reaching back Laos, I immediately walked back to the Big Chinese Hotel and my motorcycle is still there after 7 days (Of course!) No Charge at all! All thanks to Mr KB! Not surprising, I bumped into Mr KB as he was leaving that hotel. We had dinner on that night for that night and the following. His friend came to join us for dinner (A filipino working in Laos, another eye opener for me!)

I decided to sleep in my newly bought tent in the Border town (Boten/ Laos) before I make my trip to Cambodia (border crossing Chiang Khong, Thailand – Huay Xai ,Laos).

I slept for a few nights in the same spot. As I am not paying for any lodging, I took my time to leave the place. For the first night, I was feeling  too cosy in the tent (It went down to 18 degrees Celsius at night under the shelter, and it rained heavily). It felt like air con. I told myself, lets just avoid the thunderstorm and enjoy my sleep. Amazingly I slept until late afternoon in my tent. Freakin hell I loved it! No body disturbed me. Time is of no constrain when I have no lodging to pay.

I honestly felt cleaner, more comfortable, and most importantly, happier in my tent, than in that crappy China Motel I stayed in before entering China (Refer to top of post).

Oh, utilised a nearby eatery shop to shower too every night, along with handwashing my clothes and gears.

During this time, I took the free time to change the Engine Oil by myself. Whopps. I Spilled some of it! But I did clean up the mess with the cardboard boxes strewn around.

I chose to exit Chiang Khong so that I will be able to see the Golden Triangle, visit Chiang Mai, Pai, Chiang Rai, and of course, to experience the World Famous Mae Hong Son 1864 hairpin curves roads. With that,  I left the border town the moment the sun rise on the following morning (About 0515hours).