"Yunnan and Kunming...travellers sickness"

27th December (Day Twenty Two)

We arrived at the railway station in good time to catch the train, and before long we were on-board and claiming our beds/seats for the Twenty six hour journey the was to lay ahead. The journey sounded as if it would be quite spectacular as the train would pass through three hundred and sixty eight tunnels, and cross over six hundred and twenty eight bridges as it wound its way through the mountains. I had my camera loaded and ready for the supposedly beautiful views that we should encounter.

Yúnnán

Geographically, Yúnnán is the most varied of all China’s provinces, with terrains as diverse as tropical rain forest and icy Tibetan highlands, it is the home to China’s ethnic minorities and it has half of China’s plant and animal species. The ethnic minorities had crossed the borders from Burma, Thailand, as well as Tibet all of which are close to the Yúnnán border. It was not until the 15th century that this part of the south west of China was finally integrated into the Empire as the Province of Yúnnán.

Even then it remained an isolated frontier region, with scattered garrisons and settlement in the valley, and it remained a mixed aboriginal  population of:- Zhuang, Hui, Yi, Miao, Tibetans, Mongols, Yao, Bai, Hani, Dai, Lisu, Lahu, Wa, Naxi, Jingpo, Bulang, Pumi, Nu, Achang, Benglong, Jinuo and Dulong. Kúnmíng is said to have a flavour of its own due to the diverseness of the population, and was for that reason that I chose to visit the region.

As expected the train did pass through some of the most spectacular regions that I had yet experienced, some of the bridges were awesome as they crossed valleys giving stunning views which meant that half of the day I was hanging out of the window with my camera at the ready! I had been feeling quite ill all day, and I knew that I was going to be sick but just when it would happen was to remain a mystery. I knew the reason was the disgusting ’hot-pot’ the we or rather I had eaten last night! Anyway the day passed without any problems and we mostly talked and laughed with each other and tried to chat to the Chinese on board, but that was very hard work as they had not a lot of contact with foreigners. I started to write in my digital diary and soon had a crowd of Chinese gathered around wanting to be shown what it was and how it worked, they found it amazing although I don’t think they knew exactly what it was.

By 9.00pm we had began to settle down for the night and, as it was dark, there was not a lot more we could do except sleep, the only problem was the Chinese passengers were still up talking rather loudly, spitting fairly frequently, (although I have started to ignore it a bit more), and chain smoking cigarettes. All these annoyances on top of the fact I was not feeling too good, was not helping a great deal. It was not until and hour or so later that I suddenly woke with a strange feeling, I knew that I had to get to a toilet very quick as I was going to throw up in the next thirty seconds!

I can honestly say that I have never been so violently ill in my entire life, it was as if nature had said whatever is inside has got to get out or you are going to die! For the next few hours I had to stay inside a Chinese toilet which is not the most pleasurable experience in the world, as I do not think they are ever cleaned and the stench is just incredible, in short, I would not have wished the experience on my my worst enemy! The rancid stench as I held my head over the hole in the carriage floor (called a toilet) observing the train tracks flashing by was just unbearable, and made me vomit every time. The blasts of air coming up the hole brought back into my face the stench of a thousand Chinese travellers, I do not think I had better elaborate too much more as the thought is starting to get to me now! The whole night was spent in much the same way, with the exception of short walks along the train to try to get rid of the stomach cramps that I had. Eventually I ended up in the soft class carriage where there was a nice cushioned seat in the corridor for me to sit on, and as it was then 3.00am I did not think anyone would mind the fact that I was not in the correct class of carriage. I was wrong. Just as I had started to feel a little better and was sitting there nice and quiet minding my own business, a female carriage attendant suddenly startled me and started to shout at me in Chinese. I knew she wanted to see my ticket to check that I was in the right compartment so I tried to plead ignorance, but all this did was make her shout at me more and this time louder, something that I did not really want to happen but I had no choice. Then an American came out and he started to shout at the two of us, so I decided to get out of the seat and make my way back. However I never actually got there, as soon as I reached the end of the carriage and saw the wash basin attached to the wall, I immediately ’puked’ up into it. The Chinese attendant was not very amused, I could tell by the tone of her voice and the way she was waving her hands!.......(Ha, Ha)

28th December (Day Twenty Three)

Kúnmíng

The train arrived at Kúnmíng at 9.50am which, aspredicted, meant that the journey had been twenty six hours long. I think I was ill for most of that time but I had not been sick for a few hours, although my stomach was still aching very much and I was feeling quite weak. We had all hoped that by now the weather would be warm and the sun would be shining. I have a feeling that when I eventually get my films developed, they might be a little bit on the dull side due to the lack of sunshine to date, unfortunately, there is still no sign of the sun thus far, and it’s still positively freezing!

On arrival we found a hotel fairly quickly, I did not care how much it was, so long as we got to it swiftly so that I could be near to a toilet. The cost turned out to be very good at just under Y10 (0.75p) although there was no heating or carpets so it was very, very cold in the rooms, (but not in our sleeping bags). The day for me was wasted because I still was not feeling too well, but everyone else went out to explore the city. I have to say that they were very good to me as they ’popped’ back every couple of hours to see if I was feeling any better or if I required anything. Amy made me drink some bottled water mixed with a diuretic, which replenished my body with the vital minerals that it had been starved of due to the sickness. This is when you really appreciate your fellow traveller and you realise that they have a genuine care about you and are prepared to look after you, I suppose tomorrow the "shoe could be on the other foot", so it pays to look after one another in the long run. I went out for a short walk in the afternoon, to see the city for which I had endured the long train journey. It was rather pleasant with lots of shops and an overall general feeling of wealth, something that we had not seen much of along the journey. I did not eat a thing all day except for a couple of oranges, and much of my day was spent reading and planning the next part of the journey as, to our horror, we were in what can only be described as a trap.According to the L.P. guide. it is quite difficult to get a train out of Kúnmíng and when one does it is a very difficult route that involves many train changes and long waits for the onward trains. We were warned that if we missed a train or one was delayed (as they so often are), we could be trapped where ever we were for days.

Late afternoon we all met up and discussed the problem, and the general feeling was to get a flight to Gûilín in the province of Guângxï which was my next planned stop in China. Now this was something that I did not want to do as the whole idea was to get to Hong Kong overland, however everyone pointed out that we had travelled west to get to Kúnmíng, and would be going back east to get to Gûilín, so as I would not actually travel south it was not really cheating. To book a sleeper from Kúnmíng to Gûilín, you must first go to the train station and queue up no later than 7.00am. There are only six hard sleepers sold every day and, as there are at least six of us alone, without counting all the other travellers that must be in Kúnmíng, I do not think there would be much chance of getting a bed, and for a thirty three hour journey it would be essential. I decided to check out the alternative routes and sleep on it that night.

That evening every one went out to dinner (except me) as I could not face the thought of food just yet. Although I had not been sick during the day I can honestly say I have never had food poisoning as bad as this before.

29th December (Day Twenty Four)

I woke up still feeling ill and decided to go along with the rest of the crowd and book the flight to Gûilín as I still cannot face the thought of thirty three hours on a train that may not even get there! I still do not know if I have fully recovered from my food poisoning yet.

The strange thing about China is that the cost of things vary, for example, you can travel by train in a soft class sleeper for slightly less than the price of an airline ticket, so why do so many people that can afford the prices of the soft sleeper, travel by train when they could fly for the same price? maybe like me, they enjoy travelling by train, although I think that soft class is cheating in this country!

Much of the morning was taken up with the booking of the airline ticket, which cost Y305 (£30.00), but once that was out of the way we were able to explore the city and see the sights that I had come here for. The others had done a fair bit of walking yesterday, and they had found a really nice cafe which, to their surprise, served tasty pastries, fresh bread and cakes. I discovered that the city was a very peaceful leafy sort of place, with cycle-roads where cars were not permitted, which added to the tranquillity of the city.

Kúnmíng

The region of Kúnmíng has been inhabited for two thousand years, there have been tomb excavations in the south of the city around lake Dian, where weapons and paintings jade and jewellery from that period have been unearthed. Until the 8th century the the town was a remote Chinese outpost, but the kingdom of Nanzhao centred at the north-west captured it and made it a secondary capital. In 1274AD the Mongols took Kúnmíng for themselves and in the late 13th century, Marco Polo recorded a fascinating picture of life in Kúnmíng......

"At the end of these five days journeys you arrive at the capital city, which is named Yachi, and is very great and noble. In it are found merchants and artisans, with a mixed population, consisting of Christians and Sarocens. The land is fertile in rice and wheat, for money they have the white porcelain shell found in the sea, and which they wear around their necks. Eighty of their shells are equal to two venation groats. The natives don’t consider an injury has been done to them when someone has a connection with their wives, as long as it was voluntary on behalf of the woman. Here there is a lake almost a hundred miles in circuit, in which great quantities of fish are caught. The people are accustomed to eat the raw flesh of fowls, sheep, oxen and buffalo...the poorer sorts only dip it into a sauce of garlic...they eat it as well as we do the cooked."

In the 14th century the Ming built a walled city here on the sight of the present city, and remained there until the 17th century. In the 19th century the city suffered several blood-baths as the sultan of Dali attacked and besieged the city several times between 1858 and 1868. A large number of the buildings were destroyed and it wasn’t until 1873 that the rebellion was finally crushed. In the 19th century, when Britain took control of Burma and France had Indo-China, access to the city from the south was provided Kúnmíng’s expansion began in World War 2, when factories were established within the region and refugees fleeing the Japanese poured in from Eastern China.

The face of Kúnmíng has radically altered since then, streets have been widened and office blocks and housing projects have been flung up with great speed everywhere. With the railway eventually getting to Kúnmíng the industry expanded rapidly. Even today a large number of goods are made in the Yúnnán province and Kúnmíng has its own steel plant.

Today the population is made up of many minority groups that have established themselves during many different conflicts within the region, one hundred and fifty thousand Vietnamese refugees now call Kúnmíng home after the Chinese-Vietnamese wars and the border clashes that started in 1977. The population hovers around two million and the minorities account for about 6%.

At an elevation of one thousand eight hundred and ninety metres Kúnmíng has a mild climate and you can visit here any time of the year. The winters are short, sunny and dry, and there is a fairly even spread of temperatures from April through till September.

Post cards are in a short supply here in China, or at least nice ones that is, most of them have been around for many years and the pictures are obviously very outdated, so when I found some nice ones in a shop I could not resist purchasing them. At least I would be able to send these home to family and friends and they looked ’half’ decent. There was a really nice friendship store in Kúnmíng, which was a place that sells many goods imported to China from the West, and offered items not sold anywhere else in China. For Amy it was a great time to stock up with Tampax tampons of all things, (she got most excited when she saw them!). As I said, they could not be purchased anywhere except in one of these stores All the goods purchased there must be paid for in FEC, which is one of the reasons that the Chinese are so keen to get hold of this type of currency. Looking back at the range of goods on offer at the Friendship store, I wish that I had the spare cash then to purchase some Chinese rugs and other items unique to China as it would have been an ideal time to buy things at such good prices.

After a leisurely day shopping everyone went out to dinner, something that I still cannot face so I stayed in and wrote some letters to Michelle and got to bed fairly early to try and regain my strength. I was starting to feel much better and was glad that the sickness that I had been suffering had passed.

30th December (Day Twenty Five)

I awoke at 8.00am, and after first drinking a cup of coffee I went straight to the Post Office. The purpose of the visit to the Post Office was to try and make my back-pack a little lighter by posting home the items that I no longer required for the journey. One of the items was a bag from ’Next’, when I had told Michelle my intentions were to throw it away once I had emptied the contents (mainly food), she said that she would be most annoyed with me so I figured I had better post it home, the total cost of all the items (books, maps, and clothing), was just £3.90p.

Next I went to the long distance telephone office to call Hong Kong to try and organise my return flight back to the U.K. or at least find out how much it would cost. The price in Hong Kong Dollars was $3,100, which although sounding a lot, was quite reasonable. I provisionally reserved a flight just to be on the safe side, and must go into the office in Hong Kong to pay for it when I eventually arrive. Once again the Lonely Planet book came into its own, how else would I have known the telephone number of a reliable, cheap travel agent in Hong Kong whilst I was in the middle of China?

Gunta (a German I had met), Fredrick (Swedish) and I then went to the Golden Triangle Cafe for some breakfast and to relax before we had to go to the airport. I actually managed to eat something, it was literally the first thing that I had eaten for a few days due to my food poisoning. I had a tomato omelette and Coffee to drink and it was great!

At 11.00am we left for the airport via the airport bus, to catch our flight which was at 12.55pm. The airport was fairly simple in construction, although the security checks were very strict and I had an argument with an official who wanted to put all of my undeveloped films through the X-ray machine. Now I appreciated that he was only doing his job, but there was no way I was going to risk my films to the X-rays! Anyway he eventually ’hand checked’ each film and of course I thanked him very much, although he did not respond very favourably. It was hard to make someone else understand how valuable (sentimentally) these films were to me. The necessity for tight security checks were due to the occurrence of many hi-jacks over the years, and the communist government do not want anybody to leave the country without their permission!

The flight took one hour ten minutes, views from the aircraft were excellent and the approach to Gûilín with the huge mountains was superb. It looked a formidable place to land, but the pilot managed without any problems. The meal on board the aircraft was typically Chinese, we each received a cardboard box with a packed lunch type meal inside. There was coffee and soft drinks available but it was not quite upto British Airways standards. 

Once we had found a hotel for the night we decided to discover Gûilín for ourselves however, we found it to be very ’touristy’ as this was a place where the main bulk of tourist come after visiting Beijing and the Great Wall.

Read Neils complete adventure here.