Kumning, Dali & Almost to Myanmar
November 13th-19th, 2009
After giving the Pandas a visit, it was off to Kunming. This 19 hour train ride felt like the shortest train ride I ever
took in my life, and I am not kidding.
We literally played 9-10 hours Rummy... and it was fun, time flew by!
We arrived in Kunming in the morning. She told me that she doesn't like train rides. She couldn't wait to get off and
see her boyfriend...
Kunming was awesome. We actually found some good spots, so I pretty much forgot about taking photos. This is
the only photo I have from Kunming... Hostel view.
After two days of trying to gather footage in Kunming, we had to start heading to Myanmar. On the way to the
border city known as Ruili, we had to pass through and change buses in a beautiful city called Dali. It is known as
the hippie city of China. Smoking herbs in this region is apparently legal.
We only had five or six hours to check out this diverse city. On the very top of my list was to visit the famously
known Three Pegodas, I was so stoked that we made it over there.
This is the new town of Dali, the Three Pagodas were located in the old town of Dali.
I thought color would be nice as well, so here is some with the F3. Click on image to view it in a larger scale!
Our friend in Kunming gave us a phone number of one of his friends to call in Dali, who would show us around. We
called the number and from there on we were hooked up, they showed us around town and one really good spot!
I think the photo speaks for itself...
China is on the other side of the World, so I am not surpised to see that when a fire breaks out you call 119 instead
of 911... but to be honest I think in Germany its 119 as well.
After checking out Dali, we had to catch a ten hour bus ride to the Myanmar border city called Ruili. The bus ride
over there was probably the worst bus experience I ever had. More about that ride will be featured in a short
documentary of this trip with Kenny, which will be viewable in the Bonus section of "10,000 Kilometers" DVD...
This Myanmar girl was selling bananas at the border. After an hour of phone calls, we realized that we will not be
able to enter Myanmar on this trip. So we ate a Burmese banana and it tasted like a banana from Heaven. We had a
taste for Myanmar and we loved it. I need to go back soon for sure!
We had no choice... We took a two hour taxi to the closest Airport, and had to fly back to Kunming since we were
not up for the 16 hour bus ride back again...
Even the Airport looked amazing. Such a bummer being so close to a country you really want to explore and you
just get denied.
Had to fly back to Kunming, figure out a new plan...
After a day of resting and getting our minds set on our next destination, we figured out a plan, and the plan was
called Laos! Propeller flights here we go!
I don't get angry or pissed off often. But when I plan a trip to Myanmar for a couple months and even take a 40 hour
train ride plus a 16 hour bus ride to get there, and then they say "You can't enter", i just had to loose it. We was
literally fifty footsteps away from entering... We were pretty bummed... Before hand, we were told that we would be
able to obtain a visa for Myanmar at the border. That information was apparently false and we were stuck at the very
southwestern point of China with exhaustion & not knowing what to do next...