China 1 by Will

[Google/Blogspot is not available in China so this blog has been prepared and then emailed to Melbourne and loaded by Ros & Hamish. We are not able to view it.]

It was sad saying goodbye to Laos, because that’s where we left Lauren and it was a really fun place to drive through.

I thought the border crossing into China was going to be bloody hard and drawn out…but it was actually really easy and quick. The only trouble we had was finding our guide, Michelle. We were not allowed to get through the China side of the border without a guide. [Dad: the entry process including car examination and testing ended with Will & I being issued with Chinese driving licenses and the car getting a Chinese number plate!]

Michelle is 26 and lives in the city of Chengdu in central China…I think, and has some strange tastes in music [Dad: she probably thinks the Grizzly Bears are pretty strange too!] She has been really helpful. One of her roles has been ordering our food…we have been eating a huge variety of food. Two strange things we have eaten are wild bees and tree bark…both were actually pretty nice! We always have three dishes and a large bucket of rice which we share. Me and dad usually have a beer which have been very light tasting. A couple of nights ago Michelle bought some local ‘plum wine’ which tasted more like peach schnapps. The same night the owner of the restaurant insisted we taste his home made white ‘wine’ which was actually more like really strong whisky. [Dad: the same night, a local policeman in the small town of Feng Shan needed to check us against our passport photos (for registration purposes) so he visited us in our hotel room (showed his badge first - it looked pretty good to me) to see our faces! It was weird with him, Michelle, the hotel owner, Qin Ming, Will and I all gathered in the small room and us not having a clue about what they were talking about for the 20 minutes or so it took! The policeman then suggested we park our car in the secure police station grounds which we were glad to take up.]

I have found the people to be really nice, helpful and fun to be around…whenever Michelle asks for directions they are more than happy to help. We were buying posters today in a small shop, where we had a fun conversation, through Michelle, with the owners [Dad: I bought a Chairman Mao poster and another from Revolutionary days. Will liked the one of this guy with a big bushy beard - turned out to be Karl Marx!]. Yesterday the owner of a restaurant offered to wash our car.

The roads have ranged from great to pretty bloody bad (because of road works). But most of the time they have been really good. The majority of the time we have been driving in the mountains with really good views. There have been a lot of road works though.

Yesterday it got noticeably cooler in the late afternoon. We expect it will get a lot colder in a couple of weeks as we head further north. I’m really looking forward to the cold weather.