Was really fun to spend time in the Camellia Hotel compound in Kunming, familiar from our 2002 visit to China, and fraternize with all the Western travelers and trade street-stories at the Mieli cafe/bar and Camel Bar up the street.
I picked up a Vietnamese visa at the Camellia. I nearly lost my temper with the hard-headed Chinese clerk who gave me the visa. When I filled out the application I put the date I would be entering Viet Nam-after having gone to Thailand first for two months. In no uncertain terms she kept ordering me to put the current date. In the face of her demand I finally gave in. Then when I went back to pick up the visa I discovered I would only have one month in Viet Nam because the 90 days started now! I told her I wasn’t entering Viet Nam for 2 months. Oh, she said. I could have killed her. But she knew better than I! Typical Chinese, I thought!
Also picked up a three month Thai visa at the Thai Consolate so I wouldn’t have to go out of the country and back in after 30 days. But even there, when I asked about the stamp-out process he insisted there was no legal process…which I found out later is the truth. But they let it happen because it’s brings in revenue. Then flew to Jinghong to meet Bob.
In the Camellia Internet Cafe and Bar I met a wonderful 30ish English woman, Hester, who was also traveling alone. We connected instantly. An artist, she had just broken off a ten year relationship and sold her home. She was on her way back to Lijiang where she was thinking of partnering with some local artists on an art project.
Laughingnomad 