Winding way from China to Vietnam

Our route from China to Vietnam became rougher than we had planned. From Kunming we wanted to go to Hekou where there is a border crossing, but with some miscommunications we got tickets to the wrong destination, Wenshan. We thought it didn’t matter that much, since it’s easy to take a bus from Wenshan to Hekou. It would just take a few hours longer and we had the time. Every travel has its unexpected surprises, and now it was our turn to be flexible.

Unfortunately though, the night from Kunming to Wenshan ended in a more dramatic way than expected. Unlike all buses we’ve seen before, this one had beds, so we could actually lay down. Sara slept very well in the bus – too well apparently, because she woke up just to discover that her laptop and camera were gone. We spent the whole morning at the police station, missed the bus to Hekou and had to spend the night in Wenshan.

The police drove us to a hostel owned by a Canadian family. For the first time since the start of our project we actually paid for accommodation, but the price was reduced to a small symbolic sum. Our hosts did their best to show their support and make us have a good time despite our loss. They invited us for lunch and dinner, and we had a calm relaxing time.

Wenshan is much smaller than the other Chinese cities we’ve been to, and we really liked the atmosphere in the town centre. We took a walk in the evening, and in the main square we saw people of all ages come together and have fun in different ways. There was a public dance class, a film screening, and a fountain with benches where people sat and shared their stories. This reminded us of the happy creative future we want to see. In the sustainable future, people will not be working too many hours to earn too much money to consume too much stuff they don’t need, but instead spend more time socializing and having fun together.

Wenshan's helpful policeman and policewoman

The next morning we got a ride in the police car to the bus station. The police officers were very friendly, gave us water for the trip and even paid for our tickets to Hekou. We travelled through beautiful mountain areas in a small 18-seated bus. Then we walked across the border from Hekou on the Chinese side to Lao Cai in Vietnam. Everything went smooth with crossing the border, and we slept well again in the night train to Hanoi.

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