This morning I left He Shun and went to the bus station in Tengchong to catch a bus to Ruili. It was 9:45, and then 10 AM bus to Ruili was full already, so instead of waiting till 11:00, I hopped on the 10:30 bus to Mangshi. I got a good seat with legroom and a window - it was a minibus, and at times we had so many passengers that people had to stand.
The road we took toward Mangshi started out paved, then turned to a cobblestone-like consistency as we went up a huge ridge, with great views on both sides. After that the road was little more than a dirt track at times, as we past lots of tea plantations before heading down again (paved again) toward the Shweli River. The bridge across the river was a single track suspension bridge - along with half of my bus, I chose to walk across ahead of the bus, then got back on the bus on the other side. After the bridge, it was only about 12 km to Longling, a town on the main road between Kunming and Ruili....all of a sudden, the road had smooth pavement with street lights every 50 meters with pictures of nearby sites. This lasted for all 12 km - these street lights seemed a bit over the top and pointless, especially given the condition of the road itself only a few miles back. But whatever...
In Longling, our minibus stopped for a while, so I decided to switch buses there. I caught another minibus that was leaving for Ruili immediately, so I made a quick connection but didn't get to have any lunch. The drive to Ruili took about 2.5 hours, which made my entire trip today about 6 hours long. After Linglong, we made a big descent into Mangshi, where it became more tropical, with sugarcane and coffee growing all over. We passed right by a Burmese border crossing in Wanding, and I could see hills and buildings in Burma. Finally, we arrived in Ruili, a city with wide palm-lined boulevards and very calm traffic - mostly bicycle rickshaws and electric scooters. Here in Ruili, I'm closer to Delhi than I am to Beijing.....not to mention Rangoon, Calcutta, Bangkok, etc....so it's definitely a different scene from the east coast of China.
I found a hotel, and needed Leo's help checking in since the receptionist didn't speak English and didn't even attempt to communicate anything to me in sign language....she just sort of sat there until I called Leo, despite the fact that I was trying to hand her money and communicating the best I could. But eventually I got my room, then set out to find food (I hadn't had lunch). Since I was so hungry, I got a small noodle soup at the first place I saw...then I went in search of Burmese food.
I found a small street with lots of stalls and restaurants, all with pool tables. Apparently it's a pool-playing street. Halfway down the street, I spotted a restaurant with Burmese writing on the awning. I asked if they had La Pat Dok (Tea Leaf Salad, one of my favorite Burmese dishes that I often ate in San Francisco), and they did! The tea leaves and cripy garlic and lentils came in little plastic packets from Burma, and I ended up buying 3 more of these to bring back to the US (they are packaged, so I think they will be OK). The woman who made my salad chopped tomato, lettuce, onion, garlic and chili and mixed them with peanuts, the fermented tea leaves and the crispy garlic and lentils. It was excellent, and I took several pictures of the salad and the restaurant. The manager also came over to take a picture of me on his cell phone - I'm guessing I am the first American to ever come there and order tea leaf salad. The manager spoke a bit of English, but he wasn't Burmese - the woman who made the salad was though, and they were playing Burmese music videos on the TV in the restaurant. She was singing along.
There is a lot of Burmese influence in this city - Burmese writing everywhere, women dressed in colorful sarongs, all sorts of interesting looking curries and vegetable dishes on display at local restaurants. It's probably as close to being in Burma as you can get without actually entering the country.
After tea leaf salad, I walked around a bit more and then caught a bicycle rickshaw back to my hotel.......this evening my plan is to relax a bit at my hotel, then head to the night market to find more food. My stomach is feeling a bit iffy today, so I will need to be careful foodwise, but hopefully I'll be okay. There is no card reader here, so I can't load any pictures, but perhaps I'll be able to another day.
