Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

There is no real trace of it, it’s all gone.
There is the elephant round-a-bout and the temple though.

The first time I did this bus journey it was over thirty hours in a tiny chicken bus that diverted from what was called 'the main road south’ to small villages to drop off and pick up….that was in 2000 after celebrating the Millennium Crossover in Vietnam. The second time was in 2006 when Aussie Judy and I followed the same ‘main road south’ but in a much larger ‘new bus’ that didn’t divert, yet still wound its way around and around the mountains below what looked like heaven;

A new yet unfinished Super Highway built on concrete legs and straight!
In 2006 it took Aussie Judy and I around twenty hours, maybe a little less or a little more.
Yesterday it took us around eight hours but in an extremely toxic mini-van.

Travelling alone I would have caught the bus simply because of my past history travelling there and past experiences in long mini-van journeys. They are cramped, uncomfortable and they smell of petrol no matter what year they are made. This one though took the cake and grabbed the trophy for the most toxic long term mini-van journey I have done. The entire way I was looking out my window at passing cars dreaming of their mufflers and exhausts all the while wanting to stop one of them and dislodge an entire exhaust system and wrap it around our drivers throat whilst screaming;

You See, You See, this is an exhaust system, it has a muffler and an actual exhaust!

So, having been to Jinghong twice and thoroughly enjoyed it both times I was excited to visit some of my old Backpacker Haunts. Needless to say I knew that it would be ‘different’ eight years later but what I didn’t expect was that the actual ‘Foreign Backpacker’ area to be, well um, not found. This morning we headed out and what we did find was an amazing Korean Eatery and after an hour of delicious food we found a Walmart.

Oh Oh, a Walmart is not a good sign in any town sized city, but continue we did.

We then headed over to the Elephant Round-A-Bout where I have spent two previous Chinese New Years which were a real hoot. Back then the round-a-bout was dotted with little hostels and eateries and so was Manting Road where we joined in with orange robed Monks throwing crackers at each other and little children throwing crackers at passing foreigners whilst we devoured endless beers and western food. What I found was brand clothes stores etc, what I didn’t find was Mei Mei Café, Forest Café and the assorted Dai Style Guest Houses etc that served cold beer, banana pancakes and cheap accommodation.

The world turns, backpackers move on and most probably to Laos!
If solo I’d stay a few more days, I love Jinghong even without banana pancakes.
But I’m giving Non-Solo travel ago so get over it, people to see and places to go!
Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Slayer
The album was ‘Diabolus In Musica’
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