The mountains to climb!

Trip Start Sep 15, 2009

Trip End Sep 30, 2009

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Flag of United States York, Pennsylvania, United States
Tuesday, March 3, 2009

From Day Two on, to get a sense of what I will be letting myself into, I have been checking the travel blogs written by many who had gone before me to Kaili City. Quite a few who backpacked through it did not sound encouraging! It seems that trekkers along the way had not been thrilled by their stopovers there. Words like "dingy" and "dirty" do conjure up all the negatives. But I am not the least bit discouraged. Seasoned travelers are never whiners, and I do count myself as one of the "old salts" here. Being a former military man, nothing fazes me. I have sat slung up in a cargo plane for hours, flying transcontinental to some dot on the map that was not even listed. I have been to some Middle eastern sandboxes where pebbles round as marbles could be found, scattered everywhere, though there was not a drop of water for miles around. How did they get here? I do wonder to this day. Could be I had set foot on the very place where Eden was? A thought. We have been told that rivers ran through it.

Ah, the joys of travel. So, I ask those who made the trip in the "bus from hell," "What is so hard about traveling by bus?" Nothing, except the ride, maybe. You know you would have to put up with the smells and the dirt, if not the sweat and the sickies. When you bought the ticket, you understood it came along with all the grime. You take your licks.

I once crossed the US by Greyhound. I endured the usual disrespects. No problem. After the trip, I even thought that I had enjoyed it immensely, and that despite one leg where this driver with a spastic right foot did the lurch all six hours of his leg! And from what I have read regarding those fortunate travelers who had ridden these so-called "VIP" coaches in China, I say, that is nothing compared to the punishment this fellow meted out to the sorry lot of us that night. Who could sleep with the bus rocking and rolling? Especially when there was nothing pleasurable happening, anywhere in the heaving bus!

I once walked miles after interminable miles, in upstate New York, for I was too young to read how many miles an inch of map scale equalled. And when I was halfway to where I was going, it got dark, and you guessed it, I found a place where I could spend the night. It was the 24-hour laundromat in the small town I had passed through! That was a cold night, but I survived, for there were folks doing their wash late, and the dryers with their most comforting hum lulled me to sleep as I curled up in the corner, snug as a bug. Ah memories of my young galivanting days!

The first time I sallied forth was when I was about 14. I felt I was fully fledge, even though so young and tender, I was foolish enough to take off with a dagger tucked in my belt and a wooden staff in one hand, to some imaginary place I never knew. I was on an adventure trip - to nowhere. I walked along the rail line that passed by my place, and walked and walked until my folks had to send an all points bulletin out for me. You can say that I had an adventurous spirit, though so small, and how! I was born a Sagittarius. So, what do you expect?

I think I am still as adventuresome today, - in my "old" age.

But my first few days of getting myself in gear to move out , I must confess, did leave me totally stymied.

Try as I might, I was not able to find anything that would help me plan my trip. No "real" bus or train schedule to Kaili! All the mouse clicks did me no good whichever China travel site I went to. I got just tangled up in a lot of tour companies selling expensive sight-seeing packages. And all the reads of rail travelers who had been to the nether parts of China drew a blank. Beautiful journals of good times and great foods and all.... Impressive. Real life drama along the way... Often entertaining. Like the account this guy wrote about his experience in the hard sleeper cabin, where the young Chinese couple in the sleeper across him made love the whole time, keeping him up half the night! They two must have got the train jostling so bad, I would think. While they were under the covers the whole time, too. Who would have imagine anything like this happening in stuffy old, Red China? Well, go check it out for yourself! Just google Kaili and get your jollies. I think the guy who wrote about his third-hand sexperience was a swash-buckling fella by the name of Raymond.

Here I am, just interested in going to Kaili City! I am really not at all into seeing this or that. Why, I am a Chinese man, and I had been in China a long, long time ago when I was a little fellow. I had traveled by river boat with my family. Even shot the rapids in one, with my mom beside me. Indeed, those were simpler times. Travel is much, much easier today. So, in a sense, I have seen it all.

China is a beautiful place, and I need no convincing! Being that I am on a mission, I am not interested in going to any place except Kaili. The scenery around Guizhou alone is wonderful from what I have read. It has been suggested that I go with a tour group. No, not this trip. I will not even make a detour to see the terracotta army. Or the Ming tombs, for that matter. Despite the "must-gos" I get from people who know about my plans. Why? I have read enough of all the blood-letting that went on in former times. Enough to not want to be interested in things marshal and morbid. I love life too much, and want to spend it in the land of the living. I love people too, and am just interested in getting to know those who live round about Kaili. A peaceable man, I am much more into seeing the costumed dancers and song-matches, as I have been told, the good and gentle Hmong and Miao people here are famous for. And I want to set my sights straight. I have a rendezvous planned, you see! A meet-up, if you will, with a Hmong Honey who is heart and soul into helping her people stay true to their heritage. She has promised to be my tour guide. So, I know I will be learning many good things about this part of the world from her. And writing about them. As I am one who is interested in both seeing the sights, and comparing living costs and standards of the places I visit, my Kaili travelblog will be worth your reading, as it will open your eyes to see just how you are really faring, moneywise, in your own country.

With my purpose well defined, I will be traveling light. I do not want anything to weigh me down. And I will not mind even trekking with the many brave souls who I read are beginning to crowd the bus and railway stations to get to the festivals in Kaili.

I have got my passport renewed, my shots, and a newly purchased map of China before me. Now to see how to make the rail connections from Hong Kong/Kowloon. It should not be too difficult, as Kaili is just some 500 miles as the crow flies from the South Eastern China coast. Even if I were to travel by pack donkey, or sedan chair, I should not take over a couple weeks. The mountains that lie across the route may be steep, but I will climb across them. No problem. I have once not too long ago driven from York, Pennsylvania to Atlanta, Georgia in a little over 15 hours. Of course, going about 60 miles per hour. But I did it straight, on the hardball, stopping only for gas and breaks. Not bad. I often drive to Toronto and I do the run in 10 hours. Long roadtrips never get me down. I revel in them.

Therefore, I figure that if I took the train from Kowloon, I should not take over two days for me to get to where I am planned on going. That in spite of the many stops along the way. I counted at least a dozen on my map. I will list them here, even though I may be way off track: (Feel free to set me straight if I am!) Kowloon to Guangzhou. Guangzhou to Zhaoqing, Xinxing, Maoming, Hechun, and then, Hechun to Yulin, Litang, Heshano to Liuzhou and finally, Liuzhou to Hechi, Guiding to Kaili. Hurrah!

The rail trip would be somewhat circuitous. But I will not mind that. I have always loved to travel by train. Indeed, the ride would give me plenty of time to take in the sights. A leisurely rail trip can be most therapeutic. I know I would be able to do some sketches of the sights I see along the way too. I would like my travelblog to be more than just interesting to read. As an artist, I hope the pictures I will incorporate in it will add a lot to its appeal. One travel book I have read, titled "The Iron Rooster," by Paul Theroux has fired up my imagination more than any book about rail travel in China. I felt that its account of his experiences chugging through China would be times more interesting had he illustrated it with some of his snapshots.

Therefore, I will set my sights on getting to Kaili City by train after I land in Hong Kong. No jostling bus ride for me the whole way. In my many visits to websites that recount the experiences of the many hardy souls who have survived bus crashes, washed out roadways and mud-slides, I say, I not this time. I cannot afford to lose even a day on my journey. My short leave would not let me have the luxury of a layover of even a few hours. Yes, I had thought of renting a car, ( for it costs so little, like most everything in China's hinterland,) but after checking into the US dot gov passport site, I gave up the idea. The temptations remain, however. But, the wisdom of the years says to not complicate matters. With the authorities in China not recognizing the International Drivers' Permit, why chance it? I might be able to make the trip in well under 10 hours, but hey, one "Check Point-Charlie" can ruin my whole day! Or week.