Out of China/Into Thailand

Sunday, July 20, 2008--Kunming to Chiang Mai

Today marks the half-way point for my travels this year. Now each day will be closer to my return home than from my leaving home. So far the trip has been good, but it is nice to know that I am making progress. It's difficult to be gone 5 1/2 months.

I went back to the zoo for two hours today after being on the Internet for a while writing e-mails. I didn't want to leave the neighborhood. The admission price is inexpensive, and it is nice to wander and watch the people. I enjoyed myself.

On the Internet I had an e-mail from the guesthouse in Chiang Mai where I have had a reservation since late April asking me to call them. I had written an e-mail to remind them of the reservation and of my planned late arrival. I wrote back telling them I don't have a cell phone and am in China. I also wrote telling them that if there was a problem with the reservation to make arrangements for me to stay elsewhere before I get to their place tonight.

Getting to the airport took quite a while. Kunming has traffic jams even on Sunday afternoon. When I went to the airport here before, it was 5:30 a.m., and I had no problems. This time it took much longer and cost twice as much (due to the fact that I was staying in a hotel further from the airport this time).

I ran into an old communist policy/trick as I tried to leave the country--making it difficult to cash back in the extra currency that hasn't been used. After checking in for my flight, I asked if there was a bank past immigration where I could exchange my Chinese currency I hadn't used. The lady told me there wasn't, so I went back into the main terminal area. But there are no banks there, either. Then I went downstairs where people arrive from flights, but there were only ATMs and no exchange offices open there. Finally, I was told that there is a Bank of China office across from the airport, so I had to walk out of the airport and across the street. Fortunately it was open on a Sunday; otherwise I would have been out of luck. The tellers were slow, but finally they got to me. Then they tried another old communist trick--asking for proof that I had exchanged my money legally and through that exact bank. Fortunately, I had used a Bank of China ATM and I always keep my receipts until I match them to my statements at home. I pulled out the receipt and all went well. If I hadn't had it, I would have been stuck with $76 worth of worthless Chinese currency! I tried to change it into Thai Baht, but they only exchange to U.S. dollars. I took the dollars and was glad that I was rid of the money and still had about 30 minutes to get back to the airport and through immigration before time for the plane to board. Wonder how many people other tourists got stuck with leftover worthless currency?

We arrived at Chiang Mai on time. Immigration there was VERY slow. They were not letting one Middle Eastern man into the country because he didn't have an onward ticket. Fortunately, they took my word on the forms I filled out that I would be leaving on TG 315. There is no reservation for that flight, since I am planning to make it tomorrow when I book my Around-the-World IX ticket. I got in. Maybe it also helped that I am American, that I had a reservation at a guesthouse, and that I have been here every year for 10 years or so without a problem regarding leaving the country. Thailand has been tightening up on its policies regarding non-citizens/non-residents. Used to people could just live here, go to a neighboring country every 6 months to get a new visa, and then return again after only one night away. They are making it tougher now. I believe I read that the trip has to be made every month.

When I tried to get a prepaid taxi, I had trouble getting a price quote. But I was told that there is a 50 Baht airport fee for a taxi. I decided just to walk out of the airport and try to get a taxi on the highway. It was sprinkling, but not enough to bother me. When I got to the highway, however, there were no taxis in sight. I knew from my guidebook that the airport was only about 3.5 km (2 miles) outside of town, so I just started walking. I came to a mall about 1 km (.6 mile) away and tried to get a taxi there, but because I was a westerner, they wanted the same price as from the airport. I was doing fine walking and had a general map in my head of where I needed to go, so I just continued. I stopped occasionally to ask directions. Eventually, I came to the area where I expected my guesthouse to be based on the map. I asked a man there for directions, and he told me they had moved!! (Maybe that was why they wanted me to call them.) Anyway, by that time, I had already walked about 6 km (3.5 miles), since the guesthouse was on the opposite side of town from the airport. There were lots of places to stay in the area, since it is a popular center for tourists here. I just went to a couple of places checking on vacancies and chose one that seemed reasonable. I didn't want to search further at 20:30 after such a long day and a long walk from the airport.

Actually, my hotel is at least a 2-star property (although they show 3 stars on their sign). It has a/c, hot water, mini-fridge, balcony, cable tv, etc., for only about $16 per night. The room lacks character, but it is clean and bright. So I will be fine there. And it is so nice to have BBC News again!!!!

I didn't call the other guesthouse. I was so tired. And I knew they had asked me to call them meaning that something was wrong on their end. I just left them to either be happy or upset with the fact that I never arrived. There has been no e-mail from them today about my not arriving.

Spending Update: During my 41 days in China, I spent $1409.60 for an average of $34.38 per day. Since leaving Texas, I have spent $3652.70 over 76 days for an average of $48.06 per day.

Monday, July 21, 2008--Chiang Mai

I was up early to go to the Thai Airlines office. I got there about 8:45 and spent 3 hours with their employees working on my new around-the-world ticket which will start when I leave Bangkok on Aug. 7. Three different employees worked with me including a supervisor who ended up being the one in charge. I had to drop plans for two stops because they involved side trips on airlines that code-share with Star Alliance airlines but are not officially part of Star Alliance. I had put both in so that I could use up some more of the allowed mileage and one of them was to allow me to visit friends I haven't seen in a while. The trip will still be a good one without the two side trips. The supervisor had to add the airport fees and check with the Star Alliance office to make sure that the trip meets all their requirements, so I told her I would return tomorrow morning. I expect that everything will be fine then and I can finalize the purchase. It will cost a little more than last year, but not as much as I feared. I won't know the final figure until I go back tomorrow, so I will report on the price difference then.

I stopped at a couple of wats (Buddhist Temples) before heading back to my room. One is the oldest in Chiang Mai (from the 1300s) and is beautiful. It has a unique crystal Buddha. The other is a Shan (people of northwest Thailand/northeast Burma) temple and is a different style. But I was tired and essentially just stopped at these because they weren't much out of the way for returning to the room. I also passed a woman selling coconut ice cream and bought a cup on the street and ate it as I walked. When I got back to the room, I went back to bed and napped for 2 hours.

Note: You may be hearing on the news today about two bus bombs that went off in Kunming, China, where I was until I flew out last night. I was not involved in either of those, and I am now in Chiang Mai in Thailand.