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Vietnam & Co

gennaio – aprile 2024
  • Philipp Jacobius
Un’avventura di 114 giorni di Philipp Leggi altro
  • Philipp Jacobius

Elenco dei paesi

  • Cina Cina
  • Vietnam Vietnam
Categorie
Backpacking, Nomade digitale, Viaggio da solo
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  • 25impronte
  • 114giorni
  • 185fotografie
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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    Between Sa Pa and Lao Cai

    Heading to the Chinese border

    6 febbraio 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    It was a rather exciting morning. I had originally ordered breakfast from my lovely host for 07:45, but she overslept, and I ended up eating half an hour later.

    I then raced my motorbike back to Sa Pa, in the hopes to still catch my 09:00 bus. Unfortunately I had run out of cash in Ta Van, meaning I had to stop at an ATM along the way in order to be able to pay for my bike rental. Even more unfortunate was that all five ATMs I passed on my way to the rental were out of order 😅

    I just crossed my fingers that I'd be able to pay by card for the bike, after all, I ended up renting it from a hotel. Once at the hotel, I found out that nobody was there to process my return. I called the number, and was told to wait five minutes. Eventually the guy comes back, doesn't accept card payment, so I have to go to plan B. I always carry some US Dollars for emergencies, and this was only the second time ever that I had to use them. He gave me a really bad exchange rate, but at least I managed to convince him to drop me off at the bus stop, because otherwise there would've been no way for me to make the bus.

    I paid the driver the generally agreed upon fare for this bit of journey that is not officially being sold, approximately 4 USD - one minute later we were on the way. And then relaxed a bit, horizontally, of course, as we headed toward Lao Cai along the scenic route I wasn't able to see during my previous nighttime arrival.    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    The only sign I could read. 🤣
    I spotted several of these bikes in Hekou, which reminded me of bike sharing in Europe.Looking at Vietnam.A little fitness park I used to calm down a bit.

    First impressions of China in Hekou

    6 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    I had done it - I had walked into China 🇨🇳😁

    A place that had always intrigued me, that I knew very little about, and that was intimidating me as well. Well, going out of one's comfort zone is supposed to be a good thing, right?

    I immediately felt as if I had stepped into a different world, and I realize now that the different alphabet plays a major role in this, because I am unable to read any of the signs I see on the streets. I received only a few stares when I walked through the streets of Hekou, but I had expected it to be much more than what I experienced.

    I felt a bit overwhelmed, so I walked to the shores of the Red River, sitting down on a shaded bench in a little fitness park, and looked over to Vietnam on the other side of the river. What the heck was I even doing?? After I calmed down a little, I realized how hot it was - 28 degrees! I found a stall that offered some fruity waters, and after I had ordered my Maracuja water, the friendly attendant wished me well by saying "Welcome to China" with a big friendly grin on his face.

    Honestly, I think those were the only words in English that he knew, but they were oh so welcome to hear. I felt I was off to a good start!

    I had about an hour to spare until my train departed, and still had to purchase my tickets. So I flagged down a taxi and told him "Hekoubei" - Hekou North Train Station. He immediately headed towards the station, but for some reason he stopped at every woman that stood by the roadside, yelling things I didn't understand at them. I can only hope they told him to keep going, which he always did sometime later. After three such stops, we arrived, and I got to test if I had set up my Chinese payment apps correctly when he refused my cash. But everything worked out 😊    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    Entering the car free border zone
    The Vietnamese immigration buildingWalking across the border bridgeGoing through Chinese immigration.

    Walking into China

    6 febbraio 2024, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    The bus dropped me off around the corner from the train station of Lao Cai. From there, it's around 2.5km to the actual border crossing. Since I had been advised to expect large crowds, and only had about an hour of buffer time, I decided to take a moto taxi to the border checkpoint.

    It wasn't quite like other checkpoints I had ever been to. This was a strictly pedestrian crossing, and not even cars were permitted to enter the area.

    When I entered the processing hall, I was one of five people trying to exit Vietnam, and only one counter was manned. I was mentally preparing myself to run into trouble, seeing how I didn't have a Chinese visa. However, since December 2023, German nationals receive a 15 day visa exemption on arrival in China. This was a very recent development, so I figured not every worker would be familiar with it.

    It seemed like I was right. There was some sort of problem, but the officer didn't talk to me. Only sent me off to another counter, which was unmanned, and called his supervisor. She came to me, asked in English where I'm from, and just sighed in his direction when I explained that I was a German national. She was familiar with the new rules, told him to stamp me out, and sent me on my way.

    After exiting the Vietnam processing hall, I had to walk across the border bridge. Beyond the bridge I had to fill out my Chinese immigration form, which asked me for my address in the country and if I already knew my departure date and if I had any contacts in the country. Pretty standard procedure.

    For the immigration to China, there were around six differently labeled queues. I dutifully went to the one labeled "Foreigners", but was approached by a friendly officer who sent me to a different counter altogether, labeled "The Belt and Road Lane". This confused me a bit, since the Belt and Road initiative is the Chinese approach to rebuilding a modern silk road, optimizing global shipping routes. I wasn't sure how I fit into that category, but maybe for immigration purposes it was simply a catch all term, seeing how the queue there was the longest.

    Irritably, there were several Chinese nationals in the queue behind and ahead of me, who tried to indicate to me to queue up as a foreigner, to which I attempted to explain that I was told by an official to queue right where I was.

    My biometrics were taken at the counter, and confusingly the machine was blaring commands at me in German: "Linke Hand, rechte Hand, beide Daumen!" Following this, I got stamped in without further troubles (the officer didn't talk to me at all).

    Overall, the process was seamless, took a total of 35min from queuing up in Vietnam to receiving my stamp in China, and was easier than some other border crossings that I've done in my life.    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    The Hekou train station.
    Queuing up for checking in.My C class train.Five seats across.The onboard toilet.Hot water or warm water (it's more room temperature than warm).An exclusive report about the potential of Chinese tea in international markets. I was intrigued.The power sockets accept a lot of different formats.

    Taking the train from Hekou to Kunming

    6 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    I think most people know that I'm geeky about trains. So it should come as no surprise that I was very excited about taking a train in China! It's not as simple as booking a train in Germany, as I had to find out. Wherever I checked, the websites selling tickets charged a commission fee of 3-6 EUR, and I was feeling a bit stingy to pay that much for a 12 EUR train ticket. I checked ahead of time and there was plenty of availability, so I figured I'd just buy the ticket at the station without any fees.

    Well, it was a good plan on theory. The ticketing machines only had a Chinese language mode, so I had to go to the counter. The attendant was overwhelmed with me being there, and before I could even open my mouth called for backup. Backup didn't feel confident to speak to me either, though. Fortunately, the only other person in line with me turned out to be a school teacher with adequate English skills to communicate for me, seeing how they didn't feel confident enough to listen to or read anything that I presented them with.

    There was a card payment terminal, which figured would be as good an opportunity as any to see if card payments would work here in China. It didn't, which caused my poor attendant to wail in frustration, and caused my teacher savior to dig in her wallet for cash to pay for my ticket.

    Fortunately, I had prepared well, and was able to pay through Alipay, one of the Chinese super apps that completely control everyday life. When I showed him the app on my phone, they gave out a sigh of relief, and all was well.

    After the completed purchase, I had to go through a security screening, bags separate from me, and I had to prove that the contents of my water bottle were safe to drink. Everybody was then gathered in a large hall in front of the check-in gates for the train, waiting for the gates to open. As a foreigner, I had to go through a manual gate, and my ticket QR code didn't work.

    At that point, my passport had been checked a total of four times. That's when I realized that the ticket and my passport are connected in the system, and there was no longer a need for the ticket. All I needed was my passport.

    In 2nd class, there are five seats across in the train, and everything is a bit narrower than I'm used to from European trains. The particular train I was one was a C class train, a high speed capable train of the third rank (after G and D trains). It had hot and warm water dispensers, clean toilets, power outlets, and an onboard magazine with English headlines but only Chinese text, haha. I would remain in the train for almost two hours, until my change to another train in Honghe.    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    The platform in Honghe.
    You can already tell how large the station is.Visible are around 40% of the main hall.Starbucks cheese latte. The logo is clear, but it didn't say Starbucks anywhere. A fake?The toilets had these little speakers blaring something at me. No clue what.China built a lot of these rail viaducts. They are fascinating.Swoosh.

    Changing trains in Honghe

    6 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Something noteworthy about the Chinese high-speed rail network is that most of it was built in the last 20 years or so. So much of it feels super modern. This particular line I was on only opened in 2015, after landslides had wiped out the previous line, built by the French colonialists, in 2002. To avoid the risks of landslides this time around, they blasted a lot of tunnels, and the trip from Hekou to Honghe was 80% going through tunnels. And even though the train could go faster in theory, it was very mountainous and we were maxing out at 140km/h.

    Another noteworthy thing is that many high speed stations were only built in those last few decades as well, when most of the cities were already built up to the max in the city centers. For that reason, many of these stations are built relatively far from the centers. In Hekou the distance was around 5km, in Honghe I couldn't even see the city from inside of the station.

    The train station in Honghe was monumental - it was really really big. And there were only 10 trains per day or so. I guess you call that future-proofing 😅 There were thousands of seats, and even around 100 massage chairs. At the station, I was the highlight of two little kids, who kept talking Chinese at me, until at some point the little girl blurts out in English "He is my brother!", pointing at the little boy, followed by another barrage of Chinese and lots of blushing. They even gave me a little dance performance to enjoy!

    I was now changing to a D class train, which went a lot faster than my previous C class train. The terrain we were racing through with 250 km/h was beautiful, and I spent most of my time looking outside, glad that there were now less tunnels obstructing the view.    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    The central station of Kunming.
    First impression of Kunming, after exiting the train station.Not only is the taxi stuck in traffic, but also in front of a red light for another 28 seconds!My hotel room for my first night in China.Bikes, and bikes, and bikes...

    Getting settled for the night in Kunming

    6 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    I got picked up at the train station by Schie, a Chinese women who I had previously met online, and who wanted to practice her German with me. She had spent two years working in Germany, and felt like it was time to practice in order to keep her excellent German skills current.

    She had made arrangements for two hotel rooms for us, and we ordered a taxi to get there. In a first for me, after we called the taxi, I was super surprised to see that the map service displayed how much longer the traffic light would be in which color!?! 🚥💡 Check the pics to better understand what I mean. I think that's pretty cool actually, super useful!

    The hotel was a bit of a confusing thing, with the reception just being a tiny shop front, and the rooms just randomly spread throughout a high rise residential building. Our rooms were in the 20th floor, offering us a great view over the city.

    After getting settled there for a bit, we headed out by electric bike (which I could easily rent out with my Alipay app) toward a street food market. There were thousands of electric bikes lining all the roads, it was completely bonkers!    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    Chicken feet? No, deep fried mushrooms!
    Hand hammered rice and bean paste candy.Potatoes, tofu, mushrooms.I still don't know what that was, but it wasn't good, according to Schie.Fried milk filled with Rose jam. A delicious dish... Usually.Anyone fancy a pet jellyfish?Apparently Kunming has a long history with sugar blowers.Wild-foraged, and expensive, mushrooms.All kinds of medicinal herbs and mushrooms.A unique Yunnan berry, which remotely resembles the blueberry, but it's not.

    Street food market in Kunming

    6 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Together with Schie, I braved the crowds of a very popular market street in central Kunming. I got thrown straight into the weirds and wonders of Chinese cuisine! We tried to sample many different things, but the portions were usually too large, so we couldn't eat as much as we wanted. Unfortunately, Schie commented that not everything was really up to par, with some things just tasting really boring when they really shouldn't.

    There were of course also chicken feet, frogs, pig brains, snails, and all kinds of other yummy local dishes. However, I will admit I didn't dare to try any of those on my first day. I decide to ease into those adventures more carefully 😅    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    A bubble machine for kids? Yes please?
    Some info on the park.Flowers!The upcoming year is the year of the dragon.This was an underground bike intersection, below a huge car intersection. Smart!

    Exploring a local park

    7 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    After a quick dumpling breakfast near the hotel, we took electric bikes again and headed to a local park called Green Park. There were tulips and other flowers everywhere, and everything was getting set up for the upcoming spring festival celebration. There were also seagulls everywhere which apparently traveled to this park in droves from Siberia during the winter to be more cozy.Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    Bikes, bikes, bikes,...
    Riding a bike to another hotel.View from my room.My room.My bathroom.

    Finding lodging for the second night

    7 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    Schie spent the afternoon at the German embassy sorting out some visa paperwork for her upcoming return to Germany, and would need to leave the city afterwards, so I dedicated some time towards other matters. My first night was arranged by her, but I figured I can handle the second night without help. Oooh boy, was I in for a tough lesson.

    What I wasn't aware of is that hotels apparently need a license and certain types of gear to host foreign tourists. If they don't have that, they simply don't host them, and instead focus entirely on Chinese mainland tourists. Well, I had booked one place online, which got canceled immediately. I booked another place, they canceled my booking on site when I went to check in. I wanted to book another, but there at least the booking failed at the last step for the same reason. So I decided to just walk into another hotel instead of wasting more time with booking attempts, but they also sent me on my way without any new knowledge.

    I finally relented and gave in, paying way too much money for a way to fancy hotel, which wasn't opposed to hosting me, but they were completely irritated by me not having a visa (I arrived with a visa exemption), which caused some chaos at checkin again. My room was huge and very nice, but I didn't really need any of the amenities they supplied...

    Schie stopped by after running her errands, and then took an afternoon train to head off to her home city some three hours by train away from Kunming.

    After that, I spent a whole SIX HOURS trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to any Wi-Fi network, which is when I found out about the Great Firewall of China that the country leadership is imposing to restrict access to western websites. Among social media services such as Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, also some productivity services such as from Google are blocked. My phone is a Google phone, testing online status through checking Google servers, and they were all unreachable, so it always believed it was offline. It's an actual issue for some people in China!

    While I was able to use my phone normally by roaming on my European contract, I didn't understand why I couldn't get my laptop to work despite using a VPN to keep my connection private. Still haven't figured that out...    Leggi altro

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  • Philipp JacobiusViaggiatoreVietnam & Co
    I accidentally had some Japanese ramen for breakfast 🍜😅
    A double decker sleeper train at the train station.An 8 lane highway bridge from below.A big train depot along the way.The lake near Dali.Solid yogurt. That's really what it is called. Tastes pretty good!Mountains!On arrival in Lijiang.

    Taking the train to Lijiang

    8 febbraio 2024, Cina ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Some two weeks ago or so, when I decided to go on this trip, I already decided to prebook accommodation for five days in the mountain town of Lijiang over the Chinese New Years day. I figured I could just build my trip around those five nights, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about lodging during what is undoubtedly the busiest period of the year for Chinese travelers.

    Today was the day I had to go to Lijiang, an easy 3.5h away from Kunming in a C-class train. The ride went along some pretty scenery, as we were heading higher into the mountains. Lijiang is at an elevation of 2400m, after all.    Leggi altro

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