CAN'T LEAVE CHINA!!!
The Chinese Border Closes....What a giant symbolic waste of time!
We left Jing Hong early in order to reach Mohan and the Chinese border well before it closed for the day at 5.30 pm. We were all looking forward to the prospect of reaching Luang Prabang that evening, out of China and into some relative normality. As expected, the roads were the usual Chinese mix of non-stop bends and potholes as far as Meng-La. We stopped here for lunch in a place where the Health and Safety Authority of any western country would have an absolute field day. The state of the outdoor kitchen was something to behold! With little option but to just stomach it or go hungry, we got stuck in and got back on the road to Mohan.
It had been a constant tease driving for miles on these crap roads side by side with an inaccessible, flat and perfectly straight uncompleted highway. Just outside Meng-La however we spotted a van having a go at driving along it anyway. With Dave absolutely sick to the teeth of the useless Chinese roads, he reckoned it was worth the risk for us to have an attempt aswell. We got via a makeshift dirt ramp and in no time Dave could finally put the boot down in the knowledge that there were no rules or speed limits. Other than slowing down for the incomplete sections, we gunned the Hummer up to her top speed of 160kmph all the way to Mohan in good time for the border formalities.
However, after all this effort, China would have the last laugh! Jason informed us that the final necessary 'Paperworks' were in Meng-La where we had just left with a litany of Communist stamps and approvals still needing to be obtained. This meant that we would have to wait another day which came as no real surprise after 11 days dealing with intense Chinese bureaucracy. See Video Below...
It had been a constant tease driving for miles on these crap roads side by side with an inaccessible, flat and perfectly straight uncompleted highway. Just outside Meng-La however we spotted a van having a go at driving along it anyway. With Dave absolutely sick to the teeth of the useless Chinese roads, he reckoned it was worth the risk for us to have an attempt aswell. We got via a makeshift dirt ramp and in no time Dave could finally put the boot down in the knowledge that there were no rules or speed limits. Other than slowing down for the incomplete sections, we gunned the Hummer up to her top speed of 160kmph all the way to Mohan in good time for the border formalities.
However, after all this effort, China would have the last laugh! Jason informed us that the final necessary 'Paperworks' were in Meng-La where we had just left with a litany of Communist stamps and approvals still needing to be obtained. This meant that we would have to wait another day which came as no real surprise after 11 days dealing with intense Chinese bureaucracy. See Video Below...
In a last ditch effort to keep today's Laos flame alive, Dave gunned it back with Jason and his accomplice to Meng-La to collect the 'Paperworks' with an hour and a half until the border closed on the condition that Jason ordered the papers to be ready for immediate collection. Although it took 40 minutes of all out driving, Dave got to Meng-La in good time and dropped Jason off to get the documents. But not surprisingly Dave ended up waiting for about an hour, thereby missing the deadline and facing another night in China at Mohan.
Jason was told whilst organising our paperworks that we were only the 5th foreign car to drive into China in 2008, which is not surprising considering how much of a pain in the ass it is!
DAY 63 ROUTE MAP
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