March 24, 2008

Shangri-la (CHINA)

Savoring the Time in Shangri-la, A Strong Military Presence, and an Overnight Bus to Kunming

For an American, I probably rate highly in terms of my addiction to soccer. While I do not get to play as often as I would like, there are very few obstacles I have yet to overcome in order to watch Arsenal matches. (A few weeks ago I even watched a Champions League match at one of Thailand's "Lady Bars" because it was the only 'establishment' open at 3:30 am). Last night, or rather early this morning, was no different: I spent two hours yesterday scouring all the restaurants, wannabe-bars, and guest houses in Shangri-la trying to find a wireless internet connection so I could tap into a live stream of the Arsenal-Chelsea match. Naturally, I found what I was looking for, but it might have been better if I missed it altogether: the team blew a 1-0 lead and ended up losing 2-1 in a gut-wrenching fashion (losing always is).

I mention the football match as an excuse because it left me exhausted today, which was no bad thing because there was not a whole lot to do. Today was my last day in the euphoric retreat of Shangri-la, and the only important things to accomplish were securing my overnight bus ticket to Kunming and a subsequent train to Shanghai. The bus ticket was easy: it was a simple 10 rmb taxi ride to and from the long-distance bus station where I bought a sleeper ticket for the 8:00 pm departure. The train ticket, on the other hand, was more of a challenge... I wanted to take tonight's overnight bus to Kunming, and then catch the 37-hour train to Shanghai on the same day. Since tickets need to be bought at the train station in Kunming, I was in somewhat of a bind. After much legwork, I contacted "a contact" in Kunming, who agreed to buy tickets for Neil and I at only a 2% mark-up (who doesn't love cheap labor).

With my logistics settled, I spent the day relaxing around town in preparation for the heavy travel to come: a 12 hour overnight bus to Kunming, eight hour loitering around the city, and a 37-hour train-ride to Shanghai (amounting to nearly 3-day's worth of shower-less travel). Taking "a day off" was no bad thing: the sun came out for a few hours, which raised the temperature above freezing and made it more bearable to be outdoors. Of course, I was still dressed like a fashion icon, but I will be looking forward to ridding myself of the new outfit: it smells like it has not been washed... Ever.

One other story for the day was the "establishment" of a military presence in Shangri-la. Although there were policemen parked at every corner since our arrival, today I saw half a dozen convoys of riot-police patrolling the town in open-aired transport vehicles and military soldiers (fully armed) marching through the busier areas. It was not a pleasant sight, but the locals didn't seem to pay any of it any attention: school children rode past on their bicycles without even giving this new development a second glance. Perhaps they were warned by their parents against doing anything to stand out at a time like this?

As for the overnight bus, the only interesting thing to happen was when we made a random bathroom stop in a random town and were confronted with armed military personnel lining the night streets. There must have been serious unrest in this area because the town  looked deserted, yet here were dozens of soldiers standing at the ready.

In retrospect, this was certainly an interesting time to visit this region of China.