The separation is difficult

Date:
01.03.2016 until 05.03.2016

Day: 246 – 245

Country:
China – Vietnam

Province:
Sichuan – Yunan

Location:
City of Chengdu – City of Lao Cai

Latitude N: City of Chengdu
30°40’51.0”

Longitude E: City of Chengdu
104°03’23.2”

Daily kilometers:
3,000 km train journey to Vietnam and back

Total kilometers of the e-bike expedition
15,819 km

Soil condition:
Rail

Maximum height:
1.100 m

Total altitude meters of the e-bike expedition
25.392 m

Sunrise:
07:30 am – 07:26 am

Sunset:
7:01 pm – 7:04 pm

Temperature day max:
27°C

Temperature day min:
12°C

LINK TO THE ITINERARY

Our mood is depressed as I accompany Tanja to the bus. “Take care of yourself,” I say, feeling a lump in my throat. “I will,” Tanja replies, trying to sound cheerful. Since we have been together almost every day for 28 years and have traveled almost 400,000 (four hundred thousand) kilometers in countless adventures since the beginning of our Great Journey in 1991, i.e. have circumnavigated our Mother Earth 10 times by bicycle, horse, camel, elephant and local means of transport, it is extremely difficult for us to part. “It’s not a trip around the world. I’ll be back in a few days,” says Tanja as we hug each other tightly. “It’s a bit of a trip around the world. After all, you’ll be traveling 3,000 km to Vietnam and back by train,” I object. “That’s true. I feel a bit lost without you.” “It’s just the first moment. You have more travel experience than almost anyone on this planet. You might even enjoy traveling alone for a change.” “Never,” says Tanja as the bus stops. “I have to go,” she says, giving me a kiss and stroking Ajaci’s head briefly. A quick wave at the bus door and she’s gone. Ajaci begins to cry terribly. ‘It’s all right, my boy. She’ll be back soon,” I comfort him. On the way back to the hostel, he turns around again and again, hoping that Tanja might come after all.

As soon as I’m back in my room, trying to put our travel experiences into words, the first WhatsApp messages from Tanja arrive. “Sitting at the train station in Chengdu. Everything here is super modern. The waiting hall is like an international airport. Many people. Eating fritters with lots of ketchup. It’s a great change from Chinese food. Everything is fine with me .” “Great, I’d love to eat fritters with ketchup again “, I reply. It doesn’t take long and I get the information that Tanja is sitting in the compartment with two students who have taken to their bunks and are asleep as soon as they get in. Two hours later: “The students have woken up again. One of them has a translation program on his smartphone. We use it to communicate. He keeps apologizing for not speaking better English and wonders why I’m not travelling with a translator. He’s probably the offspring of a rich family.” This is how our communication goes back and forth. After 19 hours, Tanja reaches the city of Kunming and another 8 hours later she arrives in the border town of He Kou. “Just crossed the Chinese border. They made a bit of a fuss until I finally got the exit stamp. I don’t think they have too many foreigners crossing the border to Vietnam on foot. But it worked out in the end. The check-in is on the second floor of a building. When I walked down the stairs, I could have entered China again through the first floor. But I don’t know if this is allowed. I’m now standing in the queue for Vietnamese border clearance. I will take a room in Vietnam and enter China again tomorrow with the other passport containing our new visa. People are all friendly .” “Great. Is it actually warm in Vietnam?” “Yes, it’s probably around 25 to 27 degrees .” “Oh how I long for the warmth after the long winter,” I write, because the temperatures in Chengdu have dropped below 12 degrees again. As the conversation progresses, I learn that Wi-Fi in Vietnam is lightning fast. No comparison with China. Tanja writes that you can get into Facebook without a VPN. This is good news, as we always have difficulties with our Facebook updates in China due to the poor internet connection and the firewall that blocks all Google services.

After five days, Tanja is back in Chengdu safe and sound and with a new three-month visa. This means that we have at least 50% of our next trip to China in the bag. You might think that would be quite normal, but it’s not, because if the Chinese authorities want to, they can refuse a second entry at any time without giving reasons. Especially because traveling with two passports always raises questions and can make some border officials skeptical…

If you would like to find out more about our adventures, you can find our books under this link.

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