Thursday November 13, 2014 We arrived in Kunming, China by bus at 11:00 pm Monday night and once again Jocelyn’s excellent navigation skills found us at the Cloudland Hostel about an hour later at midnight. Riding through the city at night was easy and fun with the little traffic. We were lit up well with our bike lights and headlamps. My headlamp did go out and only lasted about a week with the batteries we bought in Iran. Fortunately that was the last of those and we found regular energizers here.
The next three days were spent in a flurry of activity finding and applying for the Vietnam and Thailand visas. We had to jump through a few last minute hoops for the Thai visa as the consulate is only open from 9-11:30 and is very busy. But we successfully obtained both visas so our consulate visits on this portion of our world tour is complete! Our Laos visa will be obtained on arrival at the border. Thailand does offer a visa on arrival when entering overland but it is only for 15 days which isn’t time for us. We are excited to ride our final 200 miles or so south to Vietnam. Our China visas expire next Tuesday the 18th so once again we are on a schedule.
It has been fun here in Kunming staying at the excellent and inexpensive Cloudland Hostel and it seems that between visa work we have spent our time eating food we haven’t seen in months.
I shared this entry with some students today. They are able to find Asia in 1st grade! I am thrilled that you have found some of my favorite junk food places, and I bough a pizza from Papa John’s last weekend. I really enjoy KFC and plan to visit one in Melb. soon. Your pictures share a happier place and obviously, the money spent there has been in your favor…considering we owe China so much in debt. I believe that VietNam will be just as interesting and I hope you are careful and safe wherever you end up! You are riding today and that means I won’t read a new post for a few days. Thanks for sharing this ride and the awesome views you have been fortunate to see! Love always, andee