Escape from China

Although Kunming, Yunnan had been billed by our Chinese friends as
"spring city" (where the weather is always like spring!) our very
chilly reception there left us doubtful. The assault was especially
harsh because we had left our winter clothes in Chongqing thinking we
would be finding warmer weather further south, not colder. When
snowflakes began to fall, we were prompted to inquire with the locals
about their so-called spring city. Apparently we were lucky enough to
arrive in the midst of the coldest weather in 50 years.

Needless to say we departed in search of warmer weather as fast as the
Chinese transportation system could carry us. When the bus attendant
started hassling us for 5 kuai extra (on top of the 140 kuai we had
already paid for tickets) we reacted with premature indignance until a
patient Chinese English speaker explained that the extra fee was to
pay for toll detours around snowed out routes.

Upon arriving at the border, we discovered that our original plan of
first heading to the Vietnamese mountain town of Sapa was a dud since
snow was in the forecast and the whole point of our trip was to escape
the cold. So after the sudden shock of not being able to speak the
local language again, we decided to hop the first train to Hanoi (a
bargain for only 104,000 dong/30 kuai/4.50 usd and 8 hours of your
life) with predicted temps in the mid to low 60s.

~ Katie