Mengla
The following day was spent in Mengla to recuperate and to get a feel for this new and
vastly different country. It was a good thing I drew money as there appeared no ATMs
accepting Visa or MasterCard. I bought a SIM card but couldn't phone, although I
could send text messages. Facebook was offline, which could've been due to recent
political unrest in the province or Facebook was blocked in China. Also, blog sites were
blocked, but at least there seemed a way around that problem.
Ernest tried to fix the bike, but the damage done in Vietnam would remain forever.
Later he was brave enough to buy meat at the market, a surreal place, which made
one realise you were indeed in China. Noodles could be found in all shapes and sizes,
and rice was, of course, plentiful.