I'm absolutely dumbfounded. It's no wonder I feel under the weather. Yesterday I walked ten kilometres in three hours! Everyone else in the group, except Margaret and I, don't seem to be suffering from any after effects. They are mostly younger and belong to walking clubs back home.

After yesterday a drive in the bus was most welcome. Our destination, the Myanmar - Chinese border, Muse on the Myanmar side and Ruili on the Chinese. Because it takes five hours to get there from Lashio and the border closes at 5 p.m. Chinese time (one and a half hours ahead of Myanmar) there wasn't time to do much but take in the scenery from the bus window.

Much of the land where corn, peanuts and other crops now grow was used to cultivate opium poppies until recently when their cultivation was made illegal by the generals. No doubt the poppy is still grown in more out of the way places, and there's plenty of such places. I'm sure a crop of poppies would result in more money in the pocket of the grower and that's for sure.

The movement of trucks (mostly blue for some reason) and other forms of transport between Myanmar and China is extremely heavy. Military checkpoints are also a feature and patience is a necessity and as always, there are numerous vendor with food and the like to satisfy the hungriest traveller .

How the drivers keep their packed bikes upright is beyond me.	The Myanmar somehow make this vehicle go.
After a leisurely lunch we continued on to the border and then the panic button was pushed. Using Myanmar time we had plenty of it but not according to Chinese time. It seemed to take ages before Mi Mi returned with all our necessary photocopied documents. They were duly stamped and we walked through the impressive gates and into a part of China that's undergoing construction. The border guards were, to say the least, unfriendly. They made us open our cases which was to be expected, but there wasn't a table or anything to put them on. We knelt in the dirt. After giving Mi Mi our Myanmar guide a final wave we were introduced to Rina, our Chinese guide, boarded our new bus and drove to the hotel.

Last changed: Saturday October 18, 2014