July 3: Highway to Mengzi (Yunnan Province, China)
China! After flying from Calcutta to Kunming on a most-bizarro, two-hour, 2am flight on China Eastern Air, we were extremely happy to be linking up with Ro’s Uncle Philip and cousins Hannah, Eliza, Jessica and Kristin in Kunming for an epic family reunion. From Kunming, we would be driving south to Mengzi, Ro’s grandfather’s hometown.
The day started calmly, with a simple breakfast of noodle soup from the Kunming Tian Heng Jiu Dian (Horizon) Hotel breakfast buffet. We piled comfortably into a caravan of family cars for the four-hour drive to Mengzi. The first three hours passed to the soothing beats of Boyz II Men, Aaron Neville and Brian McKnight as we sailed down the new and sparsely trafficked highway to Mengzi.
Less than an hour away, the car halted at a roadblock in the otherwise pristine thoroughfare. With no other choice, we descended onto a parallel, much older, “country” road that wound along the natural curvature of the mountain, a rather dizzying contrast to our earlier smooth sailing, but a beautiful peek into Yunnan’s rural agricultural life. Fields glowed green with hearty cornstalks, glistening taro leaves sprouted from the ponds, and terraced rice paddies clambered down the hills. Entering a small town, we arrived at another impasse. An unmoving and inexplicable traffic jam. The best crowd-sourced explanation we gathered was that it was Sunday and the farmers from the countryside were crowding the streets selling their goods. We finally extracted ourselves from the massive line through some improvisational navigation, embarking on a backcountry adventure for the last leg to Mengzi.
Everyone feeling good about a little road trip.
And then a Chinese style traffic jam materialized out of nowhere.
We turned down a backroad and found ourselves in a narrow predicament, stranded on a raised cement pathway in the middle of a farm.
Everyone shared helpful hints.
Edging off the sides.
Some people are just cool.
Everyone participating and managing personal stress in their own way.
Had to avert our eyes sometimes.
A little to the left. Ok. Straight, come on, keep coming, keep coming. Tuck in your mirrors.
Trash and factories, lining the farmland.
Free at last. Beautiful countryside welcoming us.
Back on the road.
brict 