We have been unable to get into our blog since arriving in China - until today! We don't know why but have heard from some other travellers that they have had the same problems with their blogs!
Took a short bus trip from the border town of Mengla to Simao. Simao is not in our guide book so we took a gamble to visit it as we didn't want a really long bus trip. We arrived at an enormous bus station that was brand new. In fact most of the city looked brand new. We managed to find a hotel by looking for a reception area with some clocks that are set to the different times of the major cities around China. All the signs are in characters so we can't read them and nothing is in English unless it is in a tourist area. Found a lovely new, clean hotel with giggly staff who found it a novelty to have foreigners.
The city is in a tea growing area and famous for its tea. We took a long time to find an internet shop and found that the locals didn't understand the word for internet as written in our phrasebook. We had better luck with the word 'email'. There are dozens and dozens of computer games shops but few internet places. The locals love to say hello and the children wave but they don't know any more English than that.
June 1st was International Children's day and we sat in the local square and watched the children go by. They were all dressed up in beautiful clothes with gifts that had been bought for them. The local stores were promoting goods for children like baby formula and other baby food. There were the usual bouncy castles and other entertainment attractions.
A young Australian came by and walked up to us and said "What are you doing here?" He had been a year in Simao teaching English in the High School as part of his GAP year (a year between finishing school and then starting university). He said there were only 4 foreigners in the city - we saw three of them walk by- and he said tourists just never go to Simao. We were able to find out that the city had two names, Puer and Simao. He pointed us to the best sit down restaurant in town and told us how he taught 1000 students a week! He had 70 kids in each class and had never had any teaching training at all. I was most impressed with him. He is going to return to Melbourne and study teaching at university!
While in Jinghong we met 4 groups of cyclists travelling to various parts. While sitting in the square at Simao we bumped into 3 of the cyclists- a Belgian, a German and a Swiss. That was a real shock for Simao as we went to the local restaurant. A Chinese girl saw us having difficulty ordering food so she stepped in and translated
for us. We had a feast!
Below the restaurant was a concert of local childrens' singing and dancing groups, so we were entertained as well!
By the way, the sign means - Keep your valuables under your pillow.
