FROM YUNNAN-FU TO LAO-KAI

Abstract

THERE are two routes open to the traveller desirous of escaping from the remote capital of Yunnan to the outside world and the civilisation of the West—both arduous and difficult, both leading over high mountain passes and by deep river valleys—the one due west to the valley of the Irrawaddy, across the defiles of the Mekong and the Salween, and so on to Rangoon—the other due south to the valley of the Red River and thence to the coast at Haiphong, the seaport of French Tonking. If bound to Europe, the road to Rangoon is the more direct, and by much the shorter: returning to China, we chose the way by the Red River rather than traverse once again the terrible pathways of Lao-wa-t‘an and northern Yunnan; notwithstanding that the latter leads across the healthy uplands of the northern plateau, while the southern route dips down to the low encased valley of the Red River, which has at this season a bad reputation for heat and malaria, and by which we found the discomforts of travel far greater than those on the land journey. On the other hand Haiphong could be reached from Yunnan-fu in about a fortnight, while the journey overland to Sui-fu—where the Yangtse is reached and the luxurious travel on the Great River is resumed—would occupy a full month's time.