Hekou - Border town in the second-deliciousest country

As slaves to overnight bus and train schedules, we found ourselves with a day to spend along the Vietnam/China border of Lao Cai/Hekou, and decided to spend it on the China side, as China has the world's second-best food after Thailand.

Here is Sue on the bridge between the two countries, enthusiatically about to enter China.

As a busy border town in the developing world, we see a lot of cool stuff - long lines of people with huge full bamboo bags being balanced on bikes and open shipping containers, cheaper alternatives to truck transport.

An assortment of chickens, ducks, geese, bunnies and puppies can be yours for dinner.

Or, if you're feeling high-end and patriotic, you can have a jade Chairman Mao for a few thousand dollars.

I love the baby backpacks in Asia. So much easier than carrying them in front. My only concern would be forgetting, and leaning on the baby when I'm sitting on a chair.

A restaurant serving only the freshest donkey. Glad it's not me.