Yunnan China Stats

Shuhe to Beijing

Shuhe is an ancient town about 10km away from the ancient town of Lijiang. It is supposed to be smaller and much less tourist focused than Lijiang so we thought it would be the perfect place to spend a couple of days before our four flights to get us to Europe.

We had made a booking online for a guesthouse, but we had trouble locating it on our map. So we got ourselves in the general vacinity of where we thought it was, and then wandered the back alleyways looking for it. After half an hour we had had no success, so we went to a travel agent and asked if they knew where it was. They put the address in their phone and kindly showed us where it was on their map.  Only problem was it was all in Chinese characters. So we made our best guess, about 2-4 block away, and set out looking again. Another 30 minutes went by and we still hadn't found it. We tried one place that looked exactly like the entrance photo in the booking but went by a different name, but the man inside said it wasn't right. So after another 15 mihutes Kate approached a man who looked rather young and hip thinking those were great signs that he would speak English. He didn't. But he had a friend out back who was visiting from Hong Kong who did. After the young man had given her directions we followed this woman back through the winding alleyways. She got a little confused when she thought we should be there, so she called the number on our reservation. The man at the end of the line said he had no record of our booking. She shrugged her shoulders, said she was sorry, and trotted off back to her friend. So there we were, left outside the place we had tried earlier and we thought it would be a good place to start asking around about prices to find anywhere to stay. We enquired to the same man again and he told us to sit down in the courtyard and wait. We were brought water and freshly cut mango which we had barely touched when the manager entered, showed us our booking on her phone, confirmed the room we wanted, and set us up in our room - the one we had originally booked. Apparently the first time we came in we just spoke to a guest who knew nothing so sent us on our way.

Still feeling tired and depleted Kate spent the remainder of the afternoon snoozing. After returning from dinner our guesthouse manager took us through a bit of a tea ceremony and introduced us to the special tea of Lijiang. When we enquired as to why she wasn't drinking she said she didn't drink tea, only coffee. Kate got pretty excited at the mention of coffee, and the next morning the manager took Kate out for her first batista coffee in three months.

Unfortunately, the same day Kate started developing more severe stomach pains and was losing energy fast. We quickly threw all our gear out of our panniers and set off on a mission to find a post shop to send some unneeded goods back home. With little success in Shuhe we headed towards Lijiang. Everything we had read about sending mail from China suggested you needed extensive ID and would have to fill out loads of forms. To be honest, it was just as easy as sending a package from New Zealand. There were a few banned items we weren't allowed to send - rechargeable batteries, iPad - but it was a pretty painless exercise. Fingers crossed it arrives home in the next three months. Kate then slept for the rest of the day while Calvin sorted the bikes and joined the manager and some other guests for a free home cooked meal.

After another sleepless night and waking in more pain Kate decided to try to seek some drugs from a pharmacy. We weren't holding our breath though as all the pharmacies we had encountered in China had had strange alternative drugs and were less focused on Western medicines. However, when she asked the manager if she knew where we could go, the manager showed Kate the exact drugs she was after in her handbag. She then called her boyfriend and he drove us to a shopping mall in Lijiang where we quickly made our purchase. As the manager and her boyfriend (aptly named Zhou Yù and Zhou Yû - we can't hear the difference in their names) had been so good to us we offered to cook them dinner. So we set about making a feast. Zhou Yù found it hilarious the way we cut the food, and a number of times she asked if she could take over. Only once did we take her up on this offer when Calvin accidentally let the chicken stick to her nicely seasoned wok. Whoops.

Carefully burning the chicken to the wok. Note the really white feet and sock line! Pretty cool. Zhou Yù thought it was hilarious.

The massive feast! Zhou Yù (left) and boyfriend Zhou Yû (middle). Note the different tone over the u, really hard to pronunciation. 

Zhou Yù was a pretty special part of Shuhe for us, and we felt incredibly grateful for her hospitality. She owned a dog called Wangzi (Prince - pronounced Wong-zha) who she constantly let out of her sight and you could hear her at all hours of the day calling "Wangzi? Wangzi!". She called him her boyfriend, although he was very obedient, and he did many tricks including eating green beans from her mouth - that one was pretty vile.

From Lijiang we flew back to Kunming where we had planned a rest day to enjoy the city before we flew to Beijing, Frankfurt and then Tallinn. Our rest day didn't end up happening as at 6:30am Kate had had enough of the pain and decided to go and see a doctor at the hospital. This was  one of the greatest experiences we had in China. Where our hospital system requires you to visit a GP, get referred to a specialist, go to your appointment at a specified time, go get booked tests done and return to the specialist at another appointed time, the Chinese just let you walk in to the hospital and queue up to see a doctor who then tells you to immediately go to other areas of the hospital to queue up for tests and then return to them. You can literally get a diagnosis and be on the way to treatment in a day. However, because we walked in to the madhouse looking completely lost and confused (and Kate was in tears) we were given our own special guide to take us around and translate for us - none other than a Neurologist. We really felt like we were given special treatment, always bumped to the front of the line and having a specialist as our guide. Three tests were done, three visits to the specialists and we were sent on our merry way hoping we had the solutions.

Our Neurologist and translator (left), abdominal specialist (right)
and three Gynecologists. I think that should cover us!

We were then set to fly out to Beijing early the next morning. When our taxi showed up it wouldn't take us because of our bikes, so the hotel called another taxi, and with very little time to spare the young driver hooned his way to the airport laughing when Kate cheered him on when he honked at fellow drivers and passed them at great speed. It was all unnecessary however as our flight was delayed four hours. After finally getting to Beijing we settled down for a night sleeping in the terminal, ready for our flight to Frankfurt the next morning. Leaving China hadn't been the calm reflective process we had hoped for, but that night in the terminal we did reflect on the fact that we would miss China and all its quirks we had come accustomed to.

Walnut Garden to Shuhe (Lijiang)

Our final days of riding in China had arrived and it was going to be an exciting route over a mountain pass to finish on. And an adventure it was!

We got up at the crack of dawn (maybe a hour after) packed up and headed down for breakfast. No one else was up and we had to hunt around to find someone to cook us some breakfast.  With all the creaking of going up and down the stairs we had roused one of the owners, great! Eggs, bananas, a massive honey and buckwheat pancake, and a Yak sandwich on order to takeaway. Half and hour later breakfast arrived but no sandwich. Concerned with loosing valuable riding time we didn't reorder. We paid and left without the mysteriously deliscious sounding beast of a sandwich.

We whizzed down through the gorge enjoying all the twists and turns as we descended to the Ferry turn off where we un-whizzed down the bumping zigzaging gravel road to meet the Yangtze River and our ferry. We were welcomed by a generator, a bunch of guys building a new docking wharf and no ferry. We hadn't  gone all the way down to the river the day before but were sure the ferry had to run from here. With help from one of the friendly construction workers a call was made to the mobile number for the ferry operator (painted on a rock where we were waiting - obviously!) and hopefully he would come and pick up to white fellas with bicycles laden with silly amounts of gear - "wait two minutes" we were told. 10minues later nothing happened. Our friendly helper phoned again and we continued to patiently wait for something to happen at the ferry on the other side. 15 minutes later nothing happened. Another moutain bike cyclist had now made their way down, a Chinese man aiming for Lijiang. Much less laden with gear (a small pack and two drink bottles) yet still very ambitious to make it all the way through to Lijiang, especially as the ferry was not moving. He called ferry operator. And then we waited some more. A lady had now wandered down and joined the ferry que. About an hour after us arriving a vehicles made its way down to the ferry and things started to happen. We probably could have waited for our yak sandwich after all. No point dwelling on delicious meat sandwiches though, we were crossing the Yangtze and off to tackle a 1600m climb to give us grand views and an epic final descent to complete in China.

We waited

Then we all waited

Then we were on our way!

10.30am we were in Daju - a steep climb out for about 3km from where the ferry dropped us on the bank of the Yangtze. Food hunting time. Every convenience store was to be searched for goodness to stock us for a couple of days. Water, rice crackers, lollies, yummy creamy rice looking things, fruit, noodles and jackpot; Kate, when unsuccessfully trying to find Mantou came across Naxi bread. Very similar to Naan bread but more doughy and thicker. 11am we were set and on our way to tackle some many hours of climbing. The road was sealed as promised and twisted up the side of the mountains so that we more or less rose vertically above the town of Daju for the whole duration of the day. Every turn getting us higher and offering grand views for as far as you could see and some slight reprieve from the heat as we climbed from 1600m at the river level to 2000m...2200m...2500m...2700m...

Climbing. For ages.

As we were quickly drinking through our water supplies we conveniently came across a store. One of the most convenient placed we came across. "Ni hou...Ni hou? Ni hou!" Cold drinks, more water, crisps and peanuts, it was glorious. We sat and devoured everything and some Naxi bead and banana under the shade of the verandah. Very satisfied we waved thank you and goodbye and continued on climbing. We reached around 2900m and getting late in the day we started to scout for a sneaky campsite. Not great potential so we pushed on. Suddenly a van approached waving out the window at Calvin, then it became clear they had a wallet in their hands. Calvin's wallet. Two and a half hours after leaving our lunch stop the kind lady had seen we had left a wallet and chased after us. Good thing we hadn't disappeared into the bush to camp when they came by. Calvin was a little bit stunned at what had happened and after an awkward miming conversation with the lady we established she wouldn't accept a small money offering in thanks so we continued on our campsite search. Half and hour later the lady was back and tried to tell us something. This time she hung around for a while and kept repeating "mei jing" while we tried to guess at everything she was saying with the help of Google Translate. Everything was very much lost in translation and neither knew what the other person was going on about. Was she happy, annoyed, wanted to warn us, help us? We will never know. Finally we went our seperate ways and we found a great hiding spot to camp at. We were a little creeper out at the exchange with the woman so we wanted to be well hidden from the road for the night.

Now we got to enjoy our creamy rice things, fruit and cold noodles. No wait, the rice tasted alcoholic and fermented so we threw it out. There goes most of our dinner. Camping was not going so well in China and just shy of 3000m it didn't cool off much overnight. The morning came and we were both keen to get moving and to the top of the pass. The last 7km to the top were a slog with tried legs and no time to ease yourself into a rhythm. Then there in front of us stood the gateway to:

AAAAA

The First National 5A Level Famous Scenic Site

Yulong Snow Mountain National Park Of China

Epic. ¥130 each for entry and we were in. The park provided a beautifully new sealed road and the descent we were waiting for.  The first couple of descents were short but sweet and followed by small rises only to prolong the descents for us. Then we hit a goodie and it was freewheel time. Coming around a big sweeping bend we were welcomed by a spectacular view of the dominating Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and surrounding mountains and we could see the twisting descent continuing below us. However, much to our amazement, although not all to surprising for China to spring a swift one on us, the great descent turned to cobblestone 100m after our scenic photo stop. Ironically the following 400m climb back out after the descent was on  beautifully new sealed road. Uncool.

The sneaky cobbled descent below

We passed through the very touristy spot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain National Park and began the ride out to Shuhe. Although it had been a relatively easy cycling day Kate sat down on the side of the road, put her head in her hands and confessed that she had no energy left for the remaining 20km. So together we slogged out the remaining ride to Shuhe. It was generally good road, although undulating a couple of hundred metres a couple of times, before giving us a gradual downhill pedal in to Shuhe with some headwind.

It was a journey to remember.

Arriving into Shuhe. On cobblestones.

Zhongxing to Walnut Garden

Another day of riding in scorching hot weather took us across the Yangtze and back towards Shigu. As we rounded the first bend we were treated to a spectacular snow capped mountain range rising up in front of us. We continued to follow the river, crossing whenever possible to ensure we were riding on the opposite side to the traffic heading along the main road. The final section of this road was undergoing road works. The sun was scorching hot, our skin was beginning to burn (we are almost certain our sunscreen purchased in China was not great quality) and we were running out of water quickly. Great conditions to push on a little further.

Over the Yangtze

Following down the Yangtze

Tur off at the white yaks climbing the "rocks"

We knew we had hit our destination town, Hutiaoxia when we came to a halt in a long line of backed up traffic. This road is the main road from Tiger Leaping Gorge to the famous Shangri-la and it is a narrow nightmare considering the number of tourist buses and trucks on the road, especially as it bottle necks in this town. The backed up traffic is however part of the solution as almost every road in this town was ripped up and being rebuilt.

Where's Kate?

After staying a night Hutiaoxia we headed in to the Tiger Leaping Gorge park. It was another sweltering day, and Kate was feeling drained and in pain as her arms were badly burnt from the day before and her only solution to covering them up was to wear her rain jacket which made for an incredibly stuffy ride. We stopped at the upper section of the gorge, and donning our umbrellas we descended down to the river with the masses of Chinese tourists. This point in the gorge is pretty spectacular as the sheer quantity and force of the water cascades down over a large rock in the centre. Legend has it that a tiger leapt from one side of the gorge to the rock in the middle and over to the other side. It would have to be a pretty damn low flowing river for me to believe that legend.

That Tiger leapt over this gorge using this rock. Wow! Let's go tubing!

View from above. Photos just don't do the gorge any justice.

From the upper gorge we made our way along the winding road which precariously hugged into the edge of the mountain sides, was single laned at times due to rock fall and every turn gave a spectacular view and appreciation of the surrounding 4500m peaked mountains that rose directly from the gorge. Mind blowing and spectacular. Upon arriving at our lovely guesthouse (Tibetan Guesthouse) we dumped our gear and lounged in some much needed shade. We struck up a conversation with one of the owners (who spoke great english - our Chinese wasn't that good!) who ignited excitement in us for two reasons; mentioning they made Yak meat sandwiches and explaining how spectacular it is to take the back road from here to Shangri La (not going that way unfortunately) or in our case the back road over to Lijiang.

Why wouldn't you build a road?!

For the last couple of days we had swung to and fro trying to decide if we would back track up the gorge and follow the main road to Lijiang, or if we would take the seriously winding back road that went through a large mountain pass. We had read an account from 2011 of someone riding this road and finding it to be entirely cobblestone. They had had to hitch a ride half way as they were losing light quickly. However, with assurance from our guesthouse owner that the road was now sealed and all we had to do was head down to the river, wave the ferry over for it to arrive in two minutes to take us on the two minute return trip we were convinced. So that afternoon we set out on a reconnaissance mission to find where the ferry should leave from - Kate now wearing and testing out her newly acquired long sleeve shirt (Calvin's only shirt). The Ferry turn off was exactly where we were told it would be, "about two corners after the petrol station, maybe 1km and signposted Ferry. You can't  miss it.'" The signpost was a large rock with "Ferry --->" conveniently written in english on it and luckily only on the side we approached it from. Bingo. (For anyone coming from the other direction it would only be about a kilometre once you leave Jiandian, however we wouldn't  be surprised if in a year's time there is a bridge across as construction appeared to have begun). Feeling successful we headed back to enjoy the remaining hours and dinner at our guesthouse while gazing at the sheer rock faces across the gorge from us.

Shaxi to Zhongxing

As we set out in the morning from Shaxi we met a cycle tourist guide who advised us we would have two mountains to get over heading north of Shaxi. We politely acknowledged his advice and set off on our merry way towards what we anticipated to be a smooth ride up a valley. Funnily enough, the guide was right, and we shamefacedly made our way up one of the steepest hills we have come across in China.

With the morning slog over, the road opened up in to a very wide valley, and we rode on until we reached the almost nonexistent village of Jiuhe. We saw two lycra clad cycle tourists (destination, Lhasa) in the restaurant and approached them to ask where we could sleep for the night. We were ushered over the road. After a quick shower and snooze we soon noticed that the flies we had taken note of outside were quickly filling up our room. Leaping around with our jerseys and maps as swats we soon carried out Flymaggedon 2017.

The ride into Jiuhe

The next day promised to be a short day so we decided to take a road that was present on two of our map sources, but absent on the third. As soon as we turned on to this road it was a rutted and bumpy four wheel drive track. About half way up the hill it turned into cobble stones. We now knew that these aren't so bad as long they are on the up hill leg. We spent a quarter of our day climbing and the other three quarters of our day descending as we wound our way down the valley, hands clasped tightly on the brakes to reduce the juddering downhill and saving pannier bags from jumping off the rack, or breaking their clasps.

View from almost the top

Bumping on down

We then rolled in to the town of Shigu. This is a town known for being on the first bend of the Yangtze River and has been a strategic military point in the past. We planned to stop in Shigu for two nights so we could have a day off the bikes for Kate's birthday. Feeling nostalgic for Shaxi we set about finding somewhere tranquil and a little bit special to spend the two nights. The first place we found was perfect - a quaint guesthouse in the middle of the market with an open courtyard to relax in, WiFi and a non-squatting toilet. We unloaded our bikes, lugged our bags up to our room and then realised there was no power. No power from 7am to 7pm. And not just today, tomorrow as well. Deciding this wasn't what we had in mind for our rest days we lugged our bags back down stairs, loaded our bikes and set out looking again. We found another place, no courtyard, but it would do. Unloaded our bikes, lugged gear upstairs, no power. When we enquired we were told electricity would be from 6:30pm until 8am. It finally dawned on us that as we rode in to town there had been no lights on in any of the shops, despite it being market day. And in fact the whole town had the rumble of generators. This town had no power for most of the day.

Looking down to Shigu with Yangtze River behind

Making their way over the Yangtze when someone is
still trying to sell them some baozi

The usual 5 minute drain to get hot water to flow

As Kate was not wanting to spend her birthday listening to the incessant and persistent humming of generators, and not feeling like Shigu had much to offer, we set out following the Yangtze river upstream. Much to Calvin's delight as we rode the mountains got higher as we headed towards the Tibetan Plateau. After an hour the wind picked up and we had our first taste of a head wind in China. Then the sun disappeared behind the clouds. And then it started to gently spit. We hadn't made it to the Judian Village we were aiming for, however we found a nice hotel with a view over the river just as the rain set in.

We quickly changed and decided to take a taxi 20km inland to Liming and the mountainous scenic spot we had seen signposted on our ride. This turned out to be outrageously priced, but we had already paid for the taxi, so in we went. We agreed that we would climb to the top and descend rather rapidly so we still had time to get back to the hotel and have a wee 30th birthday celebration. But it felt like the top would never come! We finally reached it to be rewarded with beautiful vistas of the surrounding orange and red mountains (a bit like Australian soil) and tortoiseshell rock formations.

Heading back go the hotel we loaded ourselves up on beer, Chinese spirits and the closest foods we could find to treats. In the mood to celebrate we decided drinking games were in order and made a night of it. A very successful birthday!

30 years of maturity

Shaxi

Tree lined small streets with sneaky little alleyways darting off in all directions and an atmosphere that made you feel at ease from the second you were there. Shaxi was a really nice relaxing, peaceful and calm place where we got to wander streets without being harassed and just take in the serenity.

Round one of finding somewhere to stay and relax for a couple of days began with a ¥480 deluxe room at boutique hotel. Then we discovered a peaceful little room at a neighboring guesthouse for a fraction of the price. Great. No wait, is there any power here? Yes at 4pm... we will turn on the generator a stones throw from your room. Not great for the next 48 hours of relaxing. Kindly the lady who ran the place gave us our money back when we asked and appolgised for the generator. She even went to the the extent of lining up a room for us at the place next door. We kindly declined wanting to get away from the noise.

Round two involved scouting many other hotels and guesthouses for about an hour only to find them all rather expensive, although they did have power. A little disheartened we tried the Tea and Horse Caravan Trail Inn again for a room the owner had said we could have for ¥100. Power, yes. Quiet, yes. We'll take it.

A fantastic choice. It set the scene for our time in Shaxi. The owner was super friendly, interested in our travels (showed us some photos of other cyclist he had hosted), helpful at every moment possible and gave the gift Kate had been waiting for; filtered coffee. It came in a packet but had its own strainer, was proper coffee and tasted great! We also met a lovely Dutch family that were staying next to us who were travelling for 5 1/2 months so got to shared many stories and get some info on the places we were heading for.

On our day off the bikes we went for an unexpectably long 2 hour run/walk into the surrounding hills. It was our first day of sunshine for several days and we sweated up a storm as we climbed up a valley past some old monestries set in the rocks to discover the local GIANT tiger eating spiders that hid in the small cracks of the pathway steps. We narrowly escaped being dragged into the death holes, cocooned in a web and slowly devoured by spider death fangs the size of small elephant trunks. Then Kate spotted ticks on the long grass overhanging the pathway. We hadn't become host to any of the little death eaters yet so we continued along leaping and dodging all long dangly things. We made it to the end of the track and arrived at Shibaoshan Temple and Grottoes with the road meeting us at a carpark and some tourists peacefully eating lunch and sweating a whole lot less. We circled around and checked out the area taking in the cool view of the mountains surrounding us. The track back down was unknown and we were a little weary of havimg to dodge tick grass all the way back. Our path started out clear and wide then following the good old GPS map we turned off on to some great trails that spat us out back down on the road with big grins, no ticks and no tiger eating spiders chasing after us.

The less worn track down hill

Carvings on the way up the hill

Lunch for Calvin was a delicious pottle of spicy deep fried potato chips (that set his lips on fire after eating them) and two even tastier hotdog wraps. Kate very healthily ate a self prepared salad and fruit.

Shaxi was a highlight of China for us. We left feeling we could have stayed much longer but still very happy with our peaceful time there. Upon leaving the hotel Kate mentioned to the owner she was keeping the second coffee he gave her for her birthday in a few days. On that note the owner disappeared and brought back four more packs. Awesome.

Back to the Rural Life: Dali to Shaxi

We decided on a rather convoluted route to Shaxi to maximise time cycling through the smaller towns and back into the rural areas we have really come to enjoy.

Our first day out of Dali was dampened a little by the morning rain but that quickly disappeared as we clicked by kilometre after kilometre descending for hours through a wonderful tree lined section of the G320 highway. The unexpected descent continued for most of the day until about the last 10km where we climbed steadily and then steeply (regaining most of our altitude loss) to our destination of Beitou. Our room for the night was the cheapest we had come across so far and the biggest with two double bedrooms, lounge and bathroom. However, by the end of the night we had company and shared our mansion with a young family.

 The ride through to Yunlong was a slow wind up through the valleys. We made an ambitious afternoon call to push on through to Yunlong through the windy 20km on the map. This only ended up being a very small climb, a 1.2km tunnel that did not allow motorbikes, horse and cart, or bicycles, but that didn't stop us, and an amazing, pictureqsue long descent into the city of Yunlong.

Crop fields

In Yunlong we took a stroll up to a lone pagoda on the hillside to take in the view of the surrounding mountains. We marveled at the beautiful walkway lining the river, covered in pagolas laden with bright pink flowers and lined with photos showing bridges that cross the river dating back to 300AD.

We had a bit of a sleep in planning to have a short day riding after the previous two long days. After finally getting out of the crazy traffic in Yunlong, presumably because it was the first day of Dragon Boat Festival, and there was a huge market in town, we wound our way up the valley in the drizzling rain. It made for a very peaceful and calm ride after some sweltering hot days. We got stuck in a major traffic jam in the village of Changxin as the people flooded in for the market, parking on both sides of the road and creating a bottle neck that all the traffic passing through town had to get through. With biggest trucks demanding right of way the mess was cleared up in about 15 minutes by a policeman and we were off on our way again, not far from our destination. After a grunt up hill we made it to our town at 2pm. After consulting with locals, and content with the fact that the sun was now shining and we were happily dried out, we decided to push on the next 44km of "flat road" to get to Lanping. Within 30 seconds of setting off down hill the heavens opened up and we were caught in a down pour. Three and a half hours later it finally stopped, and soaked to the bone we rode through the mud laden road of the final town before making it up a steep climb to Lanping. Our short day turned in to 98km of showers and rain. We were tired.

Shelter from the rain

Midday traffic jam

Setting off from Lanping we were straight in to a hill climb, and we pushed on up the valley, climbing with tried legs, only to be rewarded with a beautifully long descent. It was brilliant! An hour or so later we stopped in a bus shelter for a break,and after checking the GPS realised we had been overconfident in our route and had missed a turnoff 2km back up the valley. So we set off on a detour across the rice fields heading towards the mountains on the other side of the valley, hoping to connect up with our road. This turned out to be a highlight for us as we wound our way over the concrete paths, through men and women heading to and from the fields, with the rice fields spanning out below either side of us. This was a moment to remember.

We arrived relatively early in the sleepy town of Madeng and were grateful for some rest time after a few long days riding. We found a place to eat and were given such lovely hospitality by a family with two daughters (12 and 15 years old). We had a few rounds of photos taken, and were offered some free homemade Zongzi (sticky steamed rice with a sweet centre wrapped in a palm leaf that they had made for the Dragon Boat Festival) to enjoy with our meal . After dinner we set off for a stroll around the man made lake in the middle of town. Here Calvin was licked on the leg by a sneaky stray dog that had snuck up from behind him. We made it around the lake once amid cries of rabies and claiming he felt his muscles weakening, only to set off back to the hotel to wash the saliva off his leg.

Detour across the rice fields to get back on track 

The next day we rose early, uncertain about the what the road would bring for the next leg of the journey, but eager to get to Shaxi for some much needed rest. We packed our bags, loaded our bikes, handed in our room key, and then stared at the rain that had evolved from the drizzle. We consulted the man who ran the hotel (who laughed like a cartoon character), and with many gestures and references to the weather map on his iPad we determined it would be better to unload our bikes, take back the key, unpack our bags and stay put for a day.

Boy were we glad we did! We grabbed our umbrellas and went on the hunt for Baozi only to discover that for the final day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday this town had a massive market. What had been an almost dead town the day before was now a hustling, bustling thrall of stalls selling fresh produce, baozi galore, craft goods, clothing, household goods and HUGE woks. We wandered the markets for over an hour, made a couple of cheeky purchases we were certain wouldn't effect our pannier bags weight too much, and then made our way back to the hotel to relax as the rain came and went over the day.

Woman in traditional Bai clothing selling Calvin his favorite berries

With our legs rested we were much more happy to take on the drizzle that fell from the sky. Attempt number two at making it to Shaxi found us making a steep climb over a hill and descending into the first of two valleys we would follow for the day. This road was marked as a smaller road on the map and we had assumed it would be in poor condition. We were, however, pleasantly surprised as we meandered down this valley on narrow but sealed road. The final 20km turned out to be a different story, and as the weather changed to full blown rain the road too declined to cobble stones. These were bumpy to say the least, and with Kate's panniers jumping off their rack with any big bumps it made for very slow downhill sections. The rain grew heavier, and the road deteriorated further with sections of the road becoming dirt and then mud. We hadn't seen anyone on the road for the last 10km and with a large number of landslides only recently cleared we were both secretly anxious that we would come to a blocked road and have to backtrack. Luckily for us this never eventuated, and in an instant the road turned from mud and cobblestones to smooth concrete. 

Cobblestones

Muddy cobblestones

Celebrating our successful pass we sheltered under a bus stand and devoured some mantou and banana. While we stood huddled under the shelter an elderly woman walked by looked at us said something and started cackling away to herself. She looked back at where we had came from, turned to us again said something else and cackled to herself again. As she wandered on by we stood there a little dumbfounded and amused at our interaction.

The sky cleared a little and we continued down the valley crossed a bridge, rounded the spur, and headed back up the next valley in lightened rain. After climbing and dropping again we pedaled in to the small, ancient, charming quiet town of Shaxi.

Dali

Dali (Ancient town) was a bustling tourist town but gave us the chance to put our feet up and rest a few days. We managed a great guesthouse on the outskirts of the town that was away from the frantic hustle and bustle of the town.

The city gate

We took a cooking class with Luxi (runs a company called Rice and Friends) which included a market tour in the morning to get our ingredients and learn some of the local delicacies. She was a great tutor that explained the complexity of Chinese cooking; balancing sweet and salty flavours, use of different oils, careful preparation and the intensely fast cooking procedures. It was great fun and the food we made was delicious - even if our tongues went a little numb when we ate Sichuan pepper.

Cooking up a storm

Fish flavoured eggplant and kung pao chicken

Pressed tofu salad

We had ambitions of getting to the top of Cangshan Mountain and thought we would walk to the gondola to see how much it was to take the lazy way up. Our path there was blocked by a 10 metre high wall so we took a small path around only to end up in the complete wrong place but an entry to the park nonetheless. Easy solution, we'll just take a track over to the gondola. Well we got within 7m of the gondola gate only to be fenced out in all directions. With 2000m of climbing ahead of us now we began our slow trek up the stepped pathway. 100m later we were off track and lost again, this wasn’t going well. Back on track and we slowly made our way towards the Jade Cloud Walkway taking plenty of breaks as Calvin was feeling a little worse for wear. Prospects of reaching the top quickly faded as Calvin's energy diminished and the day grew gloomier with dark clouds covering the tops. The epic hike turned into a wander along main contouring Jade Cloud Walkway to the next chairlift for our ride back down. Nah just kidding, the chairlift was not operating so we walked down some random tracks Kate navigating us back to the bottom and into town. GPS skills redeemed!

Tired and frail

Farewell Mongolia, Hello Southern China

Mongolia had been an adventure and was a bikers heaven less the wind.  It was funny to think it was all over and we would be flying back to China soon enough.  However, before we left we were treated to an amazing cultural music and dance show, Turmen Eek. There was dance, shamanism, loads of instruments, including one which could be made to sound like the neigh of a horse, and the amazing throat singing that sounds like a didgeridoo. Both of us were mesmorised for the hour and left wanting more.

The morning arrived and we carried our masses of luggage down 5 flights of stairs to load up the small sedan taxi to the airport. The bikes were hanging out the back with the boot strapped down on top for extra security so they wouldn't fly out, and all the bags and Calvin squeezed into the back seat.

Get in there!

It was great to get on a plane and have a birds eye view of where we crossed the Gobi Desert and some of our earlier China trip.

After some unexpectedly long delays at Beijing airport to get to Kunming, 7 hours turned into 11 hours turned into 15 hours, we made our destination. We loaded up a small sedan taxi again and had a very confusing payment argument with the driver who even though they wrote the number down (which we had paid) continued to want more. Frustrated after a while they left, great result for us but they'll probably never serve a foreigner again.

Kunming was a great city to land in and we had struck a prime location with everything we wanted around the corner from us. Meng Zhi Nan hotel near the corner of Tangshuang Rd and Huancheng South Rd. Street food, supermarket, bike shops, fruit stalls, tea shops, baozi and a newly discovered Mantou!  We managed to find a bike shop, or maybe supplier, that had every kind of bike part under the sun and finally got Kate a proper mud guard so no more wet arse. It was good timing as we were apparently heading into monsoon season and Kunming was holding to that.

Kunming to Dali

Kunming to Tuguan

Leaving in Kunming traffic

Leaving Kunming turned out much easier, less wet and progressively warmer than expected. Kilometers were flying by and the roads were just as we remembered them - smooth, spacious and gentle climbs.  Then the road narrowed and got a little patchy. Then it just turned to a mashed up mess and mud bath. This time it was mud rather than snow clogging Calvin's wheels. We pulled into the small roadside town of Tuguan and after trudging through the mud bath there we turned back through it and decided to find somewhere to stay. With some luck we chose a place with an industrial hose that the owner insisted we use to clean our bikes, and a restaurant to satisfy our bellies. Great outcome.

Tuguan to Cangling

Our next day we enjoyed some great descents, river valleys and more interesting roads. Road choice once again was thought to be reasonably peaceful but we still managed to find loads of trucks. China has a lot of trucks, some things never change. We did get some brilliant sections to ourselves. This possibly may have been due to riding on the wrong side of a river valley that had roads on either side (probably one way each side) and traffic our side only came from the other direction. It was wide enough for us all anyway! Lunch break was a delight of fried bread things for Calvin and an array of sweet and savory baozi for us both. Onwards we went down the very degraded, lumpy road only to turn back so we were going the right way to Dali - once again, GPS didn't help Kate's map reading skills. This led to more mud bath and an ever changing quality of road for the next 20km. Seal to dirt, two way became single lane, and the bigger the vehicle you had the faster you must drive!  And we also got our first taste of a small climb in the ever rising heat and humidity. Good to be in the tropics. Sometimes.

Cangling to Shaqiao 

After such rough roads the previous day, it was hard to guess what the G320 would bring next. We pedaled off amidst bumpy road works only to hit brand spanking new tarmac double lane road a couple of kilometers into the day. Although new and sealed, it apparently was not complete for full use. So for parts of the ride we were directed to go on the left side, at other times the right hand side, and then we weren't told at all so it was a free for all with traffic going both ways on both sides of the road.

Choose your tunnel

We had been pretty unsure about what the weather would be like in Yunnan, May and June being labelled the 'rainy season', but we got nothing but full blasting sunshine on our backs, and the reflected heat off the black tarmac beaming up in our faces. Today was the day we learnt the real strength of the sun and we both came out a little on the red side.

After hoping back on the saddle after a lunch stop, and get-out-of-the-sun stop in Nanhua, the road turned rutted and bumpy again. This became an excruciating problem for Kate who had realised on day two of cycling that her new bike shorts had seams in ungodly places and had been suffering from pretty bad saddle sores. We stopped for the night at the lakeside town of Shaqiao, the new shorts promptly disposed of in the rubbish bin, and the question lurking in the air of whether it would be better for Kate to catch a bus to Dali to get a couple of days recovery.

Shaqiao to Xiazhuangzhen

Not wanting to miss out on the road ahead, we planned a shorter day to allow Kate less time in the saddle. The road started offwith a good 6km of bumpy degraded road, only to turn into a smooth concrete road. We meandered up a long valley, climbing, climbing, climbing, dropping and climbing again. At the top of the hill Calvin spotted a Chinese cycle tourist about to take off down the hill. Through our limited communication skills we figured out that he was cycling all around China (maybe for a year), and currently heading towards Lhasa.  We let him set off on the descent, only to catch up with him again shortly down the hill as we enjoyed the smooth, beautifully cornered road down hill.

Calvin tailing the cycle tourist down hill

From here we climbed again and dropped into the city of Xiazhuangzhen. The streets were lined with market stalls, bustling with patrons on what must have been Sunday market day.

Xiazhuangzhen to Midu 

Once again we planned a short day to give Kate some recovery time. However, we had reached our destination city of Xiangcheng by 11am, and weren't quite ready to stop riding. We pulled over on the side of the road to make a plan only to find a man and woman pull up behind us. More Chinese cycle toursits, also heading for Lhasa. They were planning on making it to Dali that day, and although that was a little too far, and too many hills, for Kate to fathom, it gave us the push we needed and off we cycled over the first hill climb towards Dali. After another great descent we turned off the road to Dali and detoured south to the city of Midu for the night.

More cycle tourists!

This town was an absolute gem to find. It was a stinking hot day (33 degrees by Calvin's watch), and since the hotel said there wouldn't be water until 6pm we decided to set off for a wander around the town, showers and laundry to be dealt with later. We headed towards a big park on the map and found a beautiful lush green garden set around a large pond being enjoyed by the locals playing cards, playing music, dancing and just relaxing in the shade. We followed suit and found ourselves a spot on a bench to take off our shoes, lie back and watch the clouds go by.

Midu to Dali

As we had detoured from the main route to Dali, the day started with a gentle 12km climb up a valley. At the head of the valley we turned off and started on what was to be our big ascent in to Dali. Once again China proved itself to be incredible at building roads at such a low gradient that even the most nasty looking climb becomes incredibly manageable and even enjoyable. We made it to the top with a spectacular view of the valley we had stayed in the night before, and then dropped off the other side heading towards Dali.

The view before the descent 

Dali is in two parts. You have to pass through the new town of Dali, head along the side of Lake Erhai for 15km and you end up at the ancient town of Dali sandwiched between the lake and 4000m peak mountains.

Heading through the new town of Dali, a large city, we hit pretty busy traffic. While being funneled through road works, trying to navigate and dodge other vehicles, Kate hit a lip in the road at just the wrong angle. Some out of control monstrous skidding ensued and she saved herself just in the knick of time from splattering herself against the tarmac. Luckily a large black SUV had been paying enough attention to his surroundings that he came to a screeching halt one meter behind her. Being a tad freaked out at her first real close call (there have been plenty of manageable close calls with cars cutting in front of us and then slamming on their brakes to turn a corner) it was a very slow and quiet ride out to the ancient town of Dali.