From freezing Dali to tropical Jinghong

Hi, dear friends,

We feel like we are in a totally different country here, in Xishuangbanna! And we have not crossed any borders yet! Yunnan province is not only huge, it holds a wide range of climates and landscapes; from the entrance of Tibetan Plateau to Rainforest. The rest we had in Dali gave us plenty of energy to pedal in mountains. The thick morning fog means we have to put the warm clothes on but as soon as it clears out, short sleeves are a must. We cycled in roads in various quality; from silk-smooth to harsh cobble stone pavement. Or sometimes no pavement at all!

2 days after Dali, we started climbing on a heavy duty road, very well built and on the top of the pass, we sometimes had to cross tunnels, the longest was 2,6 km. It can be sunny on one end and foggy on the other! Our efforts were highly rewarded with downhill slopes ,25km long! We reached a small city and had our passeports checked by the police. Myanmar/Burma is only a few km away and taking the wrong road can make you cross the boarders and get you in trouble afterwards.

When we waived goodbye to the police officers, the road went from perfect tarmac to perfect hell! Construction works, dust, mud, cobblestone, you name it! With road bikes, it is no easy business to go through bumps and potholes. When going uphill, our top speed is 8km/h, and going downhill with a reasonable control on the bike, you hardly reach 10km/h! We managed to cycle 100km in these conditions in one day but as the sun goes down, the last thing you want is to meet a truck in the dark. We found a trucker motel and spent the night there after a real feast of handmade sausages, eggplant and tomato omelette. The day after was not easier and we climbed 2 other passes in damn cobblestone roads. We reached Lancang (it is also the Chinese name for the Mekong River) and inquired on the state of the roads for the next days; cobble again! We decided to try the bus, and it turned out to be the most cleaver decision! The road is under major construction work and even the 5 hours bus ride was bumpy enough!

I can admit that there is sometimes a certain amount of suffering on the bike and most of the time, I can deal with it. But cobblestone roads are the summum of pain in the %^&&. Even my dad, a strong guy who knows no pain was happy to do that harsh 150km on the bus.

We are now in beautiful Jinghong, surrounded by plains irrigated by the Mekong. Fields with luxuriant crops are enormous. Everything seems to grow here; bananas, tea, grapes, rice, papaya...The mandarin caracters are now accompanied by their Lao counterpart and the Lao architecture is more present. We are only 300km by road from the Lao border and will probably spend Christmas and New Year in Laos.

27 days cycling
2650km

We wish everyone a peaceful time for the coming holidays. Take the time to get outside!

Tsai Tien