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In the clouds
Visibility at about 80mDue to a couple of comments from concerned mothers and ex-housemates I feel the need to start this post with an explanation and safety warning. It has been noticed that we have grabbed on to a passing truck to assist our progress when spirits were low,and fears raised that this is unduly risky. The trucks have been travelling at the speed approaching a fast walk (imagine if you will an experienced commuter negotiating London's Tube through crowds of wandering tourists) and we were able to hold on at the back therefore risk of being wrapped up under the wheel, as per the horror stories of American kids tobogganing whilst holding onto the car and truck wheel hubs following unexpected snow falls, is negligible. However, we can't recommend this to others out there!
So we have had another 5 days on the road, this time blessed tarmac:
Sunday: Shangijang to Lincang. Big day in the clouds, 106km and 1546m rise. A big day
Monday: Lincang to Yanxian, 83km and 780m climbed
Tuesday: rest day
Wednesday: Uphill to mountain campsite, 54km and 1240m climbed
Thursday: Detour Day to Kasi, 95km and 665m climbed
Friday; wHOLEsome DAY, 66km, 1300m climbed, 7 flat
tyres!
Sat & Sun: Rest and tourism days in Baoshan
So, 7 flat tyres in one day - all in Matts rear wheel and we began to suspect 3rd party foul play (although we still haven't found the evidence). Read on to how the saga continues, but the final words will have to wait till the next post as we still aren't sure if it is fixed!
Sunday saw us hit two milestones, normally reserved for separate days: 100km travelled and 1000m climbed, a first for both Matt and I. In fact we smashed this with 106km travelled and 1546m climbed. Looking back, particularly with reference to our last day in the saddle I'm not sure how we managed this, but the temperature - the lowest of the trip so far at between 17and 20C, was surly an assisting feature. The cool weather was brought about by low cloud and a steadily increasing drizzle. We set off at 1000m of elevation and entered the cloud base at around 1500m where visibility reduced to about 80m. Some cars sensibly turned on headlights, others used next to useless hazard lights but some saw no need for either.. Our lights were
firmly on! Then at 1800m we popped out of the cloud and rain and had views again, and for one of the first times without the usual haze. There were still high level clouds which kept the temperature down as we climbed to 2055m and then followed by most welcome long descents to 1500m.
Lincang turned out to be a big town, as we discovered the next day when leaving, but we settled for the first hotel we saw as we didn't want to extend the day further. The room was good, but the local restaurants were not particularly to our taste, despite the encouraging sign of being full of locals. The fish hotpot - the only main dish on the menu was not great and the mushrooms, which we picked not really knowing what 'wood ear mushrooms' were, resembled pig skin in looks and texture - although they do reside firmly in the vegetable section of my phrasebook.
The following day we had a substantial distance to go and having missed out on a good feed the previous day decided to get a more filling breakfast than our usual bakery selection. We went for noddle soup, a
Route 214
A kilometer marker on the road we followed for some 600k's. Still 2735 stretching out infront of us (to Beijing probably - glad we arn't going there) dish i have been avoiding since overload in Thailand, being the regular breakfast and lunch staple it was all that we could find. I had it with a 'custard' type thing rather than soup to try something different, but next time will choose the clear soup broth.. The cycling started with 35km of descent on a good dual carriage way and then the climb started. Although we had been on the bikes less than 2 hours, a late start, combined with change of gradient brought on lunch hungers and we looked forward to the motor way service station signposted in 2km. Having heard rumors of KFC fast food chain restaurants in the bigger cities i had it in my mind that this service station - likely to be the most modern thing we had seen judging by the signage - would house one. My mouth was watering for something slightly western after a week since out last western contact in Jinghong. We rounded the final corner to find another over sized-incomplete petrol station, not even close to being finished or housing food establishments of any kind. Disappointment was one way to describe it. Why the hell did they have a
A warning?
A saftey conscious road sign, a warning to the Chinese - but good news for us - downhill for 10km! signpost up for a service that would not be operational for at least a year!
We continued on past various truckstop 'restaurant' type places, without a fridge in sight so were not motivated to stop. Eventually we pulled in by the side of the road having given up our search for cold drinks, only later to find one at the top of the next hill. Needless to say we took the second break too!
After a little more uphill, and more welcome downhill we arrived in Yan Xian, and were surprised to find an even bigger town than the previous day. Finding a hotel proved harder though but the tour of the town did lead us to discover a Disney style shopping street, with all the building similarly themed and painted bright colours. There were flags and multi-coloured lights strung across the street - so different to the usual mis-mash of concrete buildings that we were used to being confronted by.
Further random wanderings and we found a dim-sum restaurant, which Matt had been looking for since arriving in China, which served as an aperitif, followed by a great little restaurant down a backstreet. After a couple
Driving School
We have seen a couple of these driving 'plazas'. Very elaborate with ramps, roundabouts, simulated parking etc. One wonders what happens to the skills learnt once loose on the road... of days of average food we had struck gold. As usual we checked out the kitchen to order our food and met the Chef, a huge guy who was cooking bare-bellied. We thought this was particularly dangerous given the size of his belly and the amount of stir-frying going on.. The place also had beer in the freezer (at quite a few places they tried to give us warm beer, which we had to refuse and go in search of a shop to supply refreshment for the meal), and the other diners invited us to shots of the local spirits which were going down very well with them. The end of the evening saw us stumble apon a becoming familar scene in Chinese towns - the group exercising. See the photos for an explantion..
We had planned a rest day here and were pleased to have found a nice town, the following day we revisited the same eateries, did the usual bike maintenance and internet and laundry.
Finding the latter two establishments was a bit tougher than usual. The staff at the hotel, although kind to and amused by us, pretty much ran away when we tried to
Chariot of chaos
This is the style of car they are taught to drive in. Looks like a leathal weapon compared to the poor bicyles, motorbikes, tuk-tuks and various other contraptions on the road! communicate with them - initially we tried to pronounce the Chinese words, but having no success we ended up pointing at the Chinese script in our guide books but they wouldn't even look. We couldn't understand it and eventually another guest helped with some translation, but the directions that were forthcoming were simply - over the bridge... There was a lot of town the other side of the bridge. Eventually, by asking in a clothes shop were i was trying on some terribly fitting shorts Matt found a laundry much closer to our hotel, and i found the internet by seeing a 'world of warcraft' computer game poster, a sure sign that the usual horde of adolescent Chinese computer addicts were to be found upstairs.
The range of attitudes we have encounter have been wide ranging indeed. When simply passing by on bike or foot we have had indifference, appearing not to have even registered a foreigner, surprise, shy interest, repeated "hello's" and silent starring. The willingness to help when we have asked questions, or again pointed at words/maps has also been varied - sometimes a shake of the head to indicate can't/won't look but at other times leading
Tidy Roads
For a couple of days the road was lined with this colourful bush. us down the road, round the corner and up the street to show us the post office. It has been quite confusing, but a real 'shining light' when we do find someone helpful. One thing that is almost always constant, is that they think that writing down the answer in Chinese script will help us - that somehow despite not even being able to say a simple word like hotel correctly that we will understand the script..
No doubt we would have the same range of reaction in the UK or Oz, but back home it tends to be easier to pick the type of person to ask, and at the very least they will understand your question, and you their response, where as here we are rather more clueless.
The following day we were back on the bikes and leaving the 214 we had been following the whole way so far. The new road was marked as smaller on our maps and we feared a return to dirt/cobbles. Fortunately these have not eventuated yet. We set out without a specific destination in mind, prepared to camp as the big towns on our map were not suitably located
Yan Xian
Matt with one half of the town behind him. One of the first clear evenings we had in terms of distance. The lack of target meant we had a very relaxed approach to the day with only 30km done by the time we stopped for a late lunch. After that it got steeper with rice terraces on hills steeper than 45degrees. We had been climbing all day and finally summited at the 52km mark having made it to 2220m - out highest point thus far. A couple of K's down the other side we found a perfect campsite. The terrain was still steep and the only locations to camp were right by the road otherwise getting to them with the bikes would be too hard. I spotted a area mostly hidden from the road with a decent flat area. We stopped, set up camp and tucked into our super noodles and were in bed as darkness fell - 8pm!
Despite having to pack our tents up we left at 8.50 the next morning - our earliest start to date (I had had some earlier starts ion Lao/Thailand but sunrise is an hour earlier there due to time changes) and we set off expecting a hole day downhill and looking to do a good 80km. The downhill
Yan Xian
A patch of old housing - a rarity in these developing towns started well and the big valley views were beautiful. However it ended after 20km and further inspection of the map revealed the next 40km were uphill, taking us almost to the height we started the day.. An embarrassing, tiring and annoying mistake!
We then had a very steep descent on the section we were hoping to camp on, but the gradient, coupled with use of all flatter bits for farming and no shelter from the road meant there was nothing suitable. We arrived at a junction inquired as to hotels nearby. The response was Baoshan - our destination for the next day and 60km away, or a town 5km detour away. We settled for the 5k and set off what felt like uphill. The heat and uphill of the day had got to me and i was tired and annoyed. The 5k town - marked on our maps, suggesting it was of some size, turned out to be 2 buildings on a junction, and neither were hotels! This town had used to be on the main road - the only road on our maps, but the 'new' road we had been on (didn't actually look that new and we
Matt and Chef
A most hospitable restauranteur - a great find down an unlikely backstreet! we surprised it had not been incorporated in the mapping) bypassed it and the town seemed to have vanished. Inquiries at this junction suggested the next town - 8km away.
Without other options we continued on and took the sign to what we thought was the town. Turned out to be the derelict industrial area of the town, and across the river from a dubious looking town. At this stage my patience was really running low but eventually we found a track to an old pedestrian bridge and crossed. Matt landed a puncture here, but with the town in sight he decided to push the bike. I got to the town first and started to ask for a hotel. I was pointed down the street, and followed this for a while, being stared at all the way. Not seeing anything very evident i asked again and was pointed further along. This pattern repeated itself until i had checked out several side streets and the whole main drag. (which was as feared from afar very dubious...). I was at my most frustrated of the trip. And it probably showed as on my next ask the guy eventually lead me to
a 'hotel' as i would not accept his simple gesturing down the street. I was surrounded by what appeared to be a dozen families given the one child family policy here an had no idea who the proprietors were, or even where the hotel was - it could have been anyone of numerous truck stop rooms, or one of the 3 storey buildings around. I got Matt to join me (he had given up wheeling the bike around town on the wide goose chase and was waiting uncannily close to this final location). Seeing my frustration he kindly volunteered to check out the room. I stayed on guard with the gear. Despite fears and the outlook of the town the room wasn't as bad as feared, it was clean although basic and without lighting in the bathroom. A hunt for dinner revealed one place, but when we braved it we were rewarded with being lead out the back to a courtyard and a good dinner.
Soundproofing of the room was not good and we slept intermittently and set off at a decent time the next morning, backtracking the 13km. Back on the main road we had a downhill run
Communal Exercise
In the evening town open spaces become exercise yards with a huge number of participants. There were 5 or 6 seperate dances being done on the plaza, each with their own very loud sound system - dragged down to the plaza each evening. to a big town, 5km from the junction we had left the night before. And as most big towns in China it was complete with a hotel.. We would have loved to know about that the night before!
Soon we crossed the river in the valley bottom and started climbing again. It was a long climb.. and the end kept moving as we rounded each bend and hill. Our progress was slow, not least because of the gradient but because we kept having to stop for punctures.
The first of the day, signalling Matts third of the trip saw a quick turn around but an equally quick returning flat. I then took my Mr Tuffy from my front tyre to give to Matts rear, as this carries a lot more weight and is therefore much more likely to get a flat, and this is where he was getting the flats. We carried on with some success but soon we were stopped again, this time with a puncture to the inside of the tyre - appearing to come from the rim - a Mr Tuffy can't stop this. It is difficult to remember the exact location and order of
with one extra participant
Matt joining in the dancing! the following flats, 2 were from failed repairs and others from inside and side walls. We were completely baffled and by no 7 in the same tyre and 6pm we were ready to give up. We set up by the side of the road trying to flag down a lift with the bike in pieces to help explain the situation. Most of the trucks were full, and the few that were not were pulling off at the next junction. Two possible trucks drove onto totally the other side of the road - maybe Matt's 'flagging down' they interpreted as 'steer clear - repair underway'. Eventually after more than an hour a dual cab ute stopped and we managed to fit both bikes in the back. Despite their unusual load the driver and passenger were silent the whole way- well communication would have been hard but that hasn't stopped many people we have met trying to talk to us in Chinese!
They dropped us in town but we weren't totally certain of where we were. For the second time in 2 days, i set off solo to find a hotel whilst Matt remained with his wounded bike. I would find
a hotel and then return to pick up his bob trailer. Baoshan is a big town and fortunately i had a map in my guide book and was soon able to locate myself. The draw back came when the guesthouse described was being turned into a 15 storey tower block. I located the 4star hotel but didn't think they would entertain me, then learned that the 3rd and final hotel mentioned had also been erased. I found some very average accommodation by the bus station but decided that this would be only backup and then finally came across a decent looking place. The search had taken over an hour. We were well ready for a shower and beer. I had not spotted any western food places which we had been hunting, but had seen a bar - the first for 10 days and we found somewhere to eat on the way there. Obviously friday night is not the party night as we doubled the clientele in the bar and soon decided to call it a night. Shame as the place had some half decent music (if you ignored the Avril Lavigne!) and odd but homely art on the walls.
Haircut time
I sat down without protest from the hairdresser, but after describing what i wanted (by picking up the shaver and scissors) she wanted me to leave. Playing ignorant, Matt took the first cuts and she finished the job off (much to my relief) Yesterday we spent exploring the city, a tiring process as most streets were the same - full of mobile phone shops, but we found a supermarket selling snickers and a good bakery, and doing our best to find the source of the punctures. Today we discovered we had not cured the problem, and have had another go! Matt and I also set off for some sightseeing, albeit in different directions. Matt headed for a reclining Buddha 17km from town (by taxi rather than bike) but having seen enough of them myself in Thailand I opted for the nearer sites of local park and pagodas. It was a gentle day but nice to see the Chinese temples, more colourful than those of Laos and Thailand using colour rather than gold leaf for decoration.
We are hoping that the latest fix holds as tomorrow we set out for a two day cycle to Tengchong - an area surrounded by volcanoes and hot springs. We haven't found a bike shop with rims like ours here and Tengchong is a lot smaller, so unlikely to find there either...
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Andrew Caruso
non-member comment
Housemates Rebuttal
To be fair, as an ex-housemate, I wasn't too concerned for your safety (although I would be hesitant to grab on to the back of trucks myself), I was more so concerned for your parents reactions, which correct me if I'm wrong, my predictions were on the money.