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Leaving Jinghong
Turns out this was the fateful roundabout where we took a wrong turn. (Note, Matt looking at map!)So over a week has past with Matt and I riding together and we haven't bitten each others heads off yet which is good. And as you'll see from the summary below we have had some hard days, which have tested both out legs, or mental stamina and our bums. The latter has faired the worst. My route up until this point through Thailand, Laos and early China has, on reflection, been on particularly brilliant roads. Almost exclusively tarmaced and most in good condition. Short pieces of off dirt road have been for side trips only. The last few days have changed all that. Although China has provided the best roads - in particular the brand new highway from the border described in the last post, it has now also provided the worst. We have spent 4 of the last 5 riding days mostly on dirt or cobbled roads, which have cut our speed by at least 30%, shaken our bikes to pieces and reduced aforementioned body parts to mulch.
sun: Jinghong to Menghai 53km on highway
mon: Monghai to Mongmen 77km with slight detour
tues: Destruction Day. Mongmen to Langcang 69km and Matts first 1000m day.
wed: rest day
Matt after taking a tumble
Our first stretch of terrible road, part of our 'detour'. Needless to say Matt managed to fall over in the biggest puddle! The passing truck driver couldn't help by laugh, and i confess to joining him! in Langcang
thurs: Day of Pain. 65km and 1700m climbed. Langcang to Fuyong
fri: Day of the endless valley: Fuyoung to Shuangjiang. 104km.
sat: rest day in Shuangjiang
We started sunday early and went looking for a western style breakfast as this was the last touristy town we would be in for weeks. However at 7.50 we were too early for the western joints and had fried rice at a Thai place. It was so good we ordered another! We setout and soon the day started to heat up and quickly reached 37C. We had stopped for a break before the first big climb of the day and where we noticed the sky darken slightly and a few rain drops begin to fall. The storm waited until we neared the top before breaking and then didn't hold back, a gust of wind when i was right next to a strong wind warning sign sent me towards the crash barrier which i gladly grabbed onto. 15meters later rising over the crest we had to give up and seek refugee. My thermometer revealed it had dropped 20C and i donned my rain jacket as we shelter under some inadequate shelter!
Matt mixing with the locals
Quite a crowd came to see us where we rejoined route 214 After the rain had eased we carried on welcoming the cooler temperatures. The day proceeded through nice scenery, lots of tea plantations , rice and market gardens. The town eventually appeared and we took a dirt road through markets eventually finding a hotel on the central junction of the town. It looked very fancy but Matts bargaining got the rate down from 280 to 130Y (to 20 AUD, 8 pounds). We later learnt that all smarter hotels have high rack rates with large 'discounts' available most of the time. The town didn't have much to offer the curious but chinese illiterate westerner.
The following day we set out back onto the 214 - the route we would be following for more than a week. We have got maps in chinese as most of the road signs are only in chinese script, only occasionally also showing the romanised 'pinyin' word. However our maps often have different script for the same places and we struggled to find towns on signposts on our maps. Unperturbed we asked a local for directions and continued on, with km route markers indicating we were still on the 214. We climbed a decent hill and had
The Octagonal Pavilion
The last place metioned in our guide books for 700km. Although it had some appeal, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The pavilion dates from the 1700's. The local guide explained that an adjacent tress was from the 1200's. We weren't quite ready to believe her as our guide book said the pavilion stood on a manmade hill (presumable made at the time of the pavillion) a great descent on relatively new road. The descent took us all the way to a toll gate which indicated we were in Menghun, not where we had intended. 'Discussions' at the toll booth initially had us retracing our steps, but on further pointing we discovered there was another road which we could which would make this side trip a detour rather than a mistake! The road ended by being a dirt track, our first, but despite caking the bikes in mud (+ matt who had an incident in a puddle which caused great hilarity amongst the passing locals!) it was good to pass through the countryside a bit closer. We were able to see local farmers working the rice fields. We still haven't discovered the art to this, they seem to replant each rice 'stem' several times changing the density of the crop in each paddy.
Eventually we reached a tarmac road, which turned out to be the 214. This time the km markers were in the 3000's (maybe distance to Beijing) rather than the previous tarmac road where they were in the 100's. The road condition was not as good as the previous '214', odd seeing as
Farmers working rice fields
Ploughing, flattening and planting our maps suggested this was a bigger road than the old 214. but then again, only one map had shown the old 214, and the others had only shown the dirt track. It seems the maps could only be used as a guide...
We found a typical roadside hotel - brutal exterior and basic but clean interior in Mengman and were able to wash our bikes behind the hotel. For dinner we once again pointed at our chosen ingredients and were very pleased by the result - the a shaved potato omelet. With more pointing we got the owner to write the name of the dish down, but thus far have not found anyone else with potatoes!
Destruction Day
Tuesday saw the road deteriorate drastically and with bulk earthworks occurring everywhere. We shared the road with hundreds of trucks which were ferrying dirt and rocks around. We bumped along gradually and not so gradually climbing for that seemed like forever. I struggled to find any logic in their work, at times digging away at the road itself (right under our wheels), at other times creating huge flat areas on the side of the cliff using mountains of
Builders in Mongmen
This looked a little worrying, buiding brick walls on a balcony that adjacent buildings were only using for rain cover, and punching windows in existing walls. dirty. We wished they would finish one bit before starting the next, but not a drop of tarmac could be seen and work was being done all along the route. We were beginning to wonder if it was just a job for the boys (+ girls as most of the active labourers were female), until the top of the mountain where we came across concrete columns being poured and precast, prestressed bridge sections being made. If there were going to do this for the whole road the job would take a decade! This point also signalled the start of a diversion which took us down hill along a temporary road cut into the mountain from which the mountain had still to heal. The slow uphill bumps earlier in the day were now compounded by bumps with some speed as we descended and our bikes really suffered. By the end of the day the inventory of damage stood at: Matts bob trailer wheel falling off, Matts bob trailer falling apart, My front braking power being lost, each of our bob mudguards coming off and matts rear bike mudguard coming lose, fuel bottle jumping out of cage and my rear wheel coming
Rebuilding the road?
Although i'm still not convinced these trucks appeared to be rebuiding the road. out of bracket. My bike had not seen damage like this on any of the preceding 2000km. It was a hard day!
We were deposited in a valley not really sure where we were, but back on dirt road. We soon got to a town and a very welcome cold pepsi and were able to glean from one kid who confessed to speaking a big of english that our destination as 8km up the road. Fortunately it turned out to be tarmac the whole way and it felt like we flew the distance.
Langcang turned out be be a decent sized town which was a relief as we planned a rest day here and I had begun to expect a village based on the quality of the road we had followed most of the day. The rest day was spent trying delicacies in the supermarket (they have some weird things in their), fixing the bikes and finding the internet cafe. A welcome rest from the saddle.
Day of Pain
The next two days we set our sights on completing 160km, a tough ask but that way we would stay in the bigger towns, with better chance
Road removal
Not sure where the surveyor was (we didn't see one the whole day) but i could have told him he was getting a tad close the the road... (look closly and you can see me) of decent accommodation. first day target 85km to get over halfway. We started on tarmac for 30km and started well. But then the cobbles appeared and our map tricked us again as we started to ascend. The peak appeared to be a volcanic mountain which was being mined. Maybe this was why it did not appear on the Maps - the chinese planned to level the area in the very near future!
We descended sharply in a V-shaped valley on the cobbled road making it tough going. The re-ascent started straight away and did not stop. We had to revise our target town by 26km but even this seemed beyond reach at times, Matt resorted to walking for an hour until he remember a conversation we had had where i described the American cyclist who had been catching hold of trucks when going uphill. He tried out this and successfully passed me by. I'm sure he was planning to drop off the truck before passing me but i was on the other side of the road taking a photo and he didn't see me...
Eventually a town came into view, at the crest of the hill and another
Reo fixing
At the precast yard i lent a hand with some steel fixing hour later we made it there. We were pointed out a building after asking for a hotel, but it took a couple of repeats of the question 'is this a hotel' to get the owner to give us a positive response. His first had been 'No', but it didn't look like there was any other options so we persisted.It looked more like his house and spare rooms for when family visited. Still, after climbing 1700m (my second largest accent of the trip) we didn't care. Restaurants either did not exist or had already closed so we bought some packet noodles with the intention of firing up the petrol stove, but were saved this chore when the 'hotelier' brought us a thermos of hot water - all we needed to 'cook' the 3 minute noodles. Despite being simple it was a good end to the day.
Day of the Endless Valley
We awoke the following day knowing we had a long day ahead of us, estimating 95km. We had a short stretch of uphill to get us over the ridge followed by 20km of downhill, but on the cobbled road this was far from comfortable or fast. Infact we
after descending 700 vertical metres our average was 15km/h - slower than my average on the first day of the ride, which had been on the flat.
We then hit tarmac and a couple of k's later we arrived at a town which enabled us to get a customary pepsi recharge, and an unexpected weigh-in from a rice wholesaler. We think she was seriously under-weighing, or had some bad equipment, as i was 10kg lighter than when i started and matt 14kg. And we were fully clothed.. The numbers cannot be right..
Onwards from the town the road gave way to cobbles and we contemplated life like this for another 60km. A passing truck with ideal holding points jolted us from this lull and we both hitched on. Although it wasn't that steep it was still hard work holding on to truck with one had and handlebars with other whilst bouncing up and down on the dirt track. I had to let go but joined back on for another go. A lot of BT (body tension for those who haven't been attending the Church of Wood in Adelaide) was needed and a bit more of this 'cross training',
The diversion
This road diversion took us down a different valley to the west. It looks like a huge amount of work went into cutting this road alone. combined with weight loss, could see a strong climber emerge by the end of the trip. After less than a km the uphill ended and we returned to normal cycling looking out for more trucks
The truck ride boosted our spirits but the road continued following a river in the base of a valley, climbing slowly. The climb wasn't a problem, but the road was wearing and dust from passing trucks a plague. Towns we expected to see did not appear, leading us to doubt our progress on the map, or whether towns had been relocated to make way for imminent hydro-power flooding of the valley! We took many rests, including a good half hour to sit out the rain and watch a couple of guys fixing a truck - there is a clear hierarchy in Chinese trucks. The driver sits in the cab whilst 2 others guys ran around outside crawling under the truck in the mud and the rain. We left them with the truck still out of action.
Then all of a sudden we came to a river and road junction, enabling us to locate ourselves on the map - and also a province border
Bikes after 'destruction day'
safe in out hotel room (it was a big room and the staff surprisingly welcoming to us and our gear). crossing, but most importantly a tarmac road and signpost - 21km to out destination. We had done 83km so far and quizzed the border guards on the quality of the roads beyond. One guy was brought out who spoke english and he told us the road was good, and after a passport inspection waved us on our way. Despite our battered bums, the saddle felt comfortable again and we whizzed along the road, averaging twice as fast as an hour earlier simply due to the road surface. We raced along slip streaming each other and i could almost hear the cheers and grab the drinks from the crowds watching as we zipped along the Tour de France's final leg. The arrival into the town brought us back into reality as we passed by monstrous industry belching out a sulphurs dust the like of which i have never seen before.
We stopped in a part of town with a couple of hotels and near a market street where we attracted, as usual, a lot of attention whilst arranging a room and a place for out bikes - this time inside the hotel lobby. Our search for a restaurant was almost
as successful as the previous night but we eventually ordered something and were pleased by the result, especially after making it 104km in the day.
Our rest day has been filled with bakery products and in the company of 100 or so children, many of which avid smokers, who also inhabit this internet 'hall'. The first few people we asked for direction to an internet cafe just laughed, but we have now worked out to ask the kids. It seems the older generation don't believe it exists yet!
So the next few days will take us North, to Dali or Tengchong, to be decided in the next few days, hopefully on better roads (our hope being based on the improved road on crossing in this province).
All the best, from Matt and Chris
--
Chris
blogsite: www.mytb.org/chrish
china mobile: (+86) 15969191370
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Chantal
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the HARD road!
Amazing! Thank you for sharing these memorable moments with us. Hope your bikes are OK now.