Days 58-59, Rest days in Dali: (by Chris)

 

Ancient Dali is a quaint little town popular with western tourists. It has colourful, skilfully painted Chinese style towers and cobbled streets, but what really made it worth cycling 30km out of our way to get here was the fact that it has a bakery that sells REAL bread. Not brioche, not battered dough, not flat breads but real, crusty, lovely bread. They also sold proper cheese - Cheddar, emmental and edam. For lunch i was ecstatic with just bread, butter and cheese and Amy was no less excited with her cheese toasties. We then each had a Mr Wippy from an ice-cream shop. After two months of craving these simple foods, It was exquisite. Recently we have been spoilt in tourist attractions with western guest houses and WIFI. We anticipate we probably won't find any of this again, let alone cheese and ice cream, until Luang Prabang in Laos about 1000km away.

 

What dreams are made of.

Like most rest days, we ate vast quantities of food, lazed around and did a few chores. I had to fix some holes in the tent and cracks in the poles, plus glue patches onto Amy's popped air bed.

On the second day we managed to squeeze in a small trip to see Chinese fishermen using tame cormorants in a symbiotic relationship to catch fish on the huge nearby lake. We were taken out onto the water in a small metal rowing boat by an old Chinese local wearing a straw hat with pink flowers in it. He made an overweight Chinese tourist do all the rowing, despite the fact this man was completely hopeless with two oars.

Once back in town we bought supplies for the days ahead (as much bread and cheese as is humanly possible to fit in and on our trailers). Back into the sticks tomorrow on roads leading us towards tropical forest, elephants and malaria. Looking forward to it.

A good looking bird and the wife:

 

Day 57, 105km: (by Amy)

Our perfect ridge campsite was a bit of a mission to get down from. Chris walked through a web by accident and a massive yellow spider landed on his face. The road ran through the farmland downstream.

Having bought provisions from a fantastic market in the town of Yangbi we looked for somewhere to sit and eat. In the end the only place off the road we could find was an empty driving school test track. We sat on the examiners bench and ate our picnic watching the learner drivers practice on the tarmac course down the hill. 

After lunch we turned onto a hideous main road which as well as being unexpectedly steep uphill was busy with trucks keen to avoid the freeway toll and road works. After arriving in New Dali we had to travel 15km back north to Ancient Dali (the nice bit). I ran out of energy on the way and had to eat a packet of Oreos to re-fuel. We checked into the Jade Emu hostel which is awesome and had free DVD rental and players in the room. After a massive scran-out in the restaurant we watched a DVD and BBC news for the first time since leaving the UK.

Day 56, 62km: (by Chris)

Last night we bought lots of eggs from a local shop for the days ahead and boiled them in the kettle in our room for our lunchtime sandwiches. The day was very pleasant; riding through cool air past rice terraces curving around the contours of the hills. The fields were yellow stubble of cut stems or vibrant green rice plants, some of which were being harvested by hand. It was even relatively quiet, with the sound of crickets, a few motorbikes and the occasional excited farmer yelling 'hello!' In english from the other side of the valley. For morning break we had real milk for the first time in 2 months which was an exquisite treat we found in Shaxi fresh from the local cows. We stopped early at 15:30 in an opportunistic small forest as google earth showed farmland for miles ahead. We were spotted scoping out the land by a farmer initially so cycled a little more but then Amy was seen struggling up a ridge into the trees at the next possible site. We just went deep into the spider infested woods and hoped they wouldn't come looking for us because it was a lovely flat grassy hill top.

Day 55, 33km:(by Amy)

We slept really well in the nicest hotel of the trip so far for just £8. A lovely little family run courtyard hotel complete with deluge shower head in the ensuite bathroom. Thankfully the last 10km of main road was flat and passed quickly. Then we headed into the hills on a little country road. The valleys were full of rice paddies with people brining the harvest in wearing traditional straw hats and using horses to carry the bundles. We had lunch on a hill top under the trees then headed into Shaxi. Shaxi is the best preserved village on the ancient tea-horse road used since AD 618 to trade tea from Southern Yunnan for horses from Tibet. The route no longer exists but it is still a pretty little town with lots of very old buildings and temples. We went for a walk around the surrounding area in the afternoon looking at temples and an old theatre. We also found a herbal medicinal garden built by a botanical team from the university of Zurich in conjunction with the villagers which sadly had fallen into disrepair.

Day 54, 76km: (by Chris)

After the glorious views and quiet of the mountains, today was a reality check that we were in China. We cycled 76km down a busy, noisy, narrow main road where the Chinese drivers had ample opportunity to remind us of their complete inability to drive sensibly. Honestly, it's as though someone has given the keys to a bunch of 12 year olds. Once again the horn was the most utilised of vehicle controls, and used to good effect at drawing maximum attention to the fact the majority of them are complete idiots.

Piles of rubbish dumped into rivers also featured heavily today and we had dinner in a noodle-bar run by a guy who was quite obviously put-out by the fact we wanted to pay him money to cook us some noodles. Although today was a bad day, I am not without the ability to appreciate the positives: I am exceptionally happy that we are still alive by the end of it. Roll on tomorrow.

 

Day 53, 35km: (by Amy)

We awarded ourselves a very lazy start thanks to the fact we hiked the high trail in one day instead of the planned two. The weather was still perfect and the views stunning as we cycled the low road through the gorge. After lunch we had a short section on beepy main road before branching off onto a little country road across the river. We found an unexpected camp spot hidden in the pine trees which pleased Chris no end. We stopped early (which pleased me) and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and route planning in the dappled sunshine.

Day 52, Tiger Leaping Gorge: (by Chris)

Today we set of to hike the length of the gorge. We were going to do it in two days, but Amy was unstoppable after her high altitude training so we'd finished all 28km before the day was out. this was despite my frequent photo requests for which my wife has no tolerance whatsoever. This is unfortunate because she is the only person I can use as a focal point and is why in many photos she looks grumpy. With a backdrop of jagged snowy peaks we walked through hot pine forest and bamboo groves, past gnarled trees with yellow leaves and bright orange flowers shining vibrant in the sun. It was a glorious day, made all the better by the fact the guesthouse we are staying at serves something resembling a tasty sandwich - many of which we ordered this morning for lunch.

Day 51, 56km: (by Amy)

Chris was pleased to wake up in a tent on his birthday and to amazing mountain vistas. He even had chocolate spread in his porridge as a birthday treat. The night had been much warmer and clear: the stars were fantastic. We set off with sunshine and a blue sky above. We ate our lunch with views of snowy Haba mountain. Chris had a massive snickers binge as there was no cake to be found.

Snickers birthday binge (the only easily available western food)

 Then we sailed downhill for ages until we got to Tiger leaping gorge. The river was flowing the opposite way to that expected from the map so it looks like the next couple of days will be uphill not down. For now we are installed in a guesthouse with stunning views of the gorge. Tomorrow we are going to set of to hike the length of it.

Day 50, 58km: (by Chris)

It was indeed a cold night. The tent froze solid on the outside, along with everything else around us. The peaks were white with snow but the day was glorious. Blue skies and sun - we soon warmed up :-)

The days cycling was perfect: quiet paved road, amazing scenery, mostly downhill and plentiful food for lunch. We managed to find big bread-like pancakes and boiled eggs before we left Shangri-La, which with a tomato made for almost acceptable sandwiches.

That night we found a perfect camp spot on a shoulder of pine trees. Concealed, but a stage to an arena of mountains and valleys.

We ate noodles and snickers bars while admiring the sunset.

Day 49, 62km: (by Amy)

We set of from Shangrila in freezing conditions. It had snowed overnight on all the surrounding peaks making the scenery stunning. The road was quiet and tarmac: perfect!

We quickly warmed up as the road undulated through Yak filled grassland. We ate our lunch in a wetland "of international importance" that unfortunately many other people had decided  wasn't so important not to litter. Then we climbed 2 big passes both with amazing views of snowy mountains from the top. We camped at the top of the second and bundled down for a cold night.

Day 47 & 48, Rest Days: (by Chris)

Luckily for me, the dancing that Amy so desperately wanted to join in on had stopped by the time we finished eating. The rest of our time in Shangri-La was spent eating and resting. There were quite a few cafes selling western food so we gorged ourselves on sandwiches, chips, spaghetti, lasagne, pizza, milky coffee and hot chocolate. So refreshing after months of Chinese food. Amy did manage to shoe horn me out of my comfy chair at the guesthouse to see the biggest prayer wheel in the world, but other than that, it was just eating in Shangri-La. My tummy definitely found at-one-ness.

Day 46, 50km: (by Amy)

We had a peaceful night apart from a visiting cow that licked our bowls and pan left out in the rain. 

We got soaked eating breakfast in our coats then set off winding slowly up the valley. We stopped at a small stream to filter some water as we had run out and were reluctant to filter the river water where we had camped having seen where most of the local toilets emptied. 

The weather cheered up a bit as we left the river and climbed a final smaller pass before a long descent to Shangri-La city. We passed through grassland spotted with red and gold bushes amongst which yaks and miniature Tibetan pigs grazed.

 Unfortunately there was also a lot of pylons and an ever increasing amount of trucks thanks to a nearby quarry. 

We entered Shangri-La old town around 15:30 to find beautiful little cobbled streets packed with gift shops, restaurants and guesthouses. We found a place to stay described in our guidebook and checked in. We met an elderly Chinese cycle tourist who had been touring the surrounding mountains for 5 months using Shangri-La as a base and wild camping in the area.

We urgently needed a shower then enthusiastically sort out some serious quantities of food. It was a national holiday week for the Chinese so very busy. We found a little family run Tibetan place and ate whilst watching traditional dancing in the main square below in which everyone was getting themselves involved.

Day 45, 60km: ( by Chris)

We cycled up a 12,400ft pass  on a road lined with trees dropping their yellow leaves over our heads and views of spectacular mountains flanked by tall grey cliffs and autumn colours. I powered up the road listening to such classics as Dire Straights and Corona, 'Rhythm of the Night' on a little speaker attached to my top tube. It was raining at the top but we enjoyed a 20km decent on smooth tarmac, although Amy fell off on a patch of gravel which squashed our aluminium camping pan. Luckily, she goes so slow down the hills that injury is almost impossible. For lunch I gave up trying to make sandwiches with tiny crap Chinese brioche and experimented with sliced meat stick* sandwiched between two stale rich tea biscuits. This was no better by any stretch of the imagination. In the afternoon we discovered the river we were going to follow downstream for 20km was actually upstream which was pretty disappointing so we stopped early deep in the bushes on a lovely patch of concealed green grass next to a river.

*We try not to buy meat in China, but this was all that was available in this area to go inside our makeshift sandwiches. Fickle perhaps, but as an Englishman, some sort of sandwich is imperative for a satisfactory packed lunch.

Day 44, 56km: (by Amy)

We ate our porridge looking at the amazing mountain views. Thankfully the bulk of the climbing had been done the day before and we contoured the mountainside climbing gently to crest the pass at 13,650ft. I spoke to a car-load of people heading for Yading. The driver spoke good English and asked how long the road was unpaved (he had no 4x4) I had to tell him 50km. He had better news for us: the road would become tarmac in 20km! Most unexpected. I bumped down the dirt road switchbacks feeling very positive. Chris was behind: dirt road downhill is bad for his trailer. At the bottom of the switchbacks as promised wonderful tarmac returned and we sailed gently downhill through a lovely valley passing little villages all with shops and guesthouses. Before the next climb started I requested an early stop (15:30) at a little Tibetan guesthouse. It was a bit overpriced and we had to ask for clean sheets and put these on ourselves but once this was done the beds we're really comfy.

A group of young men descended on the place for dinner. They were sculptures and painters of Buddhist temples and showed us amazing videos and pictures of them at work.

The Buddhist shrine builders:

Day 43, 43km: (by Chris)

Regards finding vital food supplies, the next village up the road was as useless as the last. Tiny Chinese convenience stores in remote towns have been the same throughout and only sell 6 main products, all usually covered in dust:

1. A mind-boggling selection of fizzy drinks and iced teas, the bottles of which are all destined for the local river.

2. Instant noodles in 3 equally revolting flavours.

3. Meat sticks, which are as dubious as they sound.

4. Shrink wrapped chickens feet, the Chinese people's favourite.

5. Stale biscuits (unknown if the staleness is normal).

6. Tiny bites of brioche, which are presented when one asks for 'bread' and for some unknown reason are always packaged to 80psi.

I was buying some of these pathetic tiny individually wrapped overpriced brioche when I became flustered by the appearance of a policeman. It would have been a disaster if he'd asked for my passport, which they almost always do, because Amy had both of them and she'd zoomed ahead up the mountain after downing a can of redbull. He demanded to know where I was going - I told him, smiled at him, flattered him, and cycled off as quickly as possible. Luckily he didn't shout back and I powered on up the valley. I still had a giant bag of rubbish that I wanted to get rid off before heading up into more mountains, so stopped at the next suggestion of civilisation to asked if there was anywhere I could put it. A local gestured that I should throw it into the river in front of children and adults alike, none of whom seemed to think this was unacceptable. This appalled me and put me in a bad mood. The rest of the day was spent crawling up a hot bumpy gravel road through dry forests of hot pine and finishing at 13,000ft where we camped in an idyllic spot with stupendous views of the surrounding mountains. This helped my mood.

Day 42, 53km: (by Amy)

After a night bundled in fleeces and hats in our warm sleeping bags we set out onto the bleak moorland climbing along our winding little track. The air got thinner and the going got harder as we climbed. We passed some squat turf covered dwellings hunkered down against the cold the only life around seemed to be a big mastiff scouting his territory. Thankfully he ignored us and we him. As we struggled closer to the top, Chris's watch beeped to say we were higher than the Matterhorn. We crested the massive pass at 14800ft and after a celebratory high five and a few photos we bundled up in all our clothes for the descent. Like 2 Michelin men ( me with socks over my cycling gloves) we bumped down the steep rough gravel path the other side passing the odd 4x4 full of hikers bound for Yading who shouted encouragement and took photos of us.

The air got warmer as we descended back into forest. The houses on this side of the valley were white with painted ornate window frames. At the bottom we emerged onto a blissful tarmac road and a town of substantial size. Despite its size there was no guesthouse and we were directed 10km in the wrong direction to the city of Xiangcheng. We did not want to go there but it was 4pm, there was a police check point on the road ahead and for all we knew no guesthouse for 4 days. We decided to chance it with the police. Luckily, they were involved in a heated discussion with a mini bus load of people. We gestured to a policeman not directly involved in the discussion if we could pass who indicated that we could. We quickly sailed through and camped a few km down the road hidden in spiky bushes.

Day 41, 53km: ( by Chris)

The first 30km was a reality check of China - dirt road busy with trucks and busses and thick with constant dust in the dry conditions. It was like being inside a vacuum cleaner and would have been impossible without our NHS surgical facemasks, although while wearing these and cycling up hill at 11,000ft we looked like dying fish as we gasped for breath.

 Thankfully, we turned off this heinous road up into a quite valley full of Tibetan farms with pigs and yaks grazing and wandering wherever they liked. The yaks walked with a 'posh' gait and made a sound you would expect a cow to make if you forced it to drink three bottles of gin. We followed the small quiet track up into the hills past grassy meadows and bushes and found a beautiful spot to camp in the small trees next to a babbling stream.

Day 39 & 40, Yading Nature Reserve: (by Amy)

On the first day in Shangri-La Village I slept a lot then read my book in the sun in a little park with picnic benches and a waterfall. In the evening we decided to ask the guesthouse owners about our route ahead (about which I had become increasingly anxious after what had happened to the MAIN road on our previous route). 

We were invited into their lounge and given Yak milk tea and walnuts then there was a big discussion where everyone looked at our maps. The general consensus was that the quickest route to Shangri-La the city was a bus route not on our map. It was unpaved and crossed a whopping pass well over 5000m and another 4000m one. The alternative seemed to be to go far north to the city of Daocheng and around about 200km further. They weren't sure about the quality of these roads. They weren't sure about places to stay or buy food on the route not on our map. I left the discussion feeling more nervous than ever. 

The next day after a rather sleepless night (for me) we headed to Yading National park. You have to buy entrance tickets in the village then get a tourist coach 30km over a pass to the park. It was a gloriously sunny morning and the views in the park were some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. We wandered 9km up to the Lulong grasslands on a metal walkway which was under construction. It was a bit of a health and safety nightmare with loose panels and people drilling and sawing the metal with no eye protection as the tourists tentatively hopped by. 

We had lunch in the grasslands looking at the amazing snow capped peaks. After an hour or so the weather closed and they disappeared  into cloud as it started to rain. We quickly hiked back to the bus.

After discussion we had decided not to go off piste but to follow our original route North towards the city of Daocheng hoping a cut through the mountains on our maps existed. Chris was confident as he had satellite images of this section.

Day 38, 87km: (By Chris)

The moment I woke up I was subjected to a fresh volley of anxieties from Amy but these were temporarily put on hold when she crawled outside the tent to see a magnificent view of snow topped mountains poking from a sea of cloud and hills peppered with red, yellow and green leaves around us. So far I feel I have been quite negative about China, but today is an opportunity for me to say otherwise. We have finally found a place where we can't see telegraph wires / pylons or hear Chinese people hacking up phlegm. We cycled alone along our skinny muddy trail past colourful autumn hillsides, forded crystal clear icy streams and weaved between mountains dusted with snow. At the top of the 14,200ft pass colourful prayer flags fluttering was the only sound in the near freezing conditions. We then descended down a rocky track through swirling cloud, pine trees, deciduous woods and finally into a warm, sunny valley. At the bottom we had to make a choice between three roads, one went in the wrong direction, one straight up a steep mountainside and the other cut into a cliff face running up into a narrow gorge. None were on our map and the few locals we found contradicted each other. We chose the gorge. It soon deteriorated into a steep rocky track, we had to push over landslide debris and eventually reached an old wire foot bridge with wooden slats (some of which were missing) across a raging river below - no real adventure would be complete without this. We delicately crossed it and realised from our position we must have unintentionally taken the 'perilous' left-hand turn to Yading, our original intended destination before locals told us two days ago that it was not possible. With absolutely no flat land to put a tent, we continued for another 20km into the dark with head torches along a good gravel road to finally reach Shangri-La Village at 23:00.

Day 37, 33km: (by Amy)

I awoke at 6am with a bad feeling about the day ahead. Chris went out to forage for supplies and find out more information. All we could ascertain was that the road to Shangri-La Village (Yading) was not passable and that we should head for Daocheng on the road the locals use (not on our map). Crucially we would come across a turning and we must take the right fork to Daocheng. Nobody could tell us how far to the turning. We had discovered there was a BIG climb ahead. Possibly over 13,000ft. With some trepidation we set out. The road turned into a narrow dirt track as it left the town. We stopped the few people we saw on the way to confirm our route as the road looked the same as everyone's driveway then we started climbing into the mist through steep woodland draped in lichen. We didn't pass anyone for hours and hours so we just stayed on the most travelled path. The trail was impassable to anything bigger than a motorbike and we only passed 3 or 4 of these all day. After their initial shock at seeing 2 foreigners on push bikes they all confirmed we were on the right track to Daocheng. Distance estimates varied from 70-280km to the next town and Daocheng 80km further on. As we climbed the air got colder and thinner. We could only tell how high we were because of Chris's altimeter watch, the mist meant views were non existent. We camped above the tree line at 13000ft when the road began to contour. Thankfully with our warm sleeping bags and air beds we were still snug and warm in our tent. I was VERY grateful for the warm coat Zhang gave me in Chengdu! When we looked at our GPS location we were still roughly on the 'main road' described on our simple map, but after 8 hour of immense effort we were just 6km as the crow flies from the town we'd stayed the night before. I had no idea what to expect from tomorrow and was anxious. At this pace it was going to be a long way to anywhere. Thankfully we did have enough food for about 5 days, Chris was reassuringly calm and un-phased. In fact he was loving the lack of traffic!

Day 36, 67km: (by Chris)

This morning we wound along the road in the wet, actively dodging boulders that were falling from saturated muddy cliffs and smashing into the road that cut through the land. We reached a bridge on the other side of which the Tarmac ended. Not that we knew at the time, but this would be the last of the black stuff we would see for 8 days. It's a good job Amy didn't know this as she hates gravel tracks. We rumbled over the rough wet ground past small villages where pigs wallowed happily in roadside mud and tethered dogs barked frantically at us. Close to the end of the day we were stopped by the police again who looked at our passports and suggested a hotel in a town that didn't exist on any of our maps. Children surrounded us and locals starred inquisitively as we made our inquiries and found a cheap room for £4. That night a drunk policeman and his friends saw us in the small local restaurant and bought us the best item on the menu - a bowl full of goat entrails, hooves and various parts of circulatory system in broth.

Day 35, 80km: (by Amy)

We set of at 07:30 and by 09:00 we'd backtracked downhill to the police check point. The officers confirmed the new road was indeed THE way to Yading. It was raining and they remembered us from the day before so instead of checking our passports they invited us inside and gave us 2 pears each to eat while the rain passed.

Inside the police checkpoint

We were quickly very pleased with our decision to take the new road which followed a river upstream on new tarmac rather than the spaghetti of wiggles uphill on rough track we had been planning to take. 

We passed through construction works for a hydroelectric dam and the workers all insisted on a photo. This section involved a short tunnel: the workers told us to keep right. We realised why in the tunnel as the left fork emerged into thin air 200ft up a cliff where the dam was being built! 

We rejoined our map at a little village where we found a handy family run truck stop guesthouse where we installed ourselves.

Day 34, 55km: (by Chris)

It rained last night so I packed away a very wet tent, although I have learnt from my mistake; last time when I didn't  wrap it in a plastic bag my clothes absorbed all the moisture. All my garments now have white mould on them and smell of mushrooms.

This morning we had a monumental 42km decent down through cloud ending at a police checkpoint. Once our visas had been scrutinised we cycled a further 15km to a small town up an adjacent valley. While gathering supplies here two policemen spotted me and demanded we come to the police station where we were interrogated about what we were doing. Luckily, instead of sending us back the way we'd come which we feared they might, they all got involved in suggesting better routes for us. Apparently there is a new, faster, better road we can take. Tomorrow we heed their advice, go back 15km and take the new road.

How apt... Praying mantis on the prayer flag during lunch:

Day 33, 50.7km: (by Amy)

Where s Wally

We left the town with a market in full swing so bought many bread related products and lots of boiled eggs. Awesome! The first 20km was through a busy valley road which was being re-constructed so was horribly rough, noisy and dusty. After this we headed out across a plateau on a wonderfully straight peaceful road through sparse pine forest with a grassy floor where goats grazed. The road undulated and gradually climbed all day. By late afternoon we started switch backing through denser foliage and trees. We camped 1km from the pass at around 10,000ft. Chris found a little spot hidden from the road in the dense foliage. When we had set up camp I picked what I thought was a slug off his sock to find it was a leech! Despite the relatively dry camp there seemed to be quite a few of them trying to climb our legs and suck our blood. We quickly zipped ourselves into the tent.