We had planned to visit 2 famous lakes not far from Zhongdian on our way south. When we arrive at the gate (!) we find out that we have to pay 180 RM
B and we can only go by bus. We do not want to pay the fee and we do not want to go by bus either. Arguments are to no avail, so we turn around and continue cycling. A few km further, in the next valley we try to follow a muddy path that might also take us to the lakes. After half an hour we give up our attempt, the path got worse/disappeared and eventually we would have to climb the surrounding hills and return to the road. Although we end the day at an altitude of 2800 m, we have also climbed 1300 m. The 26th we have a short day to the tiger leaping gorge, with a 20 km long descent. The 45 km which we thought it would be turned out 70 but still the higher temperature and oxygen level because of the lower altitude make it a nice ride. We stay at Sean's Guest House which is packed with cyclists. Two groups made it their stop. They are on a guided tour through Yunnan by bike. Jealously Andre and I watch how their bikes are cleaned and repaired for them. Our bikes would like this treatment as well, but we are just happy we can relax and just put them on the balcony, at least they have a great view on the gorge. Our clothes are more lucky as we decide to give them a short wash. In the evening the guides of the groups organise a quiz, Andre and I join Kristin to form a team. We don't do well, but probably it did not help we lost the paper with the answers of the 1st round.The next day we climb to a waterfall and although the gorge is a popular destination we do not meet any tourists on our climb up. Later we go all the way down to the Jiangtse.
From the guest house it looks like a docile little river, but at the water level the power and force become very clear and now it is only carrying half the water is does during the monsoon. The local families have created the path down to the river and want to be compensated. The annoying thing is that when I am almost at the bottom, they come with their claim. Reluctantly I pay 10 RMB. We decide to take a different route up and we are surprised we are stopped for the second time, by a different family with a demand of an extra donation of 10 RMB. We say we already have paid and think that it has been enough. They won't let us pass and we sit down to wait. Of course we can ever win a contest on patience, these people have all the time in the world, so in the end we come to a compromise and pay half. It is not that we cannot miss the money, but I think they should have charged us at the beginning once. Now it could be possible every hundred meters someone asks us for money. Around 11 at night a row starts under our balcony, at first it is just yelling, but when a woman's voice cries out she has been hit I jump out of bed and go down to see to it that there will be no fighting. I am surprised to find the owner of the guesthouse, Sean, with a stick on one side of a table and a woman hiding on the other side. I put myself between Sean and the woman while the shouting goes on. After 10 minutes the danger of any violence seems gone and freezing,
I was just in my shorts, I turn back to bed. I should have taken the stick from Sean, but the next day I hear that someone coming from the toilet did, after which the woman went to bed also. The woman turned out to be Sean's wife and said she would report it to the police.A few of the cyclists have warned us for the deep descent to the river for the ferry and advised us to have our stuff to be carried up and down. On the way down we manage to stay in the saddle and roll/cycle down. When taken across, the ferrymen offer to take our luggage on a horse for 20 RMB, leaving us only to push up our bikes. I am glad we were not so stubborn that we insisted on pushing everything up, it was tough enough with just the bike. This was not the hardest of the day, after a few km of dirt road, the road turns in cobbled stones and at the same time goes up from 1900 m to 3500 m. The larger part of the rest of the day we climb, averaging about 5 km an hour. When we finally reach the top and the end of the stones we have a little cheer. Unfortunately the stones turn up again when we go down, spoiling the going down party. When I make a stop to put some human fertilizer on the barren ground I slip and slide down a couple of meters, I manage to get hold of a branch an get some grip with the rest of my body, preventing a 200 m slide down. A bit shaken and scratched I make an other attempt to improve the soil on slightly safer grounds.
The plan was to reach Lijiang today but we are both a bit tired and decide to camp. We cycle into a little forest until we are stopped by a little river 10 m below. We are still contemplating if and how we are going to cross over the trunk, when a police car arrives. We both expect to be told to not camp here, but they are just worried about us, and tell us it is a dangerous area. We say we are alright, but get the telephone number of the policeman. We rather had had the telephone number of the beautiful policewoman, which would have made more sense anyway as she was the one speaking English. When the police leaves we carry over our stuff, item by item. At night I put my woolen sweater at my feet to get them a little bit above the cold ground. I hope this prevents me from getting cold feet. The next morning I awake with warm feet, so my little experiment has worked. Unfortunately the trunk over the river is still frozen, so too slippery to cross. We wait half an hour for most of the ice to melt and then move our stuff in a joint action back to the other side. After a short climb it is all the way down to Lijiang. Did it take 7 hours to do 35 km yesterday, now we easily do it within the hour. In Lijiang we find a guest house right in the centre of the old town for decent price. From Lijiang Andre is going to Beijing by plane and I will be going south to Dali, but before it is time to part we stay a few days in the touristic town. I get my extension on my visa in only five minutes, without any requirement of additional information. I also have the fork of my bike repaired, which was almost broken and in the process have the cables on my front break replaced. We also finally find the energy to give the bikes a well deserved cleaning. On November 1 Andre leaves for Beijing, I stay for the night and will depart for Dali the next day.
B and we can only go by bus. We do not want to pay the fee and we do not want to go by bus either. Arguments are to no avail, so we turn around and continue cycling. A few km further, in the next valley we try to follow a muddy path that might also take us to the lakes. After half an hour we give up our attempt, the path got worse/disappeared and eventually we would have to climb the surrounding hills and return to the road. Although we end the day at an altitude of 2800 m, we have also climbed 1300 m. The 26th we have a short day to the tiger leaping gorge, with a 20 km long descent. The 45 km which we thought it would be turned out 70 but still the higher temperature and oxygen level because of the lower altitude make it a nice ride. We stay at Sean's Guest House which is packed with cyclists. Two groups made it their stop. They are on a guided tour through Yunnan by bike. Jealously Andre and I watch how their bikes are cleaned and repaired for them. Our bikes would like this treatment as well, but we are just happy we can relax and just put them on the balcony, at least they have a great view on the gorge. Our clothes are more lucky as we decide to give them a short wash. In the evening the guides of the groups organise a quiz, Andre and I join Kristin to form a team. We don't do well, but probably it did not help we lost the paper with the answers of the 1st round.The next day we climb to a waterfall and although the gorge is a popular destination we do not meet any tourists on our climb up. Later we go all the way down to the Jiangtse. 
From the guest house it looks like a docile little river, but at the water level the power and force become very clear and now it is only carrying half the water is does during the monsoon. The local families have created the path down to the river and want to be compensated. The annoying thing is that when I am almost at the bottom, they come with their claim. Reluctantly I pay 10 RMB. We decide to take a different route up and we are surprised we are stopped for the second time, by a different family with a demand of an extra donation of 10 RMB. We say we already have paid and think that it has been enough. They won't let us pass and we sit down to wait. Of course we can ever win a contest on patience, these people have all the time in the world, so in the end we come to a compromise and pay half. It is not that we cannot miss the money, but I think they should have charged us at the beginning once. Now it could be possible every hundred meters someone asks us for money. Around 11 at night a row starts under our balcony, at first it is just yelling, but when a woman's voice cries out she has been hit I jump out of bed and go down to see to it that there will be no fighting. I am surprised to find the owner of the guesthouse, Sean, with a stick on one side of a table and a woman hiding on the other side. I put myself between Sean and the woman while the shouting goes on. After 10 minutes the danger of any violence seems gone and freezing, 
I was just in my shorts, I turn back to bed. I should have taken the stick from Sean, but the next day I hear that someone coming from the toilet did, after which the woman went to bed also. The woman turned out to be Sean's wife and said she would report it to the police.A few of the cyclists have warned us for the deep descent to the river for the ferry and advised us to have our stuff to be carried up and down. On the way down we manage to stay in the saddle and roll/cycle down. When taken across, the ferrymen offer to take our luggage on a horse for 20 RMB, leaving us only to push up our bikes. I am glad we were not so stubborn that we insisted on pushing everything up, it was tough enough with just the bike. This was not the hardest of the day, after a few km of dirt road, the road turns in cobbled stones and at the same time goes up from 1900 m to 3500 m. The larger part of the rest of the day we climb, averaging about 5 km an hour. When we finally reach the top and the end of the stones we have a little cheer. Unfortunately the stones turn up again when we go down, spoiling the going down party. When I make a stop to put some human fertilizer on the barren ground I slip and slide down a couple of meters, I manage to get hold of a branch an get some grip with the rest of my body, preventing a 200 m slide down. A bit shaken and scratched I make an other attempt to improve the soil on slightly safer grounds. 
The plan was to reach Lijiang today but we are both a bit tired and decide to camp. We cycle into a little forest until we are stopped by a little river 10 m below. We are still contemplating if and how we are going to cross over the trunk, when a police car arrives. We both expect to be told to not camp here, but they are just worried about us, and tell us it is a dangerous area. We say we are alright, but get the telephone number of the policeman. We rather had had the telephone number of the beautiful policewoman, which would have made more sense anyway as she was the one speaking English. When the police leaves we carry over our stuff, item by item. At night I put my woolen sweater at my feet to get them a little bit above the cold ground. I hope this prevents me from getting cold feet. The next morning I awake with warm feet, so my little experiment has worked. Unfortunately the trunk over the river is still frozen, so too slippery to cross. We wait half an hour for most of the ice to melt and then move our stuff in a joint action back to the other side. After a short climb it is all the way down to Lijiang. Did it take 7 hours to do 35 km yesterday, now we easily do it within the hour. In Lijiang we find a guest house right in the centre of the old town for decent price. From Lijiang Andre is going to Beijing by plane and I will be going south to Dali, but before it is time to part we stay a few days in the touristic town. I get my extension on my visa in only five minutes, without any requirement of additional information. I also have the fork of my bike repaired, which was almost broken and in the process have the cables on my front break replaced. We also finally find the energy to give the bikes a well deserved cleaning. On November 1 Andre leaves for Beijing, I stay for the night and will depart for Dali the next day.
1 comment:
So the beautiful police woman nearly had to save your naked bud from a deep slide down. Your adventures get more spectacular every day! I am looking foreward to the videotape.
Jan
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