Shangri-La: checked
Songzanlin monastery: checked
We headed to an another "must-do" in China: the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had an easy downhill day, an another reason to love Yunnan :-)
The few times we could offer a meal in restaurants (well, it happens quite often in China but in other countries, we couldn't afford that luxe), we HATE to see people in other tables leave without finishing their meal, sometimes, dishes are just slightly touched. Aggrrrrhh.
The hike in the gorge was great. We had good weather and good company: Sebastian and Lina, from Hamburg, had joined us.
Here, we learnt that Sebastien had some troubles (his credit card had been hacked) we decided to shorten the way, skipping Lijiang, apparently an another must-see place, and to go directly to Dali to join him, hoping we could help or at least support him.
We had a very pleasant time in Dali, so glad to see Sebastien and to have a great stay in Colors of Wind (2) guesthouse, simply the best we ever had in China. We met lots of nice travelers, included some we met before, like Sebastien and Lina, or Leo. We also stumbled into Anne, a French girl, works as volunteer for "Les enfants du Mekong" (Mekong river's children), a French NGO, whom we already met in Shangri La. We simply sticked together all the time and adopted her as a member of our cyclists gang :-)
As Tim and Seb headed East to Kunming, we went South to Pu'er and Ning'er, chasing some giant citrus for Michel, who has been looking for years and years to have some in his plantation. The road was hilly but so beautiful with all those tea fields. But it was hot, so hot and humide that, at the end of day, there was a thin layer of salt on my skin, because of all the sweating...Here, the plain hot water which is served everywhere else in China stopped to give place to delicious green tea. We quickly adopted it and drank green tea in the morning before and after every meal. We love it.
The Ning'er market is simply amazing, so colorful with veggies, fruits, citrus, meats and people. Alessio was excited like a kid, as every time he has time to visit a market....
Shortly before Nansha where we would meet up with Seb and Tim again, we set the tent in a wonderful spot: big, flat, dry, clean, well hidden from the road... There were only us and two cars parking side by side in a corner. After two hours or so, a woman sneaked out of one car, sneaked in the other one. And the two left. Ha!!!! There is something not very legitimate in the air.....
Sunday, October 30th. After a week, the cyclists gang reunited again in Nansha. Even in such a small town (Chinese scale of course) we could not escape from the loud speakers from every single shops along the streets.
The next day, we headed to the last big attraction of our China trip: the rice terraces of YuanYuang.
Next morning, the sun didn't properly rise but we could at least have a clear sky. And the terraces were so beautiful, really worth their title of World Heritage of Unesco.
The fog accompanied us for a while. It was a strange feeling to cycle in this ghostly atmosphere, especially when we crossed hundreds of giant spiders, on their huge webs hundreds meters long along the road....
Thursday, November 3rd.
We get closer and closer to the border. At a small borough at the end of a long beautiful descente, we stopped for lunch. And for an orgy of fruits. Mangos, papayas, bananas, carambolas, tamarins.... That night, we had a wonderful bivouac by the river where we had a great camp fire and fried bananas :-) :-)
jhThe next day, we encountered Emmanuel, a Swiss guy, walking with his small backpack. "You have a bicycle, it's already too much" he said :-) :-)
We started to see the Vietnamese flag on the other side of the river. Yeah, we were so close to home!!!! We could have crossed the border sooner but Seb's visa starts on November 5th - we should definitely wait for the right day :-) :-)
Last night in China, we set the tent in a huge construction site next to a hevea plantation. As usual, some people past by, curious but always friendly, to have a small conversation (in the limit of what my broken Chinese allowed us to have) to ensure us to not worry....
All in all, even though I was impatient to go Home, I had to say that we had a pleasant journey in China, we had good food, people are most of the time kind and helpful. And of course, we could never forget the wonderful (and difficult) roads we had.
China, we'll be back :-)
Vietnam, Motherland, here I come, here we are!!!!
(For more pictures of our cycling, please visit our facebook page: www.facebook.com/2rollingpotatoes)
