The Complete Story - Part 3

On the other hand Jian Chuan proved to be a rather unattractive place. My first impression was that it was filled with a collection of dirty shop front industries, all seemingly engaged in repairing engines, making windows, cutting steel or selling electrical goods. We even noticed a doctor’s surgery, also situated in a cramped shop front. The one main chair was occupied by the current patient with three other patients sitting about 1 metre behind. Obviously privacy does not rate highly in this situation. The resident doctor was busy with a long needle, sucking up some coloured liquid from a row of small glass ampules. All of this was taking place in an area about 3 metres by 4 metres. We did not stop to watch what sort of treatment the patient was about to receive.

On the other hand our hotel was modern and clean but, like most of the other hotels we had encountered, had no lifts. All our luggage had to be carried up several flights of stairs. Once we had settled into our room I went out in search of an Internet café. In the foyer of the hotel I was met by the local “Mr Big” who asked what I needed. When I told him I wanted the Internet he immediately took me in tow and walked me a short distance down the road to a small computer shop where the owner was playing FREECELL on his computer. Mr Big apparently told him to get off the machine so I could use it. This was a little embarrassing but I appreciated the thought. The only problem was that as I sat down to check my e-mail I was surrounded by a group of about 6 people tightly gathered around to intently watch my every keystroke. Not the most relaxing way to read your mail ! I suspect that they had as little understanding of what I was typing as I had trying to decipher the Chinese characters in all the pull down menus.

From the very start of our trip we had been warned that the section from Jian Chuan to Er Yuan was one of the toughest parts of the entire ride, with a strenuous 11 km climb at the start of the day. In previous times this would have brought on a feeling of dread, however that was now not the case. After all our hill climbing early in the ride, the previous flatter section almost seemed like an anti-climax by comparison. In a rather macabre way we were actually looking forward to another serious climb – if only to once again try out our new high altitude cycling legs.

In the morning we all headed off with heaps of smiles and lots of friendly banter and soon we were into the promised climb. A few clicks of the shifters and we were down into the low gears and spinning away. The true secret is to let each rider climb at their own pace, keeping their own breathing in control. All too soon we were over the final pass and flying downhill again, just hoping that the brakes would hold on the tight series of switchback turns on the way down.

The views ahead down the valley were breathtaking and certainly worth stopping to admire for a few minutes. The final few kilometres to Er Yuan were on a smooth surface with a very fast descent – an opportunity to really open up and enjoy some high speed flying, although we had been told to watch out for oil on the road.

Er Yuan is famous for two things – hot water springs and fresh milk. The modern hotel was equipped with a large swimming pool filled with hot spring water and the local shops sold fresh chilled cow’s milk. This was sheer luxury in anybody’s language. Our room at the hotel was large and new. It even boasted a separate annex – just for playing mahjongg! It was even fitted out with a mahjongg table and a full set of fancy mahjongg tiles. The only downside was that, once again, the lack of a lift meant that we had to carry our luggage up three flights of stairs. I was beginning to envy those who had a ground floor room.

During the afternoon our riders discovered that, not only was local beer very cheap (about 50 cents a large bottle) but so were the small bottles of local rice spirit. Soon they were busy mixing some very lethal combinations. This experimentation continued with some vigour at the evening meal. Since I am one of those individuals who has never been able to derive much pleasure from alcohol, I decided to leave early and explore the town instead.

With a perfectly clear sky I was able to observe the northern constellations – the Big Dipper was prominent overhead and our familiar Orion (the “saucepan”) could be seen the correct way up. Behind the hotel there was a large public bathing complex where tourists travel from all over China to enjoy the hot spring water. The entrance to this complex was illuminated by fancy neon lights and a profusion of glowing Chinese lanterns, giving it a fairyland appearance. It almost felt surreal walking through the town while reminding myself that I was actually in China, and the fact that our trip was rapidly drawing to a close. With tomorrow as the final day of cycling I was sure that I was not the only one feeling a little regretful.

The final day of cycling was a relatively easy and predominantly flat ride to the historic town of Dali. This section took us through several town markets with a diverse array of local produce, food and handicrafts being traded. The cattle market was particularly impressive, with a couple of hundred head of cattle being offered for sale. As far as the cycling was concerned, no one seemed keen to force the pace as we did not want our adventure to end.

Dali is best known for its old walled city centre and for its concentration of the Bai minority group. As we came in sight of the city the first landmarks we saw were the prominent three pagodas which were visible from a distance of several kilometres away. Our first glimpse of the walled city elicited a collective exclamation of wonder. After checking into the MCA Guesthouse we headed back to explore the town at leisure. It did not take long to discover that this was another fantastic place for shopping, especially for clothing, silverware and leather goods.

The MCA Guesthouse proved to be another welcome haven, with a wide selection of food available and a free Internet café. Our final dinner together with the crew gave us a chance to thank them for making our adventure so special for each one of us. We all felt that they had become good friends who we would be sorry to say goodbye to. A sumptuous final dinner was another experience to savour for a long time.

I spent my free day in Dali on a solo journey of discovery, taking the opportunity to ride the cable car to a high vantage point overlooking the entire town. It is also possible to continue on foot up to a final height of about 5000 metres, but this requires a planned hike with proper equipment. After riding the cable car back down I walked back to the centre of town, trying to decide what to do next. It was at this point that serendipity again intervened in the form of a friendly local who introduced himself as Patrick. Noticing that I must have looked rather lost, he walked up and asked if I needed help. Patrick had been a travel agent in Hong Kong before retiring to Dali at the age of 48. He was very eager to chat and show me around the town.

This was another example of how we can often gain the best travel experiences by just relaxing and letting things just unfold. You never really know what is going to happen, but somehow I have found that this is when events seem to sort themselves out for you.

After our time in Dali we had a 140 km bus ride back to Kunming, mostly along the new high speed expressway. Our driver seemed intent on setting a new speed record for this trip so when his speed crept up to 140 kph (downhill and in neutral) John politely tapped him on the arm and asked him to slow down. He seemed to take this as a personal insult on his driving skill, but did reduce his speed considerably for the remainder of the trip.

All too soon we were back at the Camellia Hotel where our journey had begun. So much had happened since we had spent our first night in China at this spot. Over the past 12 days we had experienced China at first hand and had accumulated an enormous store of precious memories. I was left wondering how could we ever convey the adventure to those waiting back in Australia. At least we all had hundreds of photos to bring back with us and every time we looked at them I was sure that, in a small way, we would relive parts of the trip. One thing was that certainly true, was that all of our participants felt that the trip had vastly exceeded their best expectations.

Thank you to Naomi, Cathy, Glen, John, Mrs Wu and all the staff at Bike Asia for a fantastic experience!Read more