We’ve now left the coastal area of China’s east coast, after a wonderful stay with Urs in the city of Xiamen - he’s not only a keen cyclist, but he’s also a walking encyclopedia on the best places to eat in Xiamen. We had an interesting bike tour to KoYis Pomelo farm with Urs, and then heading on our way.
Leaving behind the big cities, we found small silent roads through farmland and forest, and villages inhabited by ethnic minorities (there are 55 ethnic minorities in China!). Rather than being the same everywhere, China continues to surprise us with its rich tapestry of different nationalities, each with their own traditional style of housing, costume and culture. So this part of the trip has been more enjoyable and interesting than the bland and polluted east coast of China. We’ve been experiencing not just different cultures but also lots more nature.
Inland in the ‘minority’ areas there aren’t so many people, so we can at last have lunch in a quiet place without hordes of curious onlookers gawking at us.
We went on small roads to Guilin, with its classical images of mountains and rivers as depicted in many Chinese paintings. Around Guilin there are many karst mountains alongside gentle rivers, as well as awesome rice terraces.
Leaving behind the tour groups we went onto Nanning and encountered our first bicycle club in China. The people at the Merida shop were especially helpful to us. Not only did they organise a bike tour for us around town, but they also paid for our hotel room and invited us to meals with them while we waited for our visa for Vietnam.
In Vietnam we saw the sea again and went along the coast to the famous Halong Bay, which features stunning karst mountains. Unfortunately we found Vietnam a little too difficult to travel around - people gave us a hard time rather than making us feel welcome. It seems everyone in tourism there just wants to get your money. What’s more, the cycling wasn’t great, wtih too much traffic on the roads. So after three weeks we decided to leave and head onto Laos.
After the stress of noisy and polluted Vietnam, Laos seemed like a paradise. People seemed friendly, welcoming, and very respectful to each other and us; there was lots of nature to explore; and there was very little traffic on the very well-built roads.
Each day we were able to find a beautiful place to rest and camp. Each village was rewarding to visit and explore, each with their unique styles of simple huts. In Laos people wear traditional clothing and because most are very poor, life is also very simple and traditional. To be honest, Laos is the first country we’ve visited on our tour where we like the villages as much as the nature. The smiles from people are genuine and real!
Laos was also the first country where we met many other touring cyclists. Especially in Luang Prabang where we met many fellow cyclists and spent many hours doing what cyclists do - talking.
After five weeks of real holidays we got to the north of Thailand, which was much more developed than Laos, but most of the roads we cycled were silent and the people seemed very relaxed. Sometimes culturally it feels like we are in the West, but other times it definitely feels like we are in the East. We had quite an easy time in Thailand but the roads were at times steep and cruel - never before had we come across such steep sealed roads. We met some interesting people, not only travellers but also locals - many Thais speak English.
With Burma still closed for cyclists, we headed back to the Middle Kingdom - China - for another pleasant surprise. The south-west province of Yunnan is quite different from most of China. The people - half China’s ethnic minorities - live in Yunnan, much of the nature is still left intact, and even some of the main roads are free from traffic. Admittedly some of those carless roads were under construction and will we quite muddy as we move into the rainy season - with the monsoon coming up from the Indian subcontinent providing summer rain.
In Yunnan we enjoyed again the great Chinese food we’d been missing, and despite it coming into the middle of summer, as me travel in Yunnan we’re climbing higher, so the temperatures are dropping as we climb plateaus and head into the mountains. The pleasant temperatures makes us happy.
Now we are in the ancient town of Lijiang, at 2400m altitude, were we are hanging out with New Zealand resident Keith, sipping Italian Lavazza coffee and eating delicious baba wheat flatbread in front of his traditional old Naxi (another minority)-style house. Where next for us? We plan on heading further up into north-west Yunnan, crossing several times the mighty Yangtze river and climbing over some 4000m-high passes into the western part of the neighbouring province of Sichuan, close to the border with the Tibetan Autonmous Region (TAR), the Tibet down-sized since the Chinese invasion.
From the next town after Lijiang, called Zhongdian, but recently renamed Shangri-la, we are looking forward to experiencing Tibetan culture, and also enjoying the natural environment of yak meadows, snowy mountains, and rainbows.
Hi B&M, here it’s D&D - the 2 French tandem riders.
I wanted to state somewhere online, preferably on your website, that we’ve been both delighted and frightened to meet you 2
and to cycle along with you for 5 days in Tibet. Delighted because err.. you’re delightful folks - plain enough? Over one and a half years of cycling around the world it was indeed our first meeting with other cyclists going in the same direction and at the same (lame) speed - ah ah.
Frightened because your tales of Siberia just rapidly proved that you’re insane. But we love that of course and we like you very much and Martin gave me the perfect excuse for stopping making pictures and filming all the time…
But in the end, it turned out that we were not precisely riding at the same speed since in the downhill of the Gama La we simply blew you out. I know realize how Birgit had been exagerating her skills as a downhill rider - because right now I’m writing from Lhasa and we’ve got 4 days of advance upon you and I’m positive: MY skills as a downhill tandem rider have won us these 4 days in only one morning of downhill. Positive…
Enough of sillyness. We’re waiting for you in Lhasa.
And for the whole world to know: what you do and who you are, you 2 little silly crazy insane Siberian cyclists, is AMAZING.
Damien and Delphine
Kommentar von Planète.D — 17.10.2007 @ 2:18PLANETE.D