March 8, 2007
To Dadugang: tea plantations
We head out of town the same way we entered; over the new Mekong bridge. After some more research we decide to take the "eastern route" up to Dali. At first, we were inclined to follow an English cyclist's (Peter Gostelow) route, Patrick has been following him on the internet, he took a "western route" because this route appears to better by following rivers. After reading his journal though it seems he had lots of ups and downs with some very bad cobblestone roads and long distances.
The "eastern route" which had seemed less appealing on the map because it jogs east to west across several mountain ranges had been done recently by an American couple. They headed straight north from Pu'er via some very obscure roads on our maps. But after reading their journal this seems like a good route. By no means a flat one though, starting today at only 470 meters we have many meters of altitude to gain and lose...
We leave town headed east, after crossing the Mekong climbing from about 15m to 900 meters. The Chinese are building another interstate through this valley as well, dust and construction traffic everywhere. We catch up with a local bicycle club on their ride to a small park about 8km out of town. At the turn off we pose for pictures with them.
At the top of the pass the road deteriorates, it's a bumpy ride down to Mengjian. There is a brand new interstate to Simao and on to Kunming that is completed. There are signs forbidding cyclists and pedestrians on it...So we find the old G213 road that fortunately still exists. It winds next and under the new four lane concrete monster road. We pass through the Sandale Park after about 40km. Our plan is to spend the night here, but the cheap accommodation Lonely Planet promises has gone up in price to about $40USD, plus $5 p.p. to get into the park. Another tourist trap with "minority dances" and "wild elephants". The parking lot is full of tourist buses.
We decide to add another 36km and ride to the next town where the American couple, Tim and Cindy spent the night. It's a tough ride, we climb from about 700 meters at the elephant valley to almost 1300 meters. It's very nice riding on G213 now most traffic uses the new toll road. As we climb, we start seeing picturesque tea plantations, curved lines of tea bushes form a nice hatch pattern across the hills.
We reach Dadugang at about 5pm. Rachel is exhausted and needs a nap. We eat at the hotel restaurant downstairs, just follow the cook into the kitchen and point at the veggies we want. A quick look in the fridge and we decide to go vegetarian tonight. It is a good meal though! Just as we are asleep, the karaoke across the street cranks up, so we might need our ear plugs again.
China is noisy!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 6,404 km (3,977 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |