"What no kilometres ridden and we're a week into this journal?" "What is he doing?" 

It's a fair question and time for an explanation / feeble justification. I didn't want to ride directly out of Kunming, primarily because the ride didn't look all that inspiring on the map. The bus ride yesterday through the area confirmed my suspicions. It is very industrial from Kunming to Dali. If you're thinking about riding this way, if you are a dabbler like me and not a committed through cyclist on your way from the Stans to Laos, then my advice is start pedalling north from Dali. My idea was to get to Baoshan, even further removed, but in it's own way just as industrialised as the Kunming valley, and pedal for the Nujiang River from here. 

Good plan, up to now.... And this is where my overthinking and the Uncertainty Principle come into it. I've mapped out on my phone using my OSM based map a great ride down a backroad shortcut to the Nujiang River. It has about 10 km of uphill, about 400 metres of climbing (I think I can I think I can) and then a glorious 40+ km of downhill to the river. Only problem is the uncertainty of the bridge. According to OSM, there is a bridge, and a track/road to that bridge. According to the highly altered, dare I say purposefully doctored, satellite map there may or may not be a bridge and may or may not be a road/track to it... So, the question is, do I ride a very full 65+ km day down a back track, to the Nujiang only to find it is a dead end and then have to return back the next day? Uphill... To add to the wager, I'm fairly certain there will be no accommodation or services at the end of the ride, bridge or no bridge, and I'll be sleeping under the stars tonight. One heck of a way to start the ride.  

So, you  my hesitation. Either way, I can't just sit here on my nice hotel bed this morning procrastinating writing this journal. It is time to start riding...

But first, to filll in a bit about yesterday. Getting the bus was an experience. Needless to say, no one speaks English and why should they, this is China. And it was May 1st, so a big holiday for the world's socialists. But a lot of them were all at the Kunming bus station on a holiday journey, seems lots of them were going to Baoshan, too. Google translate saved the day. So I bought the ticket, paid a fairly hefty fee for the bike and away we went. Nice semi luxury bus. It was about a 7 hr ride and could have been quicker still had it not been for roadworks and accidents. Once in Baoshan, I pedalled in the direction of downtown and started looking for a hotel that would take westerners. Two hours and several failed attempts later, I did find a place for 120 yuan. There were lots and lots of cheap hotels everywhere I looked. I really would have liked to have spent the night at the hotel with the pretty receptionist and bevy of cute girls. Yeah, they probably were working girls, but they were very sweet and the receptionist did make an honest attempt to get past the police blockade, but they told her to send me on to a souless fancy westerner's hotel (read boring and expensive). It was an ok room and it would have been an entertaining night. It was about 9 pm by the time I stumbled across the Jiu Jiu Hotel, which does take westerners. But even then, the girls at reception really struggled with the booking process. If you ever do go to Baoshan, you can find the hotel just behind the roundabout in the centre of town.  

All right enough of this fiddling, Rome is burning already... Time to get packing. I also have to find an ATM and cash up. This is not a cheap country to ride in. 

Some photos will follow, eventually...