Dali – Erhai – Lijiang

11th May 2014      220km       12-26’C

After a breakfast of soup and dumplings, the day started with a ride through hundreds of rice paddies, filled with people working, planting, ploughing. A short stop by Erhai Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in Yunnan and 7th largest in China and a rest in a small village where the local women were dressed in traditional clothing, not for show, but their regular attire, while out working, shopping, washing.

The road climbed to 2600M and afforded magnificent views, although the entire ridge of the mountains as far as I could see, were covered in turbines for wind power generation. I’ve never seen anything of this scale before.

As the road descended into the valley, it deteriorated into a shockingly bad 40km of dirt, bumps and potholes. The weird thing is only 30 minutes later the same road turned into a perfectly constructed road, so smooth.

I’d stopped for a drink of water and glanced down at the rear tyre, to find a screw embedded in there. It had not been in the tyre for very long, as it wasn’t very worn. I pulled it out with a pair of pliers and checked that there was no leak. It looked like it had not reached the tube, which was a relief. With no spare tube, I didn’t need the hassle of another puncture.  The driver made some number plate modifications, into “FBI” to much amusement.

I arrived in Lijiang in the early afternoon, parked the bike and explored the old town on foot. Beautiful cobblestone streets, crowded with thousands of Chinese tourists, and the associated shops selling tourist crap souvenirs.

I tried some fried crickets and deep fried cicadas, but neither were appealing, just tasting like old oil.