Ninger – Jingdong

Ninger – Jingdong (Yunnan Province)
9th May 2014    16-23’C     280km

The bed in the hotel last night was without a doubt, the hardest bed I’ve ever slept on. Without any exaggeration, it was no different to sleeping on the floor. I woke up somewhat rested, after also being accosted by mosquitoes along with the sound of trucks stopping outside the hotel, visiting the ladies of the night who occupied the building next door.

I put on rain gear before leaving as it was already starting to rain, and it proved to be the right decision. Later in the day the sun came out and I removed the wet weather gear, then it rained again and needed to stop to put it all back on again. I repeated this cycle once more as the sun and rain alternated.

The road climbed upto 1400M where it was nice and cool, such a great delight after the heat of South East Asia for the past five weeks. There was a decent section of dirt road, about 30km which showed just how variable the provincial roads in China can be. They vary from excellent divided tar roads, to cobblestone, to single lane dirt tracks or even just stones.

I ran very close to almost running out of fuel, with only 8km range left, I pulled into the Sinopec station after riding 410km on the last tank. A new record on a single tank on this bike, mostly due to the high quality of the fuel in China, and a little due to the slow riding in account of the state of the road.

Tonight I walked around Jinghong, entertaining the locals. Everyone was curious about the strange looking foreigner, most people responding with a smile and a hello. It’s a really friendly town. The level of development in China is really amazing. I passed through huge areas of agriculture today, and tonight walking around, there are so many shops of fine quality goods, even in this third tier town.