Yongsheng – Panzhihua – Miyi

16th May 2014    238km    40’C
Yongsheng – Panzhihua – Miyi (Sichuan Province)

What a difference a day and a few hundred kilometres makes.  I left Yongsheng at 9am and it was 21’C, by 1130, the temperature was pushing 40’C.

Today I began to see a completely different side of China, that of the industrial giant.

The road connecting Yunnan to Sichuan is a classic government stuff-up.  I had wrongly assumed these sorts of things did not occur in China. The inter-provincial road was the worst road I’ve ridden on in Asia, a result of the two provincial governments not being able to agree on how or who should fix it.   The ‘road’ was a combination of large chunks of broken concrete, dirt, thick dust and potholes deep enough to swallow a bike.  To top it off, large trucks kicked up huge plumes of dust making it impossible to see what was ahead.  Previous trucks that had bottomed out on the concrete blocks had split crankcases and spread oil and machine parts everywhere, just to add to the navigation challenges.

I stopped after 20 minutes and washed my face and eyes with a bottle of now hot water, that I had strapped to the back of the bike.  The towns on the edge of this road were like ghost towns, very few people, and anyone that I did see was trying to hide from the dust. Derilect buildings and abandoned apartments lined the road, the dust so thick no one would want to live there.

Riding into Panzhihua, passing huge mines, dams and heavy industry factories spewing out pollutants, the scale of China’s industrial machine was visible through the haze.  It was a big change from the Yunnan/Tibetan plateau and the clear skies and agriculture of that area.

I stopped for a drink, and a small crowd appeared who obliged a photo.

Tonight I’m in Miyi, a small town on the Yangtze, nestled between brown hills.  The people are friendly and curious, I wore shorts walking around town and as a result I had many people fixated with my hairy legs. Everyone is well humoured, mothers bring their scared little kids over to point and stare, and sometimes say “hello”.  It’s a bit of a freakshow, and I’m the freak.

The town has had a blackout since late afternoon, so I showered by the light of a pocket torch.  After the heat and dusty ride, I’m tired and would just like to be able to clean up and sleep, but with no air conditioning, it’s sticky and the restaurants nearby have put noisy generators out on the street to power their kitchens, so it will be a late night.

It has been a bit of a tough day, but I’m in Sichuan province now, and that is progress northward!   Dinner tonight was at a special beef restaurant, known to the driver.  We had an excellent feed, including a cold beef tripe salad, which was delicious, despite how it sounds.