12/6/25
We decided the easiest way to leave the town was on the hill we entered. A shallower gradient. As we left a woman walked out along the street and just threw bags of rubbish down a valley behind a sign. It was galling to watch. She stood to admire the view afterwards. The beautiful reddish brown river valley. Though it had a towering industry complex behind.
After two climbs, we passed Madushan reservoir. The first dam on the river that we’d seen. Our road was up on stilts now as well. Where the old road was we don’t know. Frankie was finding the day hard. On top of yesterday’s hard effort she now had to deal the tribulations of her period. Weakened was to trivialise it. Far easier to be a man.
The valley was magnificent. On the other side to us was the S45 road. A piece of infrastructure much like you’d seen in Switzerland or Spain. The huge expressway cut through the mountain and crossed valleys, depending on what was required. Both an incredible feat of engineering and a blight at the same time.
We stopped to buy a Pepsi to help settle Frankie’s stomach. Jonathan had a tamarind drink. It was very sweet. We had thrown caution to the wind and left fairly late. We weren’t expecting it to be so hot. By midday it was at least 35C feels like. Our road contoured the valley. Occasionally climbing. Occasionally descending. There was one steep climb with the reward of a wonderful descent and beautiful views as we crossed a bridge. We couldn’t help but be struck by the number of mangoes. There were more mangoes than surely anyone would know what to do with. Every few few kilometres or so there was a stall. They were hanging off all the trees too. It was an unlimited mango paradise.
It was hard not to be wowed by the rugged landscape, huge steep valleys penetrating deep into the mountains. Always covered in beautiful trees. We stopped at a mango market next to a roundabout. Not for mangos but for water. Frankie found a mung bean ice lolly. Not as disgusting as it sounds. Honestly. The last 10km was hard work. A hot and dusty road. There had probably been a landslide recently. The road was caked in orange dirt. The further we’d come up the river, the closer the river resembled its name.
We soon came into Yuanyang. We crossed the Nansha bridge and were soon stood on a wide pavement outside the hotel. The owner came out and invited us in. With the bikes. We took a room on the top floor. With a jacuzzi. There was also a projector and a computer. Sadly all the movies and shows were in Chinese.
We took a walk to the nearest restaurant. Veganism is easy here. The restaurants always have a fridge with their vegetables, and meat, on show. We can easily point to what we want. It turned out to be a hotpot restaurant. We were the only customers. Good for us as we had no idea what we were doing.
A big pot of soup arrived and was placed on the gas hob in the centre of the table. We then took various dishes of tofu and vegetables from the cabinet and dumped them in. After a few minutes we could dish them up into our bowls to eat. More expensive but an enjoyable experience.
The market was a few hundred metres away. The streets were beautifully clean. The pavements were wide and enjoyed by other people. We bought some mangoes, of course, and some cashews. They use a measurement called a ‘jin’. We think it’s a pound. So just under half a kilo. When we got back we utilised the jacuzzi. It took a very long time to fill up. We felt guilty about that. We ate our green and yellow mangoes, both ripe just different varieties, and watched Nine Perfect Strangers. The new season. It was meant to be crap but oh well. Then another episode of Motherland. That was funny stuff.
Surly They Won't Make It 