18/6/25
We had a lie in our exceedingly comfortable hotel. Taking a stroll down the ‘pedestrian’ street in the morning we were still passed by scooters. Coffee shops weren’t open in the morning. It’s not the in China. Instead we went for a leisurely breakfast. The establishment sold several kinds of porridge and dumplings. The latter were mostly meat filled. We tried all the porridge. Chickpea and kidney bean with some spicy salty seaweed. Red rice, and a lighter millet which we had with a sprinkling of sugar. The man kindly bought us some vegan rice dumplings as well. They were delicious. By this time there was an open coffee shop. Local people filled the square doing their morning exercise.
Comfortable with a late start, we left around 10am. Kunming was still two days away. The whole journey wasn’t manageable in one day, so we’d have two shorter days instead. Today was set to be the lowest amount of climbing in a week.
As we left the town there was the potential of using the cycle lane. Only potential, because it was routinely blocked and we couldn’t really use it. But the thought was there. The S212 took us close to Qilu lake. Pleasant conditions accompanied us through the farm fields.
Then the road climbed away from the lake and took us underneath the giant expressway. We went through a small village on our descent. Then open agricultural fields on a concrete road. Beautiful wind turbine topped hills, crowned by clouds, visible in the distance.
After climbing another short hill we stopped for a peach and some thin sheets of tofu. Well seasoned and not too spicy they were our favourite snack so far. Green tobacco plants surrounded us. We couldn’t, and could, believe how much there was. A considerable waste of fertile land. Massive Lake Fuxian came into sight as we descended. It was a long way down to get to the lake. We bumped and glided down 150m. Mostly on bumpy concrete and one extremely well sealed slip road.
Fuxian Lake was a Level One Protected Area. An important water source. Signs firmly forbade camping, picnics, swimming and last but not least, washing your car. However, you could fish. You can always fish.
We followed the lakeside for the rest of the day. It was gigantic. Still only the third largest in Yunnan. But the third deepest in all of China. Road quality was poor to medium. If it wasn’t cracked up concrete, it was bumpy from the bitumen seams. Still, it is was around 20km or more of quiet roads. Opposite an island, that was covered in temple like buildings, we stopped to have a snack.
Approaching the other end of the lake our quiet road ended and we were forced to join the G245. Initially it was beautifully sealed. There were even cycle route signs, though no separate lane, and we saw a cycling team. The road then turned to hell. Downhills were unforgivingly slow. Weaving around the bumps was time consuming.
The 155m hill climb was brutally hard. As the temperature hit 32C, the road hit 9% several times and there continued to be very little surface that was sealed. One side of the dual carriageway was closed due to resurfacing. Now we had even less room and were pushed onto the narrow hard shoulder. Lorries beeped like we could go somewhere else but they were probably just saying hello. Finally reaching the top we stopped in a lay-by.
Just behind us was a turning onto a small, but well sealed tarmac road. Our maps suggested it snaked down the hill to the town below. We went for it. Anything was better than the unsurfaced moonscape we were riding. As we zoomed down we sincerely hoped we weren’t screwing ourselves over. Shortly after beginning our descent we stopped to enjoy the view of the gigantic overbearing overpass, and eat some more tofu.
At the bottom we passed a police station and the road became more rugged. Relieving our fear, we spotted a signpost for the cycle route. There must be a way through. While the trail was good at first; all good things. Leaving the pretty wetland we faced a construction site. A man in a van indicated it wasn’t passable. A steep concrete road headed back up to the G245. We were pushing.
Initially merely a modicum better than before, it eventually turned into slick black. And didn’t change back. A plethora of hotels presented themselves. We had no idea which one to try first. We just knew we wanted to spend less than the day before. The first place we looked at was clearly unsuitable for bicycles. So was the next one so we headed for one of the larger buildings facing the lake. The next hotel we tried actually suggested parking our bikes on the street. The one after that invited our machines in. Success.
Instructed to help block the fire escape with our bikes we did our best to be the smallest obstacle. Boxes and a mahjong table were also at the bottom of the stairs. Our room was on the 7th floor. Not facing the lake. Oh well, we’d looked at it all day. Electric curtains. Karaoke shower. In a £14 room.
Surprisingly there was a vegetarian restaurant marked on the map, only 5 minutes walk away. Pushing apart the fly net we heard the sounds of cutlery. One of the owners was eating dinner. Requesting a meal resulting in us being put on the phone with his English speaking son. Prebooking was required for a fancy meal. As it was we would only have vegetables and noodles. We were quite happy with that!
Noodles came out, sprinkled with vegetarian meat and tomato. Then a plate of green vegetables with natto. Then a plate of fried tofu. Just as we’d assumed that was it, a plate of fried potato. A scrumptious dinner. After we’d finished the woman cooking brought us a bowl of dessert. Translucent and flavourless gloop that we were to sprinkle with sugar. Some guests came downstairs and one of them was an English teacher. Her competence wasn’t what we’d expect of a teacher of the language. It was still relatively high. As we were discussing the ‘tourist town’ we’d found ourselves in, we were delivered some plums.
Star Light Night Market was a snazzy high end affair. Stalls selling a fancy assortment of foods we hadn’t seen so far. Though Guanglong was a tourist town, it was of course only Chinese people. Sore thumbs was understating it. At the end of the market stalls was a woman selling tofu and soft rice cakes. The tofu was fried spicy goodness.
We bought a 6 litre bottle of water and then went to a blueberry stall. The only fruit apart from watermelon. It took us a few times back and forth to confirm that an absolutely gigantic tub of blueberries was only ¥40. That’s £4. A ridiculous amount of fruit. But when in Rome.
We carried on watching Playing Nice, an ITV drama we’d missed from the start of the year. Then we watched the English language Chinese news channel, CGTN. A documentary was playing about Taiwan, and American policy on the one China policy. It all teetered on the interpretation of UN resolution 2758. It dove into the details of think tanks and their funding of studies. Afterwards the news started. The war waged by Israel on Iran was disheartening. Why the rest of the world was giving them carte blanche to do as they pleased seemed preposterous and nonsensical.
Surly They Won't Make It 