27/6/25
At the breakfast buffet we avoided the meat broth and ate ‘dry’ noodles. We preferred them. There was tofu skin and lots of vegetables. Watermelon, dough stick and soy milk on tap. We’re not sure if the soy has powdered cows milk in it. In the supermarket some of the powdered soy milk does.
Our bikes had been safely stored behind reception. We had to reload all the panniers and adjust the brakes. The pads were worn down that much from the day before. Getting out of the town was traumatic. We had to pass through some kind of lorry park. The road was destroyed and incredibly dusty. We finally joined the S209. There were about 10 HGV’s in a line coming towards us. Thankfully they soon spread out. We were beneath a huge, empty highway again. They should let them go on the highway for free. It’s obviously a toll issue.
The mountain landscape was delicious. Thousands of metres of imposing elevation rising above us. As the valley widened we were surrounded by greenhouses. We’d unknowingly been in the shade. When it started to disappear we could feel the Sun beaming down on us. After all the cool weather, we were now much lower down. We briefly stopped at a petrol station to use the toilet. It was hopefully another easy day with minimal climbing.
We soon came across the first climb however. It was 150m over a couple of kilometres and so was therefore a stiff average of almost 8%. Having done little climbing the day before we felt fresh and hit it all in one go. We stopped at the top for a break. A couple of lychees and a coke. The can of drink had been a freebie from the hotel in the Red Lands.
The descent was shit. What should have been glorious was in fact riddled with holes and bumps. Presumably from the hot summer temperatures and enormous trucks. It had melted and resolidifed hundreds of times. We hugged our brakes and went extremely slowly. It was exceedingly frustrating. Once at the bottom, when we had to work, it became somewhat rideable again. Typical. We weaved around, utilising the other side of the road where necessary.
Somehow we had found ourselves back in 35C temperatures. We’d got used to the cool weather and it looked like we had made a fatal mistake not heading west to stay in the mountains of Yunnan. The road continued to be absolute dog shit. It was horribly bumpy and impossible to keep going at a consistent speed.
After what felt like an eternity, around 30km, the road improved. It was finally smooth and just as it did so the Xiao River widened and revealed how low it was compared to its previous heights. We assumed it was dammed somewhere upstream. We crossed a mighty bridge across the river. The road continued on the other side. Now we were suspended on concrete supports. We looked back across the river to the confluence of the Xiao with the Jianshi River, which we were now following. A weird toy house town and a big suspension bridge. There were some odd structures, that looked like car parks, in the water too.
The road went downhill to some suspiciously steep climbs. They were in fact tunnels. The first tunnel was only lit for the first half. Then it was pitch black. We emerged to cross a bridge then we were straight back into another 2km tunnel. Fully lit this time.
After we exited it was a short distance to Mengdu. We picked one of the ‘sold out’ hotels on trip.com. It meant they weren’t taking bookings online. Previously Chinese hotels didn’t have to accept foreigners. A new law had been passed to force them but apparently some needed encouragement. We hadn’t come across that yet. The woman was glad to have us. She had a separate lockup for our bicycles. It was a comfy two bed room. The plastic was still on the mattresses. The TV was in the corner. Fresh box of condoms. The room probably wasn’t for watching TV anyway.
We walked up a steep road to the shops. We tried to ask for vegetarian food at a restaurant. They kept pointing to meat dishes on the menu. We left. We’d passed a man selling something potato related. We walked back and he made us chips. Jonathan went to the market stall to get some vegetables. Frankie also ordered some ‘set bean curd’. We’d seen the big different coloured blocks outside a lot of restaurants. It didn’t have a strong flavour. They fixed that with oodles of different sauces, oils and spice.
Frankie finally utilised the chopping board she’d purchased in Lao Cai. We started watching a show called Suspicion and finished Forever. There was even time for Jonathan to watch The Shield. We realised our route tomorrow only had one enormous hill. The rest of the insanely steep climbs were actually tunnels. We frantically started charging our lights before bed.
Surly They Won't Make It 