Surly They Won't Make It

21/7/25

Bagels and cherry tomatoes were for breakfast. Not Chinese food. We were a little surprised. Peanut porridge followed. Other guests had a meat filled rice bun and eggs. Starbucks nespresso capsules were also on offer. Very unusual for China. Change was welcome. 

Moxi bus station was only a 10 minute walk. All the buses went to Luding. Puzzling out our journey and how blocked the road was proved impossible. Nobody knew anything. The nine seater bright yellow minibus headed north, climbing high on the G318 towards the Mount Erlang Tunnel. This was the route we’d expected to cycle but now would probably  not be.

Once in Luding we managed to confirm that all buses to Shimian were going via Ya’an. A long way to the east. Everything happens for a reason, so we decided to make the most our journey and stay in Ya’an overnight. The ticket printer was broken. A kind woman lent us her ID card so we could use the automated machine. We gave ourselves two hours to explore Luding. 

Pestered by vouchers on WeChat and happy to have Oatly, we went to Luckin Coffee shop. Eyeing the queue for the famous Dadu River crossing, we spotted a lull in the traffic. 

Luding Bridge symbolised determination and strength for the Chinese people. The Long March came through Luding and crossed the rickety chain bridge. That’s the towns claim to fame. For the uninitiated, like us, basically, the communist, Red Army, marched thousands and thousands of kilometres across China summiting peaks en route. They were fleeing the incumbent nationalist government. Mao orchestrated the attack.

Possibly dramatised, the battle for the bridge in 1935 entailed crossing, despite many of the planks being removed. Clinging to chains. Communist troops were heavily armed, and had far better weapons than the local forces. The latter had guns and bullets that wouldn’t even cross the bridge. 

Now it was a tourist attraction crossed with a theme park ride. Deliberately swinging the bridge was fun for young men. Stumbling along the planks was a fun activity for tourists. Thousands of people go across every day. The number of phones that must get dropped through the slats into the Dadu must be high.

Our minibus utilised the G4218, the Yaye expressway, towards Ya’an. Almost immediately we were travelling through the Erlangshan tunnel. The 13th longest road tunnel in the world at 8.3miles. In fact, most of our journey was underground.

Arriving in Ya’an we headed straight for the Yazhoulang bridge. Two sides of traffic sandwiched a covered gallery through the middle. Despite the supposed age, we weren’t convinced. On entering we found shopfront renovation taking place. In 2013 the Lushan Earthquake hit Ya’an. Perhaps the bridge was rebuilt then.

After an unsuccessful hunt for an agricultural products market, it had long closed for the day, we took the bus to a restaurant called Yiyeyi. Though we hadn’t come across one yet, it was a vegan chain in China. Tucked away in a quiet corner of the city, the decor was tastefully oriental. And we were the only customers. Dinner consisted of an assortment of faux meat treats. Delivered by robot of course.

Post dinner we took a taxi to our panda themed hotel, a long way up into the mountains. For some unbeknown reason our driver had a very old car, that had almost zero power. Motoring up the hills was done at a snails pace. Not that we’d be any quicker on our bicycles.

‘Screaming kid hell hole’ was the only way to describe our accomodation. A plastic crèche in the middle of the lobby/restaurant. Non-refundable. The room was perfectly nice. We watched one of the free films, The Perfect Score and ate the vegan chocolate mousse cake we’d obtained from Yiyeyi. Patiently waiting for the children to stop screaming, and the adults.

Screaming didn’t subside. Instead, bumping and jumping picked up. It was impossible to conclude anything other than they all sucked as people. Even the owners didn’t silence them. Just after midnight a child even banged on our door. Staring perplexed at the angry Englishman telling him to “go to bed”. Of course he couldn’t understand but we were bloody tired. Negative reviews aren’t really our jam, but needs must.