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Adele Arthur
"Riding from Kunming to Chengdu"
Extracts from the Diaries of Adele and David Arthur

David and Adele Arthur

July 20 - August 11, 2004

July 20 - We flew to Kunming from Changsha. After a minor panic waiting for the school's bus to pick us up we arrived safely at the airport where the lady at the check-in desk took one look at the bikes and said "They are too big we cannot take them," causing the second panic for the morning. Eventually the problem was solved when one wheel was removed and tied to the frame with security tape.

The beginning - arrival at Kunming Airport

July 21 - We did a trip to the Western Hills and climbed up to the Dragon Gate using public transport. Most impressive place, built by some monks in the 1600's where they tunneled through the cliff face to build a gate several hundred metres above a lake.

It rained every afternoon we were in Kunming

July 22 - We spent a quiet day wandering around Kunming. There are heaps of bicycles there and repair people on almost every corner. We spent a while watching a lady replace two brake cables and a lever on a man's bike - total cost 7Y or about $1.10. Getting a puncture mended costs 2Y. It rained each afternoon we were there.

Kunming bike repair

July 23 - We rode around to the bus station at 7.30 and had to wait until 10.30 for the next bus to Dali. We didn? tell the ticket office that we were travelling with two bicycles, we just looked at the size of the bus and guessed that we would be able to fit them underneath. We did it, but had to remove a couple of pedals in the process. The LP guide indicated that the trip should take about 5 hours but it ended up being 7and a 1/2. I kid you not we spent 100 plus kilometres on an unfinished freeway, bumping through road works that whole time. We still don't know why. Consequently we arrived in Dali at 6pm. Most buses terminate in New Dali which is 15 km from Old Dali where we wanted to be so we had to ride and it took us a little while to work out which direction to go. The ride was actually very pleasant as it followed the lake with a good shoulder all the way although we were a little worried about the black clouds which seemed to be following us. It was a long day by the time we found accommodation and we treated ourselves to pizza enjoying the opportunity to use an English menu.

July 24 - We caught a boat across Lake Erhai then rode our bikes around the bottom of the lake and back to Old Dali. It was a magnificent day - in fact too hot. We rode about 50kms and enjoyed some beautiful views of the lake although the clouds obscured the mountaintops.

A local on the boat across Erhai Lake

Erhai Lake - we ate lunch at this idyllic place

July 25 - Now the real riding was about to begin and we headed north. We had planned to travel via the old highway via Er Yuan but our map and dodgy Chinese road signs combined to find us on the main Dali to Lijiang highway. Just north of Lake Erhai we found ourselves going uphill and uphill and uphill. It must have been about 14-15kms - most of it in the hot sun. Then we stopped for lunch near the top and it rained on us. A little later we had to shelter for a while from a thunderstorm which raged up the valley. After 80kms for the day we arrived at a small town called Xi Yi and decided we had had enough. We found very basic accommodation for the bargain price of 10Y - $1.60!!! The room was OK if you didn? inspect the cleanliness of the floor, it even boasted a working TV and we watched some of the Tour de France with Chinese commentary!! The shower was cold but the best (worst) aspect was the squat long drop up the backyard beside the pigsty.

Our cheapest accommodation - $1.60!!

July 26 - We were up early and on the road by 8. We began the day with a magnificent 7kms downhill through pine forest to make up for yesterday's climb. The rest of the day was a bit of everything ?hills and flats, good shoulder and none - fortunately the biggest hill was only about 5kms. The last 15kms into Lijiang was dead flat with a wide cycleway which was appreciated as it had become very hot. We both got quite sunburned. It took us ages to negotiate our way around the back streets of Old Lijiang and find somewhere to stay. We had a short glimpse (about two minutes!) of some of the 5,000m mountain behind the town with snow on the top. We also met our first cycle tourists, two German ladies who were part of a tour group and had just ridden down from Zhongdian.

Roadsign to Lijiang

Rice terraces on the way to Lijiang

Look at the sunflowers - maybe we are in France!

July 27 - Rest day in Lijiang. We indulged in vegetable omelettes for breakfast and made the required visit to Black Dragon Pool. Unfortunately the mountain was well and truly hidden behind the clouds but it was a lovely relaxing place to be and we enjoyed watching some local dancing.

In the afternoon we went looking for a bike shop as David had two broken spokes in his back wheel. The local man didn't have the right tool to take off the cluster and ended up breaking it!!! Consequently we finished up with him respoking the whole wheel with a new axle and cluster. He did a lovely job of truing up the wheel but when he put it on the bike it wasn't in the centre. He compensated for that by moving the brakes across but it still wasn't perfect. However it was after 7pm, he had been working on it for well over two hours so he declared it workable. All this including parts cost only $10.

Bike repairs in Lijiang

July 28 - We decided to take the bus up to Zhongdian and ride down rather than ride both ways so it was off to the bus station with the bikes. This time they charged us and put the bikes on the roof. (We found that if the bus driver put the bikes on the roof you were generally charged while if you put them underneath yourself they often travelled for free). The trip was magnificent. There is a huge hill between Lijiang and the road to Zhongdian so we were glad to be in the bus, then the road follows the Yangtze for a while before turning up a side river then another smaller river. Because it was the wet season all the water was moving very fast and was rather spectacular. Nearer Zhongdian we came out on a plateau with Tibetan style housing and a few yaks. I had always lived under the impression that yaks were brown. These ones were mainly black. Some were black with white hindquarters and white tails!

The bikes come off the bus at Zhongdian

July 29 - David had a bad reaction to the altitude at Zhongdian (3,200m) He spent the night struggling for breath and in the morning just wanted to go down as quickly as possible so it was back to the bus station and the bikes had another bus ride. Amazingly it was the same bus and driver as the one we came up on. I'm sure he wondered what the crazy foreigners were doing!! The trip wasn't all wasted as the scenery from the bus was great. We met a Basque couple on the bus who were having language problems with no Chinese and very little English.

Back in Lijiang David made another visit to the bike shop. This time the brakes were adjusted better and there was a slight improvement in the clearance of the wheel. He didn't charge anything for this extra work. All the repairs were carried out using sign language only!!!

July 30 - Finally back on the bikes this time heading out of Lijiang towards Yongsheng. We had some notes about this road from Pete Richards and knew it started with a 6kms uphill then there would be a long descent. What we hadn't been told about were the amazing views on the descent. Each time we came around a corner it seemed that a new valley opened up before us. We thought we had seen everything then we suddenly appeared hundreds of metres above a river (our friend the Yangtze again) and switchbacked along the hillside until we reached water level. It was totally amazing. We were glad we weren't going the other way - there would have been a 34km uphill!!!!! Despite such a long downhill our average speed was very ordinary due to constant stopping for photos and much rubbernecking at the passing scenery.

Amazing scenery on the way to Yongsheng

Still going down - note the sturdy guardrails!!!

Plenty of grapes for sale beside the road

It more than made up for the fact that we had missed the downhill from Zhongdian - that road is very narrow in places and full of tourist buses.

We climbed along a river valley in the hot afternoon sun before coming out into a wide area where grapes were being grown and there were many enthusiastic sellers beside the road. Although it wasn't far to Yongsheng we knew that the last 14kms contained a 10km hill so we stopped at a small village at the foot of the hill after 95kms.

The room was basic but the service was amazing - it seemed that each time we turned around they were bringing us something else for our comfort - hot water, tea, sunflower seeds, an electric fan, a mosquito coil.

July 31 - It rained most of the night and we woke to hear it still raining. The hill we had contemplated in the late afternoon sun of the day before had now disappeared into the clouds but the cycling heroes ventured forth regardless and soon we were up in the clouds ourselves.

Arriving in Yongsheng we stopped to buy food. We found some lovely fried potatoes and were about to continue on in the rain when we rode past the bus station and allowed ourselves to be tempted. Consequently we indulged in a lovely rest day in Yongsheng with bus tickets to Panzhihua the next morning in our pockets.

Some of the more interesting things we saw in the main street of Yong Sheng:
1) A flock of goats
2) A garbage truck loudly playing Santa Claus is Coming to Town
3) A lady standing in the centre of the roundabout singing for no apparent reason

Climbing the hill towards Yongsheng

Aug 1 - At 9.30 we left Yongsheng with the bikes once again riding on the roof of the bus. For the first 30kms we regretted the decision to take the bus as it was magnificent cycling country. Then we hit the hills and were glad to be sitting in the bus as one mountain had at least a 20km climb. We then passed into Sichuan Province where there was a large section of industry - coal mining and steel making on a large scale with horrible air pollution and once again we were glad not to be riding in it.

Sitting across from us on the bus was a student named Anna who was delighted to have the opportunity to practise her English. When we arrived in Panzhihua she helped us to find a hotel (the first one wouldn't take foreigners and we had to stay at an expensive place - 150 Y) then we had dinner together and she gave us a guided tour around the parks of Panzhihua.

Aug 2 - Today's schedule was to ride to Mi Yi about 75kms down the road. We had been told that there was some construction on the road to Mi Yi but it would be OK on a bicycle. The first 30kms were fine then we found the construction. The road suddenly became a muddy BMX track. We were going at the same speed as the other traffic as it bounced along the single track.

Then we came to the real drama of the day. The road was blocked by two landslides and it looked like it would be a long time before anyone would be going anywhere. We rode past all the stopped traffic and looked at the situation. A man with a motorbike was clambering over the slip and a few official looking people motioned us forward so we decided to give it a go ourselves. David took his panniers over the first slip then came back for the bike. I had the help of a friendly policeman who pushed the back of my bike while I negotiated the way along a wall above the river and over various boulders. I found it to be extremely scary (probably at the top of the list of my scary experiences in China) and was very glad to arrive safely on the other side.

It was still not all plain sailing. The "road" was abominable and the mud and rocks just went on and on. At 1.15 we stopped for some lunch beside the road. In 4 1/2 hours we had covered 41 kilometres - and that didn't include the places where we walked. We were just getting ready to set off again when a couple in a 4WD dual cab pulled up alongside. The lady had basic English and wanted to know where we were from. We asked her about the state of the road ahead and were not amused to learn that there was still more construction and more mud. Then she kindly offered us a ride to Mi Yi so we loaded the bikes in the back and ended up being delivered to the door of a hotel. We would never have reached Mi Yi that night without their help.

Safely across the landslide!

This truck wasn't going anywhere in a hurry

The roadside drains made great picnic places - a table, seats and somewhere to park the bikes!

Aug 3 - Today was a much more ordinary day's riding. Not many westerners come this way and we heard numerous calls of "laowai" (foreigner) as we rode by. In one town we stopped to buy water and quickly attracted a crowd of about 20 people who just wanted to look at us. Once again we were following a river valley. The road would climb above it then we always seemed to come back to river level again. As the day went on it began to rain, gradually getting heavier until we were soaked. Fortunately it wasn't too cold as long as you kept riding. We had planned to get to De Chang for the night but after 78kms we needed to stop so once again found basic lodging at a very small village.

There we met two teenagers who knew a little English. A girl named Linda took us for a walk above the town where there was another village and a 300 year old Buddhist tower. She also took us to visit her home and family. Her auntie was hand stitching inner soles for shoes and insisted that we take a pair each. The hospitality of the Chinese is amazing.

The final excitement of the day was at 10.25 that night when there were loud voices outside the door and a sharp knocking. It was the police wanting to check our passports. Fortunately everything was in order.

First road sign to Chengdu, only 666 km to go!

This is where the friendly police came visiting

Aug 4 - We ventured out into the rain again for the final ride into Xi Chang. The road alternated between muddy holes and four lane highway. At 10.30 we stopped for food in a little town. Someone brought out a seat for us to sit down then a plastic cup of hot water appeared and finally we were each handed a cob of hot corn!!! Once again we enjoyed the kindness of the locals.

After this the rain eased until we were riding under blue skies again. However the effect of the rain was still around and we came across an underpass which was under about 30cms of brown water. We watched some traffic come through then David gave it a go. He arrived safely at the other side - the westerners honour was at stake here with about a dozen small boys avidly watching. (They also gave us lots of advice in Chinese) Fortunately I managed to also get across without falling off.

The final 10kms into Xichang (the biggest town between Lijiang and Chengdu) was again four lane highway and it was nice to be back in civilisation again. Our hotel TV even had CCTV 9 (the English channel) and there is a big supermarket in town.

We drew a crowd everywhere we stopped

The honour of the "laowai" is at stake

Aug 5 - A rest day in Xichang. David bought some new brake pads and did some work on the bikes. After one day of mud and two days of rain they needed a little bit of love and attention. I enjoyed the chance to catch up with some emails at an internet bar.

A couple of things which made us smile in Xichang -
1) On a biscuit packet - One nibble and you're nobbled
2) The printing on the hotel toiletries - Sham Poo

Xichang

August 6 - We rode out of Xichang on a beautiful new tarred road for ten kilometres. In fact it was so good we stayed on it for too long and ended up at the airport! The toll road was not for bicycles so it was back to the muddy BMX track masquerading as a main highway for us. We passed through one small town which was holding a market day - very busy with lots of pony carts both to carry produce and also being used as taxis. Although it rained a little during the day the sun came out later and the last few kilometres into Mianning were along a new concrete road which reflected the heat beautifully.

Anybody for a taxi?

Local traffic in the main street of Mianning

August 7 - We knew that there were three hills ahead of us on today's ride so we were on our way by 7.30. The first ascent of 400m began almost immediately but was well graded and the new concrete road continued to our vast enjoyment. Then there was a lovely downhill into the next valley where we were confronted by hill number two. This one was NOT on new road and we could see the trucks and buses ahead of us winding their way slowly upwards. As the road switchbacked across the hillside it crossed a creek at every level causing all the traffic to bank up as each vehicle negotiated the rocky crossing. Near the top David took a photo of me walking through the mud while being passed by a flock of goats.

On the downhill we discovered the reason for the bad road. A tunnel was being built between the two valleys so that the old road would soon become obsolete. Near the tunnel entrance the last piece of bad road again caused traffic chaos. The locals were thoroughly enjoying the free entertainment provided as each vehicle bounced over the ruts. Trucks coming up had to get up plenty of speed to make it up the slope so it was definitely one way traffic.

The third climb was of 510m and was back on lovely new road. Unfortunately it was beginning to get hot so the long steady rises were no fun. The summit at 2630m was the second highest of the trip. Then there was a magnificent 15kms descent beside a rushing creek to the small town of Liziping where we stayed for the night. Once again we were the recipients of Chinese hospitality when a teenaged girl came over to practise her English with me while David was checking us in to the hotel and generously bought us an ice cream each.

The road ahead looks great!

Goats, mud, trucks and hills - enjoyable cycling in rural China!

Finally a chance to go down

August 8 - The downhill continued for another 16kms into the valley - what a great way to start a day's ride! We passed several hydroelectric dams and the road stayed beside the river all the way to Shimian where we arrived at 9.30 after 35kms. We stopped to buy some food and supplies and David drew a crowd of about fifteen people when he consulted the map!

Following down the river valley

The next fifty kilometres continued beside the river, no long climbs but plenty of ups and downs. Now that we were at a much lower altitude we could feel the greater strength in the sun and stopped several times to buy cold drinks. We were hot and tired when we arrived in Han Yuan and were glad to find a hotel. We washed out the clothes and hung them on the roof of the hotel where they dried very quickly.

Crops growing all the way up the hillside

We found two different internet bars but neither would connect to Hotmail, a problem we found common in rural Sichuan. Then a young man introduced himself to us, he was a student in Beijing but home on holidays and he took us to visit his mother's small shop. She quickly provided us with a jelly- like dessert which was very delicious on a hot afternoon - another example of wonderful Chinese hospitality.

Do you need a basket?

Chinese hospitality continued at teatime. We ate at a local noodle shop where our definition of just a little spice was rather different to the local interpretation - Sichuan has a reputation for very hot food. When we came to pay the owner wouldn't accept any money, it seemed he was just happy to have some foreigners dine in his shop!!!!

Drying corn kernels

A beautiful back street in Hanyuan

August 9 - After much discussion we made the momentous decision to end the cycle ride at this point. Not only was the weather definitely on the hot side, there was another big climb if we kept going and the next town was ninety kilometres away. If there had been a fifty kilometre option we may have been tempted but we didn't feel like another big day. Consequently the bikes found themselves on the bus again for the trip to Ya'an.

As the bus climbed up and up and up we were glad to be sitting on the bus, also the wonderful concrete road completely disappeared so we felt that we had made the right decision. We passed lots of orchards with the locals trying to sell apples and pears on the side of the road. We arrived in Ya'an to find that the whole town was being renovated. Half the buildings in the main street were covered by scaffolding and ALL the footpaths and cycleways were torn up. It looked like a war zone.

Nobody worried too much about the tree in themiddle of the road in Ya'an

Later in the day we met a foreigner - the first westerner we had seen since leaving Lijiang ten days ago, we had certainly been off the main tourist route. He was a local teacher and informed us that there would be an International Tea Festival in Ya'an in September so lots of money was being spent on making the town look good. He loaned us two of his Chinese students (Juice and Neil) who helped us by showing us the way to the main bus station (we had arrived at an obscure one down a side street) and purchasing tickets for the bus to Leshan for the next morning.

August 10 - 8.30am and once again we were sitting on a bus. The 130km journey to Leshan turned into a real ordeal as the road was badly potholed and buses are much less able to avoid them than bikes. The trip took four hours! Many of the locals were drying corn kernels - they would spread a bamboo mat on a smooth section of road then spread out all the corn - many times the bus was unable to pass because the road was covered by corn!!

The main Leshan bus station is 6kms out of town so we were glad of the bikes. Leshan is back on the tourist circuit with the main attraction being a 71m high Buddha which holds the record as the world's largest Buddha. It was begun in AD713 and finished ninety years later - an incredible project. After finding a place to stay we joined the crowds to see it too.

The Grand Buddha at Leshan is certainly worth seeing

There is a very narrow track which winds down the cliff beside the Buddha and this is the most popular way to see it. There was a huge lineup as it would be too dangerous to let too many people on the path at once. We waited about 45 mins in the heat before it was our turn, but it was definitely worth the wait.

I nose who you are

August 11 - Back to the buses. This time the driver was very dubious about our ability to fit the bikes underneath his bus and wouldn't sell us tickets until David demonstrated that they would fit to his great astonishment. Quick release wheels are a great unknown to the Chinese public!!! This time the 130kms to Chengdu was along a smooth modern highway and we completed the trip in less than two hours - a great contrast yesterday? bus ride.

August 12 - We bought train tickets back to Changsha via Wuhan for the next Wednesday, August 18, so we would be back "home" in good time to begin next semester. Meanwhile we looked forward to a relaxing time in Chengdu.

Chengdu is a great cycling city with wide cycleways and excellent cycling shops ?we even saw Deore gear being sold. All major intersections have a separate light for bicycles and often also a person wearing an orange vest and equipped with a red flag and whistle to keep the two-wheeled traffic in order. Unfortunately the "silent but deadly" electric cycles are rapidly multiplying and are causing havoc - a little like the semis on the highways. Another very unsafe practice we saw there was the habit of children mainly aged in the 4-8 range who would stand on the back rack of their parent's bicycles with their hands on their shoulders!

There are plenty of bicycles in Chengdu

One interesting place we discovered by accident near the Sichuan University was the Roo Bar - an Australian pub where it is possible to buy cold Fosters and meat pies. We indulged in an excellent vegetarian pizza and a garden salad which came decorated with one slice of beetroot, an unknown vegetable in China - we carefully divided it in half.

Another event worthy of note in Chengdu was our meeting with Peter Snow Cao from Bike China Adventures, Inc. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours with him one afternoon next to the lake in Renmin Park. It was great to meet the face behind the website.

Peter Snow Cao and Adele Arthur in People's Park, Chengdu

August 19 - Back in Changsha we walked down to the baggage claim office in the hope that our bikes would already be there - we had sent them from Chengdu three days before we left. After more paperwork and a small fee of 7Y we once again had wheels. The plastic honker horns had both mysteriously disappeared during transit but the important things remained intact. David was repeatedly hassled by the local minivan drivers hoping for a fare - they were quite disappointed that we were able to leave the station under our own steam as they considered the twenty kilometre ride back to the university as too far to go on a bicycle. A crowd of at least twenty gathered to watch us clip on the panniers but I soon scattered them by pulling out the camera for an arriving-back-in-Changsha photo.

The end - safely back in Changsha; David at the train station with the bikes.

During our three weeks holiday we rode about 850 kilometres, not a great amount really but it took us into the less touristy areas of China and we found amazing hospitality and marvellous scenery. It was a wonderful trip.

Trip Statistics

This section is for all those out there who like facts and figures.

We travelled approximately 5,000 kilometres made up of the following:
By plane 1,100 km
By bus 1,315 km
By train 1,737 km
By bicycle 854.34 km

Altogether we used 17 different modes of transport!
1) College van 2) Plane 3) Bicycle 4) Local commuter bus 5) Minibus -25 seater size
6) Chairlift 7) Electric 8 seater ?us?8) Tourist coach 9) Boat 10) Bicycle taxi 11) Motorbike taxi ?4 seater 12) Taxi 13) 4WD dual cab 14) Ferry 15) Lift 16) Escalator 17) The "Number 11 bus" - what some of our Chinese students call walking!
We stayed in 18 different places with prices ranging from 10Y ($1.65) to 150Y ($25.00).

We ate bananas, watermelon, plums, peaches, apples, mangos, pears and grapes.

Excluding the airfare and train tickets home the trip cost us an average of 188Y ($32.40) each day i.e. $16.20 per person per day. This includes all food, travel, sightseeing, accommodation and even some photo processing! (NB All Dollar amounts shown are Australian Dollars).

If anyone would like more detailed information about any of the trip I would be most happy to provide it.

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