My arrival in Luang Namtha sees the end of my delayed posts of my cycle trip through China. Like for the rest of my trip, I have put together a little video. This video is of the section from Xiahe to Luang Namtha. I hope you like it!
Posts Tagged ‘China’
New cycle video: Xiahe (China) – Luang Namtha (Laos)
Posted: January 12, 2016 in China, Cycling, LaosTags: China, Cycling, Laos
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Day 243. 73km. Mengla – Na Teuy
Posted: January 10, 2016 in China, Cycling, LaosTags: China, Cycling, Laos, Mengla, Na Teuy
I have left the People’s Republic of China, and am now in Laos. I staggered over the border – I have spent all my energy cycling in China, and am ready for a tropical rest in Laos.
Na Teuy
I started on the old road today. I curved its way around the landscape as expected, but, was the centre of much roadwork activity. With the peace gone, the road surface only OK, and delays while trucks did their thing, I returned to the new road, went through tunnels, and got to the border faster.
I am staying in a little village 20km over the border in Laos. Another 35km tomorrow to Louang Namtha and then a rest while I wait for Mark (who cycled with me in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) to join me.
Na Teuy
Day 242. 81km. Menglun – Mengla
Posted: January 9, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Mengla, Menglun
The old road on the map got even wigglier and steeper than yesterday. Today I didn’t see the cycling forbidden signs, and cycled smoothly up and downhill on the new road that rarely was on land – either on massive stilts above the valley, or in carbon monoxide tunnels. I saved about 50km,10000 kcal and one day of cycling.
Banana plantation
Motorbikes were also forbidden, which didn’t deter anyone. I must have cycled past at least a dozen policemen. The road was OK to cycle on.
The valleys were very steep and absolutely dense in the greenest of green foliage. Looking down from my lofty perch on a bridge, the jungle below reigned supreme. I could not help but think how hard it would have been cycling here, on the old road.
Misty mountains
Mengla is the last sizable town in China. Laos – here I come!
Day 241. 65km. Mengyang – Menglun
Posted: January 8, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Menglun, Mengyang
While curving my way up and down and around and around, I wondered what the fractal dimension was of this road. I wondered this when regarded as projected onto a 2-dimensional space (like a map), or when in its true 3-d space. In 2 dimensions, taking a scaling factor ε=1/3, and using the formula
I think the fractal dimension is the same as the Koch Curve – namely 1.2619.
Equally nerdy, I remembered the puzzle – if you have 100km to go, you can go 50km, and then have 50 to go. Then, if you go 25, you have 25 to go. Then, going 12.5, you have 12.5 to go. If you continue halving the distance travelled, you never reach the 100km. This is how I felt, winding my way in ever tighter curves, towards the Laos border. All the while either climbing or falling on the steepest of steep slopes. Its beautiful, but tomorrow I’m taking the main road with long, badly ventilated tunnels. I’ve had it with hills.
The valley
It’s hilly
It’s hilly
It’s hilly
Day 240. 85km. Puwen – Mengyang
Posted: January 7, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Mengyang, Puwen
My bum hurts. There is no respite from the constant up and down, and today I crawled into Mengyang rubbing my backside. It got a good workout.
Tea fields
I cycled the ‘old road’ which winds around every corner, climbs and drops over every undulation. The neighbouring freeway rests on stilts, flattening the landscape and smoothing the ride. Then it leaves off into a tunnel, only to be seen 30km of wiggles later. The old road is almost void of vehicles. This is so precious. I realise that the constant noise of cars has been deafening. Traffic noise pulls the conscious away from the now, away from nature, and into a whir of stress. I cycled through a cacophony of nature. The jungle is loud. The constant background of crickets and cicadas, with a high-pitched cricket variant. Then the birds. Frogs. I cycle, listening, immersing myself in this natural paradise. Every turn reveals new trees, plants, animals, and new sounds.
And then I heard of the elephants. Excitement. Imagine seeing an elephant on the road. The elephants are to be found in the ‘Wild Elephant Valley’, amongst the busloads of elephant watchers. I rode straight past, and back into the chirps of the cicadas.
The road
This morning was a market breakfast, followed by the realisation that Sydney is only 8973km.
The market in Puwen
Not far to Sydney
Day 239. 90km. Ning’er – Puwen
Posted: January 6, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Ning'er, Puwen
Tea covering the steep, green hills. And now banana plantations. It gets lusher and lusher. And no less strenuous.
The tea hills
The day’s cycle is determined by the passes. I sleep at the bottom of them, and do one, or at most two 500-600m climbs in a day. The rest of the day is up and down anyway. Today I’m at the bottom of the next 500m climb, in the banana plantation village of Puwen.
The tea hills
The tea hills
The tea hills
Day 238. 63km. De’an – Ning’er
Posted: January 5, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, De'an, Ning'er
The high passes follow each other without a break in between. Climb 500m, drop 500m, then directly up 600m, then down. I stopped early in Ning’er leaving the next 600m climb for tomorrow – opting for an afternoon siesta instead.
The mountains
The silence of the high plains has been replaced by crickets, cicadas and birds. The yaks have been replaced by water buffalo. The mountains have been replaced by.. mountains. I am inching forward towards the Laos border. My displacement each day from the day before looks small to me on the map, but I know what climbs have been conquered. This will not be a fast dash.
Water buffalo
Day 237. 85km. Zhenyuan – De’an
Posted: January 4, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, De'an, Zhenyuan
An imaginary line circles the globe at 23.43724 degrees north – where the sun reaches directly overhead on mid-summer day. I crossed this line today, and am now officially in the tropics.
On the Tropic of Cancer
I am on the couch out the front of the little shop in the tiny village. The sun is shining brightly, and I sit in the shade, devouring my ice-creams. Inside, in the gloom, the television is running – a daytime soap – in Chinese. The drama and suspense oozes from the television as the breathless woman’s voice pleads with her handsome lover. The music adds to the suspense, as I listen from outside. The little old woman who sold me the ice-creams watches inside with bated breath. Outside, the village is peaceful. The sun is all-powerful. Nothing moves. Then, a motorbike pulls up. The boy buys some cigarettes and then rides off into the glare. I study the map.
The woman taps me on the shoulder. She hands me a big chunk of gingerbread cake. She smiles and nods as I thank her with my eyes. In her eyes I see her inner peace and her kindness. ‘Good on ya, lad. This is for you!’
The up-and-down cycling was interspersed with stops in the villages. One village was fruit gorging time. A few dragon fruit, pears, apples and grapes. One village was ice-creams. One village was real food. It is slow going – it is never flat, and often quite steep. It is beautiful, though, cycling through this mountainous, tropical landscape.
The morning mist lifts
River
The valley
Day 236. 76km. Jingdong – Zhenyuan
Posted: January 3, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Jingdong, Zhenyuan
My piss is red! A quick google. The dragon fruit is the culprit. I ate two of them just next to where they were growing. The woman was asleep at her table when I arrived, in the shade under the umbrella, next to the plants. I’m cycling through dragon fruit land!
Dragon fruit
The road follows the river, rising above it, then dropping down, only to rise again. Above the river I cycle through dense greenery, in the cool shade, with the cicadas. They are almost deafening, their call rising to a crescendo and then subsiding in waves. I hear the hoot of a bird – unknown to me, but, it sounds tropical. I can just imagine its bright colours and impressive plumage. The hills around me are very pointy, rising steeply from the valley. They are all densely covered in tropical green. The air is humid, and a comfortable temperature in the early 20s. How everything has changed from the barren, cold mountains I have left.
River
River
Field
Day 235. 109km. Nanjian – Jingdong
Posted: January 2, 2016 in China, CyclingTags: China, Cycling, Jingdong, Nanjian
Today was bumpy. Like in Finland, the bumps are 50m down and 40m up. On and on. So, I went down a valley, but it was hard work. The scenery was nice – seeing more palm trees now.
Mountains
The road down
arctic-cycler.com 