Posts Tagged ‘Mengyang’

Day 241. 65km. Mengyang – Menglun

Posted: January 8, 2016 in China, Cycling
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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

The valley

It's hilly

It’s hilly

It's hilly

It’s hilly

It's hilly

It’s hilly

Day 240. 85km. Puwen – Mengyang

Posted: January 7, 2016 in China, Cycling
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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

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

The road

This morning was a market breakfast, followed by the realisation that Sydney is only 8973km.

The market in Puwen

The market in Puwen

Not far to Sydney

Not far to Sydney