Today was a tough day of riding, if you think I need to man up your probably right but on not one but two occasions we climbed from 600m to almost 1400m, the final climb coming at the end of the day when I had virtually nothing to give.
The day didn’t start the best, I have gone the whole day without using the toilet, that’s because the toilet in China isn’t the sacred place it is to an Englishman. In England it’s a relaxing environment when you do the business, you should feel comfortable enough to take your time, read the paper and if needed use the softest of paper. China this is not the case, the toilets here is basically a slip way, there is two next to each other sometimes with a parting wall sometimes not, no toilet paper, nowhere to wash your hands (if the concept is not understood you wipe with the left hand) and you have to squat like a dog often over the remains of the last persons doings.
My other issue in China has been getting a proper cup of tea, going to battle without one is a challenge and since running out the only tea I have found is Chinese tea which doesn’t match in any way, we didn’t build an empire on Chinese tea it was done on Yorkshire tea, PG Tips with milk for calcium and sugar for energy.
The riding as I say was hard, the first hill went up to almost 1400m from 600m and by the time we reached the top when stopped for lunch, out average speed was about 10kmph but after downhill to around 900m the average speed was up to 15kmph then the road undulated before we seemed to hit a valley floor (at 900m!) and could cruise along but then nearing the end of the day the road tested my tired body by rising up again to over 1300m to our final destination of Pu’er.
We rode the old road as getting on the highway was much tougher today, the toll guards were straight onto us sending us back, and even the locals on their motorbikes didn’t get through. It’s a shame the highway would have taken around 25km off our journey and it would have been much easier going than using the old road.
Pu’er was meant to be a city it seemed a strange place, very gray and square looking but there wasn’t the people yet to fill it but still development continues, a good sign of Chinas growing wealth and its attempt to try and get its people into the cities. We had a walk around and the strange thing was for a city it appeared really dark, it took me a while to work out what was wrong but it was dark, not brightly lit up as big towns and cities are, it made for a strange feel.
For dinner (vegetarians look away now) we got ourselves huge plate of rice and an entire duck, complete with head, all for 20 Yuan (2GBP) each. It was a little over budget but old Donald taste great and as on our walk around the town we had already been snacking so I was glad that our hotel was next door because I was ready to explode. For the rest of the evening I filed in my diary like a school child doing homework and watch one of the movies I have already watch on my laptop but who could ever get sick of Shrek.
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