Monthly Archives: January 2016

Yunnan – The Ultimate Obstacle Course

Yunnan – my 4th, and the southernmost province of China – was a whole new experience from start to finish. By the time of me getting there I already knew this of course, as it seems to always be the case in this country – containing more separate worlds than one think could exist within one nation’s borders.

Yunnan hosts some 50 different ethnic groups and provides it’s people with nature ranging between everything from the massive and merciless mountains in the north to the thick and tropical jungles of the south. But expecting variety is one thing. Experiencing it, is of course another – and the whole thing turned out to be a lot different from how I had first imagined it.

A lot of the surprise was directly connected to two particularly crazy French people, and a cycling clog. Yeah, one of those wooden, somewhat pointy, Dutch clogs. A clog which of course makes up a complete pair with a second clog of the same size. This second one though, plays no part in my Yunnan experience, as it’s still long lost somewhere on the empty steppe of Uzbekistan. Even saying that the first one is, is kind of stretching it. The man insisting to keep putting his foot inside it is though. As if only to put the craziness of the French to shame.

However, all of that comes later. Before all the madness that would eventually come to be my Yunnan – I arrived.

Once again I was booming down big mountains. The difference from all the other times I’d done this in China was that this time I was actually bound to stay down there. For a long time. I was well aware that Yunnan no doubt would give me my fair share of climbing, but mountains? No, that chapter was officially finished.

Though life was still good.

Nature was doing it’s best to give me a colorful welcome and I was rolling straight into the town on Shangri-La. A finish line which meant an at the time extremely needed time for rest. And an even more needed visa extension.

A week spent in Shangri-La was the start off of a short but intense dash down the beaten tourist track. One I have to say I enjoyed immensely. This was actually the place where I met my very first non Chinese people since leaving Kashgar almost 2 months earlier.


With Canadian & English friends in Shangri-La


I continued on to the beautiful but crowded town of Lijiang


From a 2 day trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge

Let me tell you it was a cool feeling to – at last – be able keep a conversation where the main concern actually was what was being said, and not the words being used to say it. To meet people who had somewhat of the same western references as myself, and together try to make some sense of that always so confusing, and seemingly constantly expanding puzzle of China.

It didn’t take much though. Actually it took a lot less than I’d have thought, before I was completely done with these stuff. Letting TripAdvisor & Lonely Planet set the agenda. Staying put in the tourist herd. Snapping photos of those ‘Must See’s. (Who in all honestly, very rarely are just that). And then end up in another hostel with a new bunch of people who all had, or were just about to, experience exactly the same things as me and everyone else.

Gosh. Are you coming to the same conclusion as I did?

It was high time to hit the road.

So I did.

And that’s when real things started happening.

On the road south is when I bumped into French cyclists Amelie & Kris. A lovely couple with whom I spent a couple of nice days and evenings until all of ours next stop – the city of Dali. After a detour passing the old town of Shaxi we had a sweet ride by the lake into Dali, getting our first proper glimpse of agricultural Yunnan.

After a few good days together I thought our roads would part. My plan from there was clear and with zero wiggle room for compromise. My family, most of whom I hadn’t seen once since setting off some 10 months ago, was coming to Thailand to celebrate New Years. And if I would just get my ass to Bangkok in time, I would be joining them for the occasion.

That I would be taking transports for the whole thing to work was a given, but still I was up for a classic race against time. In order to later get back to my last point and keep cycling, I first needed to get out of China. And to make it in time to my family, I needed to do it in time for Christmas.

Easy.

Considering the distance and elevation ahead, easy was perhaps not the term for it. But neither was impossible. Far from it. I had had my rest, I had the best motivational carrot imaginable, and I was headed for those 10 straight days of tough cycling with a good feeling.

To my great surprise I found out that apparently I wasn’t the only one. The Crazy French, with no apparent reason not to keep on with their slow mornings and juggling breaks, decided to join the party.

‘We’ve been lazy for a long time now. So why not? Let’s cycle!’

And before we had even set off the next morning, our trio had been expanded with yet another mad man – Ritzo from the Netherlands. Now what went through this guy’s head here is still a mystery to all of us. Not least to himself I think.

Short version: Ritzo rolled in to Dali late evening, ready for a big break. Big break for real, that is. Aiming to pick up an English teaching job, maybe Dali could actually become home for the upcoming year? Those big things would have to wait for a few days though. First things first: getting a shower, washing those dirty clothes – and finally doing something about the bike. That would be enough for now.

Or so he thought.

The next morning Ritzo was standing there – again. Bike loaded and ready to hit the road. This time with a couple of crazy French and a Swedish girl in a rush. His clothes just as dirty as yesterday. He still hadn’t showered. God, he hadn’t even had breakfast. What was this? And why..?

No one has the answer to those questions anymore now than we did then.

But don’t worry – we left before he had time to change his mind!


In the back: Ritzo, Kris & Amelie

The upcoming 10 days and 900 something kilometers, I won’t say too much about. I can’t. Nothing I’d say would come close to doing this madness justice. Our ride south through Yunnan was gorgeous. But more than that, one of the most chaotic experiences ever. Landslides, crashes, road blocks, stomach bugs, mechanicals and mud roads being just a few ingredients to it all.


Got this one from my brother. I think it pretty much sais it all.

It was dirty. Sweaty. And pretty damn exhausting. But most importantly incredibly beautiful, and some of the better 10 days I think I’ve had on a bike. Here are a few clues to what the whole thing looked like.


First camp night. Completely clueless of that this was just the calm before the storm…


…that the upcoming day introduced itself in the form of a huge landslide


Locked in overnight, loosing a valuable half a day


Being back on obstacle free roads…


…rarely lasted very long.


Stuck waiting for the 3rd landslide in 2 days to be cleared

Despite continuously testing us. Yunnan never let us loose faith, and always seemed to know just when to throw in some encouragement to keep up motivated.

…Unfortunately we were usually thrown right back into the Yunnan reality a bit quicker than one might would have preferred. As soon as we got too relaxed, the road disappeared. Literally.


When China takes your road away…


…you kind of have to find yourself a new one

Great views are great. But on the top of passes, it’s even better when you actually get to see them. Or anything at all for that matter.


So much easier with these guys!

The toughest times we had were all in the first half of our ride. Things cleared up and soon we actually started noticing that the cycling was enough of a challenge all in itself. The topography of this region is at times incredible demanding on a loaded bike. The hills are steep. And many. Actually, hills are all there is. You’re either going down at great speeds, or up in complete snail speed. And as the equation reveals, you’re in all likelihood climbing during 9 out of 10 given moments.


We passed Pu’er & went through one of Chinas big tea production regions


…and camped accordingly


Well, don’t ask me about the clog. Ritzo claims it’s super functional…

Believe it or not, but we did keep moving south, making good speed. Every day nature took big steps. Banana trees, sugar canes, pomelos, coconuts, tea & coffee plantations. Not to mention all those fruits and plants we didn’t even know the name of. Amazing is the word.


A very welcome addition to everyday life on the road


Christmas started coming around the corner…


…and we officially crossed the Tropic of Cancer! Wow.


The big day arrived!


And so did we, reaching the Laos border just on time.

Three months. Between 5 & 6 thousand kilometers. China. That this humongous country actually could come to an end? Crazy thought. I was more than ready for it though. Not so much because I wanted to get out of there. More that by now I really wanted to step into something new.

And I really would. Starting off this great new chapter of cycling Southeast Asia.

But before doing that, I’d just cross the border in style (anything for the Christmas spirit, right?).

I’d leave my bike. And then.

Then I’d head off to find my family.

Until next time,

Fredrika

By |January 24th, 2016|Asia, Travel Logs|

Tibetan Plateau Pt. 3 – Back to Earth

Long time no see! More than a month has passed since my last post, and a lot has happened. By now China is a finished chapter. The year of 2015 is as well. Writing this it seems like such a long time ago since I was making my way down the Tibetan mountains. Though for the sake of chronology, I’ll give you a short recap of what the whole thing looked like.

Less words, more photos. Here we go.

Somewhere in the 2nd half of November, trees made their first reappearance in my life. After weeks completely without vegetation the first ones popping up on the hillsides felt like a huge sign of progress. But just as much of a warning for that my dreamy mountain life would soon come to its inevitable end.

Quickly a few trees here and there turned into thick mountainous forests.

Though the landscape was changing rapidly and I had now crossed into my third province Sichuan, I was still totally in Tibetan area.

Obviously going downhill opens up for quicker changes than going when going up. But one of those ‘descent-days’ I definitely consider to be one of the crazier ones I’ve experienced. From waking up with frozen water bottles, I just hours later found myself standing next to cultivated fields in nothing but a t-shirt wondering what had happened.

I realize that this might not sound too exciting. But trust me, then and there it was. And if you had been there with me, I’m pretty sure you would think the same.

So. A few days of downhill, getting rid of a bunch of layers of clothing and that was it? Fortunately not. Though the plateau was officially over, the mountain life wasn’t. Between me and my final province Yunnan, were still some serious passes which would turn out to be some of my favorite ones ever.


These numbers are starting to feel a bit absurd…

Bad roads make for slow speeds. But more importantly a sky rocketed feeling of adventure. And after the silk smooth tarmac roads I’d been riding all through China, getting a bit dusty was just what I was looking for.


Views of this kind…


…are simply best enjoyed after having had to work for them

I kept peddling, and the big passes kept outshining each other. Until I was standing on the top of the very last one. Yet again thinking that this might be the most gorgeous view I’d ever laid eyes on. Maybe it wasn’t, but for sure it was the most beautiful sight I’d earn in a very, very long time.

This was it – I was going down. Not necessarily for good, and I surely had a lot of climbing ahead. The thing though was that I’d be climbing hills in comparison. After this, my next true mountain experiences would be continents away.

When you’re headed for the next one, it’s easy to get going and head down from a pass like this. But when you’re not. When you’re just going down.

How in the world can you stay up there long enough?

Forever tailwinds,

Fredrika

By |January 14th, 2016|Asia, Travel Logs|