Dragon Tales

Parts 1 to 4

I'm deep in the wildlands of China.

And life is so different here.

I'm in a small village called Pugaolao, at a cycle-leg crushing elevation of 2000m, in an area famous for its incredible traditional culture and, more particularly, for its ancient and extensive rice terracing.

The view from my bedroom window

A Border Crawl

It took forever to cross from Lao Cai in Vietnam to Hekou in China. Security was tight, I was in the super slow-moving foreigners queue, and, to make it even slower, they took my passport away, took it into another room, and I had to stand outside forever while they checked it out.

But they stamped me in.

Organising local currency and a SIM card was slow, and so it was already 1.30pm by the time I could get out onto the road towards Manhao, my destination for the day.

At the border I needed to provide a hotel booking for the first night, and the only one that I could find that accepted foreigners was 100km away, up a slope of nearly 1000m.

It was a stinking hot afternoon, so that all made for a tough ride, given my very late start, as I really wanted to get there before nightfall.

But it was a beautiful ride though.

Bye bye Vietnam, hello China

Sleek and manicured Hekou, the Chinese border town.

Once out of town I followed the amazing Red River again, a river I've been around for some weeks now, off and on, in Vietnam,

Sweet potato fields

You take the high road

I hugged the border for the first half of the ride. There were loads of police checks. At each one I needed to show my passport, answer piles of questions, and just hang around while the police checked details on their computers. They've got lots of pics of me now too, all sweaty and smiley.

I'd better be prudent though, and not go into too much detail about political security here, while I'm still in the country. Suffice it to say it's very tight. I'll partake in a little temporary self censorship until I'm safely away.

Then the border veered southwest, while I continued northwest, and the road deteriorated, becoming rough and potholey.

But the valley was beautiful

I haven't seen this sort of thing for a long time. The megafreeways, that is.

Traditional housing

I ran out of water and stopped at a servo to get some more. The young woman there immediately gave me three cold bottles from the fridge but refused to take money from me. What a darling! She said "Welcome to China" to me (in Mandarin) a few times.

What an amazing introduction to Chinese hospitality. It was a taste of what was to come.

The huge expressway, over the river

First glimpse of Manhao, my destination

I arrived as the sun started to sink

Ubiquitous transport vehicle

My hotel was old but clean, staffed by a bunch of teenage boys, all bending over backwards to help me. So sweet. Not a word of English though, of course.

My elaborate sink

My scrumptious dinner, made by a beautiful young woman who had 3 young kids running around, and her own mother there too. We chatted for ages, they were so sweet, and the kids super excitable.

Posters in my stairwell, reminding people to be fire conscious

Today was stinking hot, sugary drink weather. This one is Rock Sugar Snow Pear. Delicious.

A meaty breakfast, even though I asked for no meat. It'll take me awhile to master these new phrases. The old woman cook couldn't read or speak Mandarin.

Yuanyang

The next day I continued northwest, on the smaller road. There's been so little traffic for the past couple of days, I guess everyone uses the expressway.

It's also a holiday period, for the annual Qingming Jie, or "Sweeping of the Tombs," a time for families to clean and make ritual offerings at their ancestors' graves, and light firecrackers, a very important tradition. These rituals also include offering food, lighting joss sticks and other items.

I didn't take this tunnel. Bikes not allowed.

I passed a dam, and behind it the Red River had become a long, thick reservoir.

Late lunch stop.

Grilled dry tofu is the thing here. I've had so much of it. Bloody delicious, especially dipped in the spicy sauce they serve it with.

I got chatting to this lovely woman and her young daughter. They were so sweet, the daughter was shy, but eventually came out of her shell, and neither her mum nor I could put her back in it again. We chatted about what I was up to and their life.

I ordered a big soup and a pile of drinks, and the young woman had to leave, but as she did she told me that she'd just paid for all my food and drinks. Amazing!

The people here are so friendly and generous, it's already blowing me away.

I eventually cruised into crispy clean and manicured Yuanyang, my first larger Chinese town on this journey. The new part of town is also referred to as Nansha, which I'm sure is crucial for you to know.

Erke. Just do it.

Night markets

Veg pot luck. It was fiery, but delicious.

Edible jellies

Chicken bits

Rose vinegar

A sweet melony type of fruit

The main square was bustling with people, women dancing together to music to keep fit, kids playing in the water fountain, teens and older people just sitting around.

Second dinner, like a rösti, with paprika and pepper. Tasted way better than it looks.

Fruit salad with jellies and coconut milk. Life is good!

You can pay for a shared power bank on an app, and then drop it off elsewhere. They're all over the place, and everyone uses them.

There's so many amazing plant drinks here. I'm gonna try them all.

I remember these hairy pricks from Thailand, or somewhere.

Fruit salad extravaganza. You just fill up the bowl with whatever you want, it's the best ever.

Making an intricately patterned pillow cover.

Mattresses are super skinny here. Beds can be quite hard, just how I like them. And the pillows aren't as huge as in Vietnam and Laos.

I was thinking about my future journeying today. The round blue dot is me in Yuanyang. I plan to head north, and then northwest into southeastern Kazakhstan. Looks like there's a helluva lotta brown between here and there, doesn't it.

Xinjie

Brekky. The worst two-minute noodles I've ever eaten. There was some sort of chemical flavouring in the sauce that made my tongue tingle and sorta go numb. I delivered the sauce to the pot. The potty, that is.

Loaded up, and ready for today's massive climb. My destination today is a town called Xinjie, which is sort of a base town to explore some of the most amazing rice terraced areas in the world (apparently). It's a huge climb of over 1300m, and it's hot again.

But hey, it's not too far, and I have time.

I ploughed past this sign

Looking back on Yuanyang as I climb

Awww, sorta reminded me of the Adelaide Hills

Up I go

Town on the way, there were only a couple

I stopped there for a tamarind juice. Yum! Tamarind has become one of my fave flavours, and they seem to be around a lot up here.

Coniference

All of the graves have been decorated around here, and the sound of firecrackers going off is common at the moment, as people pay their respects, and attempt to scare off evil spirits.

My destination, Xinjie

Climbing into town

I got a contact of a woman here who speaks English, she had a dorm bed for me, which I agreed to pay for without seeing it. But the room turned out to be really filthy, and that's saying something, coming from me. There was ratshit in all the wrong places, and the bathroom hadn't been cleaned since the Qing dynasty ruled China.

There was even used toilet paper on the floor of the bathroom, as well as filthy used towels in there.

So I made sure all my food was securely packed tight in my panniers overnight, which, given that they're super watertight, probably don't ooze out too much smell. Thankfully, no rats came to visit overnight.

I hate rats in my room.

The view through my grimy flyscreen. At least I had a flyscreen I guess.

Another country, another currency.

My balcony was full of rubbish. Just like my room.

But had a great view of the local massive regional school below.

If I was a mozzie I'd probably look like this

So off I went exploring the crazy town

This region is mainly populated by the Hani ethnic group, but there are other groups here, including the Yi, Han, Dai, Miao, Yao and Zhuang. Many people get around in their traditional gear, it's so beautiful to see. Most of the woman make their own clothes from locally produced cotton, and take great pride in their work.

Some of the headpieces are absolutely stunning to see, as is the embroidered cloth that hangs at the back of their dark pants.

Smoked buffalo meat

Local hospital. I love the pink.

Dragon tales. Bouncin around the main square.

Am I in Italy?

Er, no I'm not

Veggies and a blue salted duck egg. They soak the eggs in brine, and then boil them up. Interesting strong flavour, super salty, surprise surprise.

These vehicles really cracked me up when I first saw them. They're taxis, but they're definitely missing something.

Tomb decorations and firecrackers

Local whisky, they call it wine, but it's distilled, and made from things like rice, millet, sorghum and corn.

Strolling down to the markets

Icecream lady. I was too full.

But these kids weren't

Silkie chickens, a local delicacy. They have grey meat.

Chicken eggs, blue duck eggs, and fermented eggs, or "century eggs."

The huge markets

Money to burn

View from the market

Steam buns

Sunset from the main square

Many of the old men smoke through metal pipes these days, instead of the traditional bamboo ones.

To avoid my rat room for as long as possible, I sat in a tea house and ordered a cold tea. And then, to my amazement, Jean strolled in! I'd met Jean at the border, he was completely fascinated by what I was doing, and we'd had a long interesting conversation there.

Jean is originally from Normandy, but more recently has been living in Marseille. He's retired, and has hooked up with a lovely local woman here, Sophia (her English name, which many Chinese create for themselves). Sophia's a tour guide in her 60s, Jean, I guess, is in his 70s. Recently, citizens from a small number of European countries, including France, have been granted 15 day visa-free status in China. So Jean is just hanging out here, leaving every 15 days, and turning around and coming straight back.

We chatted into the night. He's a beautiful man, full of stories.

Further Up The Hills

As I was packing this morning, it was exercise time at the school. Loud music bellowed from the PA, accompanied by a woman calling out in rhythm. The kids (and the teachers) did their routine, all together.

People keep fit here. Every evening loads of people briskly walk around, or exercise in the public parks to music, often in groups, or even just swing their arms and stretch as they walk along the street.

Brekky noodle wallah

Why pull out the old motor when you can just chuck in a new one up front?

It was foggy till early afternoon, visibility was pretty low early on, which is fine because my visibility is pretty low most of the time anyway.

I passed through some cute small towns

Hani Culture and Rice Cultivation

I stopped at a big information centre, which had some great pics and info about this World Heritage-listed region. Some of the pics here are from displays at the centre.

The people here have been irrigating and cultivating this land continuously for over 1,300 years. That's a lot. It's not the oldest continuous rice farming in  the world, that's in Ifuego, in Luzon in the Philippines, which I visited once upon a time.

I found an old pic of mine of the Filipino terracing style. It's magnificent, but quite different to here.

As in the Philippines, the culture here is so rich. Traditionally, the people here were animists, and some of their animist worship practices remain.

Lozue dance

The headdresses are very important, and designate marital status, family group, and other important information. The women take great pride in them, and they're often adorned with beautiful silver. I've seen the most incredible and elaborate ones over the past couple of days, they're really stunning.

I've seen a bunch of kids wearing these cool hats. I want one.

Lo Meo and Zhu Lie

The rice cultivation and layering itself is amazing. Some of the mountains have 3,700 layers of terracing from top to bottom, over an elevation of over 1,300m.

The mist was still around as I headed up. This is another traditional Hani building, with thatched roof.

I bought some bananas from this lovely woman. Then I took a few pics, and as I was leaving she came over and gave me a second bunch of bananas. What a gal! I especially love the hat combo.

Camper vans! Yep, I've met some Chinese nationals who are travelling long distances around their huge country in big campers like these. This is an overnight stop for them, with electric charging station for EVs and other batteries.

The fog slowly lifted.

The calf blinked first. And dribbled a lot.

I descended down into the town of Shengcun to have a look. There was a market on. I bought some steamed peanuts and locally baked goodies.

The paste is tamarind, it was divine.

It's horse country again. Mountainous areas often are. I mean look at the Man From Snowy River, for example. There's lots of asses gettin around here too.

Touring Hani Terraced Fields, Healing Homesickness on the White Clouds.

It worked!

Close to Pugaolao. I found myself a little hostel to stay. I got a dorm bed, but so far I'm in here on my own.

And I've had the most delicious late afternoon and evening. The late afternoon consisted of me eating loads of snacks and then siesta-Ing for about 2 whole hours. I was super tired, from a long, long ascent.

And then it was time for an early dinner, and a stroll through the rice terraces, which are right outside my place.

I'm sure I won't have the time or the juice to try every local beer in China, but I'll give it a real shot.

The sun was setting as I strolled along the stone path into the old town.

The views were amazing

These guys thought they'd duck out too.

Pretty magnificent innit.

I strolled out into the terraces, because I like trashing my shoes.

Rice seedlings

Those hills at the back are about 3,000m up. I'm at about 2,000m here.

My hostel, facing the terraces. If you levitated to the top window on the right and peered in, you'd see me sitting on my pillow on a big wooden chair, typing these words on my iPad.

Then you'd see me scream out in shock and joy at having another beloved visitor come to see me, all these miles away.

The fog rolled in as it got dark.

So there's nothing much to do now but sit around, play guitar, and eat goji berries (with the occasional deadly pip), dried mango, more steamed peanuts, and a monkey's feast of bananas.

What in cosmos did I do to deserve such joy?

Bada

The next day I just cruised around the area on my happily unloaded bike.

Looking back at my village, Pugaolao. Sorta reminded me of some Spanish or French village somewhere (minus the church towers and tiled roofing).

Eventually I reached the Bada rice cultivation area, which is an absolutely amazing sight to see.

I definitely continued love in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Better than no afterglow at all I guess.

At the beginning there was a little path to some lookouts.

This place absolutely blew my mind. It's incredible to imagine that the ancestors of the locals here first began terracing and farming these steep slopes way back in the 700s. And their descendants have carried on doing the very same thing.

And besides all that, the place is just so amazingly beautiful.

I left the Chinese tourists and went strolling down the hill, eventually ending up in Bada village.

There were incredible views all over the shop.

The afterglow lasted awhile, I can tell ya.

Rolling Back

Eventually it was time to cruise back down the hill. As I was packing I met this super friendly guy, who was travelling with two of his mates around China, on huge motorbikes. One of them was travelling with a kitten.

Yep it's true. They're from Henan province, and are having a wow of a time. They couldn't believe what I was doing, and invited me to breakfast. Amazing guys!

Bewdy's got a thing for younger men, especially ones who obviously spend a lot of time in the gym.

I stopped at a little stall on the way down and had a snack. The woman served me wild rice topped with sugar, it was delicious.

The views were beautiful on the way down, of course. It was far less foggy than during my ascent a couple of days ago.

Tourist restaurant enclave. They're all seriously overpriced (relatively).

Xinjie from the other side. I stayed there on the way up.

Sometimes it was snowing these fluffy white seeds.

It didn't take long to get back to Yuanyang. Long downhills are like that, if the road's ok. I got to town, had a big lunch, got chatting to some locals, and they paid for my meal and drinks didn't they!

Unbelievable! The people here are just so outstandingly hospitable and generous! It's really amazing, and so heartwarming.

I'm just so gobsmacked I keep dribbling like a buffalo calf.

I crashed again in the arvo, then went to the night markets to grab some food. Of course I met loads of people to chat with, they're all so keen to talk with me.

Water sprinklers were set up everywhere. Keeping everyone cool on this balmy night.

Massive feast for 15CNY (about $3 Oz).

These were like some sort of wild raspberry, but with a seed in the middle. Tasty, a little hard, and not too sweet.

Tobacco pipes for sale.

And local baccy. Don't ask me about the cabbage leaves, maybe they keep it from drying out too much?

Water Splashing Festival

And of course I timed my return to Yuanyang perfectly, as it's the first night of the Water Splashing Festival, a springtime festival celebrated by many ethnic minorities in China, but particularly by the Dai people in Yunnan province.

It has the same roots as the Songkran festival in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, and is based on the traditional story of some princesses who had to splash water all over the land, as a demon's decapitated and burning head was spreading fires all over the bloody place, the nasty bugger.

The princesses saved the day, and these days people still traditionally splash water over the land, but they splash water over each other way more.

Last year I was in Thailand at the time, it was hot, and I got totally drenched, as did everyone. It was great fun.

For the first night of the festival here there was a big cultural concert in the main square, with dancers and musicians from many ethnic groups performing. The quality was amazing, and the costumes just scrumptious.

Sorry the pics aren't great, it was pretty crowded, and I got there after it'd started.

Some of the people in the audience were just as interesting as the performers.

The writing on the screen says things like, "Long live the People's Republic of China," "Long live the great unity of the people of the world," and "Your faith fuels courage." This particular performance was celebrating China, and Han culture.

It was quite beautiful to see the huge diversity of ethnic groups celebrated during the performance. At the end they all went on stage together for a dance and a song. It felt like a beautiful appreciation of the richness of Yunnanese culture.

And I've just scratched the surface.

Big Big Climbs

So tomorrow I'm gonna head north, and will attempt one of the biggest one day climbs I've done on the whole trip, a whopping 1900m straight up, over about 45km, and then another 35km more gently down, over the other side.

I mean, I'm sure if I really wanted to I could probably just camp up there somewhere around halfway for the night and carry on the next day. But part of me wants to see if I'm actually able to handle a climb like that all in one go, I wanna know what my body can do, as it'll help me plan for Central Asia.

My destination is Jianshui, an ancient town, famous for its incredible architectural heritage and culture.

This leg of my journey through Yunnan will eventually take me to Kunming, the capital, which I guess I'll maybe reach in around a week or so. Guanyin willing.

Back to the city! Kunming has a population of nearly 7 million, and will be my first Chinese city on this trip. I'm excited.

But I've gotta get up that bloody hill first.

And all the others❤️

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