Dragon Tales 1

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.

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Go to Part 2