Distance from Kunming = 715km

The aftershock of the bright city lights turned out to be almost as strange as our initial arrival in Kunming. After the orderly broad perfectly aligned matrix of streets and the shiny glass sky bound towers, it seemed remarkable that we should so rapidly be plunged back into chaos on the old road bumping its way southwards. We struggled to find our way out of the city and on to our intended route. The signposts are rarely intelligible to us - and the art of communicating verbally with bystanders on street corners proves difficult on almost every occasion. Each person is from a slightly different ethnic minority - and so speaks with a slightly different dialect - and besides, the complex tonal patterns of Chinese are not something that we have been able to get a grip of. As a lucky last resort, Hamish and Leah - two cyclists we met on our road down from Tibet - gave us their Chinese roadmap - complete with Chinese characters for place names. This will be our top tip number 1 for other cyclists in China - get a Chinese road map - and point at the characters for where you want to go...fingers crossed - it hasn't failed yet! 

The temperature seems to rise as soon as we leave Kunming - and the road gets really dusty. This and the crazy traffic that hares its way on and off the small strip of tarmac give a feel of somewhere other than China - its far more South Asian - maybe Nepalese or Indian. Eventually it calms down enough for Andrew and I to begin a conversation....a rather overdue conversation. We have not been getting on too well of late. The strains of the physical effort, the team dynamics with new team members, and the weariness of some 8 months on the road are beginning to tell. It would be obvious to any outsider that we need to support each other - but somehow we found ourselves in a petty tit for tat communications breakdown. The details aren't interesting, but we certainly have enough fuel for a good set to as we pedal. Gladly however, we tail off into a civilised discussion - and I hope we both see the sense in getting past these minor difficulties. As we ride towards the sunset the kilometres have flown by. Not sure whether Nickers knew what we were talking about - but I feel a great weight has lifted. We're happy as we pull into our night stop. We're directed to the only 'hotel' in town ; a 4 star monster complete with swimming pool - with the standard character bypass that typifies all Chinese Hotels. Sadly the budget won't quite reach these giddy heights - and so its a concrete box for us tonight - 1 pound a head is more at our level.

We set sail early and knowing that we have a long road before us. Jinghong is some 700km distant - and so we know we've got some serious riding to do. The early part of the day is undulating but good progress is made. Just after lunch we are able to pull off the old road, bump across the dirt track usually reserved for construction traffic and on to the not quite complete new Expressway to Yuanjiang. Normally out of bounds to us - today on the closed road we have the 2 carriageways to ourselves - its quiet, smooth and fast. It carries us down a 15km downhill. We're losing height fast at the moment - and at the end of the day we're at just 1300m above sea level. Another day of riding and we're down by the Red River - at the depressing height of 650m. This leg of the journey making our way down to the Lao border had been treated as something of a formality and an easy ride. We find this to not be the case. The hills rise to around 1800m, with alarming regularity - its an up and down rollercoaster - which sees us sweating and layering on the suncream. 

Our day to Yuanjiang - on the Red River is slower progress than expected - mainly due to the disastrous hills that obstruct our pedaling, - but also due to the stoppages by the roadside to patch up Andrew's ailing racks. He has suffered some 10 breakages between his front and rear racks in the last few weeks - and his racks seem to have more patches, jubilee clips and cable ties than good metal. I wonder how we can have been so careless to overlook this most crucial of components. Andrew purchases new Chinese racks - and we pray for better reliability!

The Red River is not overly remarkable to look at, as we cross the bridge. On the map however, its course is much more noteworthy. It follows an almost comical path from its source in the foothills of Tibet - as straight as an arrow it sprints its way to seemingly the nearest coast it can find. It doesn't hesitate, deviate or pause for thought - its bright blue line on the map is simply an almost perfect line.

Our night in Yuanjiang looks destined to be a sweaty one - as the temperature even at 6pm is overpowering (estimate around 34C). In a moment of divine intervention though we are guided to a hotel with air-conditioned rooms - where we may shelter from the roaring oven outside. We take over a Karaoke suite for our evening meal - a part of the hotel complex. Karaoke is the rash like craze that has diseased most of China in recent years - and now seems to be the number one hobby for leisure time Chinese. We watch the TV screen in horror as we are treated to Chinese covers of Jennifer Rush, Robert Palmer and a horrific mix up of other equally horrendous 80's western pop tunes. We retreat to bed soon after we've eaten - but our ears are tortured long into the night by the caterwauling of minds-eye pop icons waiting to be discovered.

Our best efforts to get away before the heat becomes too intense the next day are thwarted - its been hot all night - and remains so as we begin our ride. The forest closes in densely around us, and the air doesn't move. The crickets and other collection of unseen minibeasts in the undergrowth chirp and sing violently - each new tune more exotic and unexpected than the last. This doesn't help us too much though. We sweat in rivers as we climb. The gradient is painful - and the perspiration runs down my face - directly into my eyes. I try to avoid the stinging sensation of the salt by screwing my eyes up tightly to guide the streams down my face. The drops collect on my nose and on my chin and drip uncomfortably. When we pause we wonder whether we shall acclimatise to these conditions. Just 36km of forward progress for the morning - and all of it uphill - the stiff ascent of 1200m has been a good achievement - but it doesn't feel to have brought us much closer to Jinghong! We manage not much further in the afternoon (70k's total) - and we give up a little earlier than normal - lets get a rest and try again tomorrow!

We make a concerted effort over the next 4 days - and hit our target early on Wednesday 7th June. A remarkable transformation has been taking place as we ride. We have ridden now away from the heartlands of China - Kunming - and on our southbound trajectory we are now in the land of the Dai ethnic minority. Close relatives of the Thai and Lao peoples - we watch the skin tones change and the facial features become more akin to how we picture the Thai. Most exciting of all is the humour, laughing and smiling which seems to have returned to these people. We are arrested at every turn by smiling eyes, and waving outstretched hands - its a happy friendly place.

Most friendly of all seem to be the women who work in the small hotels at the roadside. We stay a couple of nights in these basic guesthouses - and it seems to become clear. These girls, however are not just friendly - they are ladies of the night - working girls! On both occasions when we avail ourselves of their rooms we have bangs on the doors just before bedtime. We wonder whether we are being unfair to the local female population - it seems too outrageous to be true - they're everywhere! Even as far back as Marco Polo's incursions into China though, he reports a preponderance of this line of work. In one city outside Beijing he reports some 25000 prostitutes. Apparently in the 13th Century it was taken as a sign of great fortune by the parents if a passing traveler would select one of their daughters. The parents must be very disappointed that these 3 cyclists turn the other cheek and simply eat sleep and then pedal off the following morning! We joke in one particular establishment - where we are provided with Mosquito nets - we usually refer to them as Mozzer nets - but these ones are rechristened 'Prozzer' nets - we lock the door firmly behind ourselves as we hit the sack. We're pretty confident in our analysis of the situation by the time we get to Jinghong - the women in nightdresses, the small wooden cubicles, the scurrying feet in the night and the women who seem to sleep all day - surely we can't be mistaken - The rural sex industry is booming!

Monsoon / Thunder

We are given one warning shot across our bows of the weather that lays before us - when we have a brief rainy interlude in the middle of the day. The following day however we are given a full tropical downpour which lasts for a full hour and a half. The sky overhead clouds over, and a wind whips up from nowhere. The locals hurry around gathering in their belongings - and within just a few short minutes the first heavy drops are exploding on the ground. Before long the drops have increased to a torrent and the water is swooshing across the road in waves. We are each soaked to the skin - and now rather than sweat streaming down our faces its rainwater that drips off our noses and chins. The drops are clattering down through the overhead canopy of trees - down to the ground and bouncing back up - giving the appearance of a mist floating just above the ground. Its a memorable experience - one that none of us has ridden through before. Andrew and I marvel at the range of the world that we have been lucky enough to ride through - through Eastern Europe, across the Crossroads of Asia in Istanbul, dodged Earthquakes in Turkey, narrowly missed the snowing up of the Turkish Passes in the Kurdish homelands of East Turkey, Ramadan in the Islamic Republic of Iran, across the desert in Baluchistan, between Pakistan and India with the threat of full scale war looming, into Tibet in the shadow of Everest, through forbidden East Tibet, and now into the South of China - and the monsoon. The fresh rain feels as if is awaking me from some sort of slumber - the last few weeks from coming out of Tibet I don't feel as if I've really been living the adventure to the full - I've been cruising on autopilot - but this is a new sensation. The thunder cracks above us - and shatters into a hundred smaller pieces that rattle around above us. The booming reverberation in the valley comes regularly and frequently - and we have the chance to listen to the thunder. Its a beautiful orchestra of sound - the birdsong, the patter of the heavy drops, the crickets, and the deep booming of the sky. It overlays perfectly to make a thrilling symphony. As the storm dwindles and stops we stop to wring out our T-Shirts. We laugh and re-live the best moments of the storm - what a feeling - riding in the monsoon. The moisture on the road is already beginning to evaporate and the steam is rising. The cycle is beginning over again and the moisture will reform the clouds ready for tonight's deluge!

Our last day into Jinghong brings us alongside the Sanchahe Nature Reserve. Following last nights reading - I have discovered that we are officially in Rainforest country. All around us is deep undergrowth into which our eyes can barely penetrate. The cacophony of the insect brigade grows ever louder - and from time to time there are flutters in the trees and rustles in the undergrowth....but we see nothing for the time being. We shall be amongst these dense jungles for some time - we have now crossed the Tropic of Cancer and are heading for the Equator - seems to have taken rather a long time- but we're getting there!

Our road has been alternating between tarmac that is barely better than off road and wonderful smooth surface. For the last 23km we discover that a new 2nd Class highway has been built - and this trims some 7km from our ride. It also speeds our progress greatly - and we climb swiftly to the top of the last pass - from 1500m we have 700m to drop now down to the Mekong Valley where we shall enter the town of Jinghong - hopefully to meet Tim and Dean once again.