Yanjing to Zhongdian

With a decent nights sleep behind us we draw further down the Mekong Valley - winding with the river through ever more beautiful villages and small dispersed communities. The patchwork of green fields is stunningly bright and wonderfully ordered - the neatest and tidiest farming I can ever remember seeing. Just before lunch we arrive in a bustling village with what seems to be a district sports day in mid flow. A women’s basketball match is in progress and the assembled throng is watching and cheering enthusiastically. As the game's final whistle blows we are gestured to take a few shots before the next game begins. At each basket swooshing through the hoop the crowd roar with approval - they are obviously quite taken with our (limited) basket balling skills. Before we know it the schedule has been fully rearranged and we are preparing to take on the reigning local champions. In respect of our height advantage though, the officials decide that we shall play with 4 players against their 5. No matter.....we don our red and yellow Saracen lycra, huddle together and then give a proud...'2-4-6-8- SARACEN!!!' - much to the amusement of the crowd. The game is closely fought but w tire towards the end of the 2nd half and give the hardworking locals too many opportunities. The final score sees the plucky Englishmen going down 30 to 26....but its been such fun - we applaud the crowd and shake hands all round.

Our afternoon's ride is a killer - our aching legs really struggle to propel us up the hill - the 1300m climb proves hard hard graft and we ride well into the evening. The climb is however enlivened by a halting Landcruiser who skids to a stop just in front of us to spill out 3 Chinese photographers who snap wildly with a myriad of different cameras. As it turns out they are from a weekly magazine in Guangzhou - one of China's largest cities. We wonder how much we should tell them of our recent brushes with the authorities - but we pose proudly for their pictures.

Over the crest of the hill finally and we cruise downwards into Deqen. I sing a little song to myself as I roll along - 'I'm gonna get a shower, I'm gonna get a shower, ee ay adio....I'm gonna get a shower'. This is certainly indicative of my sad twisted state of mind - but I can tell you - with just 3 showers so far during our ride through Tibet I'm rather a state! The Department Hotel is no palace, but at least we get a hot shower. During our shower however the overenthusiastic Chinese reporters barge in and once again begin snapping...they have decided that they will run a photo diary of 'The English Cyclists in Shangri-La' - and we are snapped all the way through the hotel...hmmm....and at dinner - and kipping down in our beds.

Deqen is a Chinese building site of a town and our rest day is a strange one - but we get plenty of chance to wash, clean bikes and grind through the monotonous side of our travelling routine.

We take another 3 days from there to climb our last serious pass - up to 4300m once again, down to the Yangtse River, over a smaller range and down on to the grassy plain that surrounds Zhongdian. We wave goodbye from 4300m to Tibet - and the Himalaya - this is surely our last brush with the High Altitudes that have been a part of us for the last 8 weeks. The Yangtse is not quite as spectacular as it deserved to be - although the powerful breeze funneling up from the plains to the mountains was an unforgettable experience as we paused in the middle of the bridge. The anticipation builds as we get closer and closer to Zhongdian - this is truly our return into civilisation after Tibet. We torture ourselves as we descend the last few k's - what will we eat first. Zhongdian is a backpacker destination - albeit a small one and so we know very well that there will be an assortment of Western Foods. We aren't disappointed. We stand momentarily in awe as we catch a view of the city from the last ridge and then we make our sweeping descent - and directly into the Tibet Cafe.

We don't actually leave the Tibet Cafe it seems for the next 48 hours - our tastebuds bask in the glory of the chocolate cake, pizza, muesli and coffee - its simply too much! The dormitory is wonderful and clean and even has a CD system with one solitary Western album - but even Seal is a great tune to ears that have been without music for so long.

We chat with the other travellers making their way up from Yunnan - trying to get a glimpse of the fringes of Tibetan culture - and we recount the stories time after time of how we snuck through the check posts under cover of night, and of the barking dogs etc.

I am slightly sad to not see Dean here in Zhongdian - but I ring her and she's just a couple of days away by bike. I figure I'll just have to wait - but then as I use the email in the Post Office - I spy her walking into the main hall - she caught the bus up here after all - and so we have a wonderful reunion - reading each others diaries and listening to her stories of Eastern China. We celebrate the success of the last few weeks and of all being back together again.