Dali
to
Nannua

As seems to be customary after a rest - we prepared to set off in a tropical downpour. As we freewheel down the hill bidding Tim and Dean farewell until Kunming we hope that the rain will ease. The rain however has other ideas - and as we ride through Dali New City - 20km down the road its still bucketing down. The road here prohibits us from taking the highway and so we strike out on to the old road and discover that although the new road is a smooth wonderful masterpiece - the old road is in a state of neglect. We find the road goes from bumpy tarmac to dirt and soon becomes a sea of thick red mud. I had hoped this was all over with when we left Tibet - but the mud flies and sticks to our equipment - how annoying - I had just got everything clean and now this. The three of us curse and swear - especially when we only make 81km - despite our plan to hit the 100k's each day on our way to Kunming.

The town that offers us shelter from the mud and rain is no picture postcard - and has a nasty feel to it in the overcast evening light. I for only the second time in the expedition have a bad stomach - and on my visit to the toilet I have a nasty sight. Chinese toilets are certainly amongst the worse I have ever encountered - always dirty - unvariably pungently smelly - and sometimes - as with this facility - much much worse. As I look down from my doubled over position down the 45 degree concrete slope that carries away my efforts - I see a horrible sight amongst the sewage beneath me. For a start there is a huge open pipe full of weeks of the local people's toilet, but worse is the writhing bubbling movement that I can pick out. My eyes struggle to work out what they are seeing and then it clicks....the sewer is full of million upon million of wriggling maggots. I stand up like a shot and make a sharp exit - not really my kind of place...even Nickers says the rooms are disgusting - Nick is usually the least fussy of us!

We gladly find something slightly better - and manage to get a hot shower to wipe off the caked on road muck and mud. The next morning though we are thoroughly shocked by an even more depressing sight. As I come down to breakfast I see in front of our restaurant a pair of bright white eyes glaring out from a soot blackened face. A filthy man is crouching over a bucket. As I watch him I feel a sadness even stronger than experienced at any time in India. The man is feeding himself out of a pig slops bucket. From the slime he picks out morsels that he deems reasonable to nourish himself with. Its a truly sorry sight - and I offer him some biscuits - knowing full well that this is hardly going to help his plight - but I certainly can't just watch.

The road once again today is a wet one and we each ride shell shocked by what we have seen - Nick actually feels depressed for the whole day. This is not helped when we see another helpless tramp asleep in a pile of mud in the rain by the roadside. Its been a bad day - and we somehow can't quite fathom what it is that gives China a slightly cold and unnerving edge. The people seem to be quite happy most of the time - but there's something that is not quite right. The people maybe have been through too much and had too long without their full freedoms - who knows - but they certainly behave quite differently to our model.

We are treated in the evening - just as it gets dark we hit 107km and roll into Nannua - and cheekily investigate a posh looking hotel. Nick had just been saying how he really fancied a bath - and I was really hoping for a clean set of sheets and a big comfortable bed. The hotel delivers with flying colours - and we even get to watch International Darts. Its surreal viewing - two English Darts players slugging it out at the Circus Tavern Purfleet in front of a raucous drunken group of Essex men. We fall into a deep sleep and don't wake until 10:30am the next day.

2 days from here to Kunming