PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH

For the second time on this leg of my Chinese experience, I cycled out of Chengdu city. This time I was heading South in a hurry, and I had decided to take what looked like the shortest most direct route in the direction of Yunan province and the Laos border.

I was still in Sichuan province, and it was painfully obvious to me that there was no way I could ride Old Saartjie (my bike) all the way to the border in just more than one week. I would have to take some alternative transport, but once again I was running rather thin on finances. I tried hitch hiking trucks, but, hitch-hiking is not part of the local culture here as there are various cheap transport options for locals.

Daily distances cycled:- Meishan Cun 89 km; Leshan Cun 93 km; E-Mei district 66 km; Ebian district 102 km; Wancun Cun 77 km; Leshan 80 km; Wuton 96 km; Mountain village 74 km; Yibin district 83 km. Hydro station 65 km; Xiloua (+20 km taxi) 67 km; Yi Village 75 km; Meigu junction 66 km; Xichang (+3hr local bus) 59 km; Kunming by train; Jinghong by bus; (to and from train and bus 42 km; Menglun 53 km; Mengla district 60 km; Dai Temple village 56 km; Natuy (Laos)71 km, and Luang Nam Tha 57 km. The total distance which I've cycled so far is 125 351 km.