Our trip to Yunnan province in China was purely for a ten day cycling tour around the Mountains of Xishuangbanna on the border with Manyamar and Laos. This area is renowned for its Pu’er tea in particular but also rubber plantations and the 12 ethnic minority groups. There were eight of us on the […]
Our venture into the weird world that is China took place over a relatively short period of time and was centred around one major activity: cycling. So this time it’s a top-5 rather than a top-10 as we ventured into not only visiting a new country but having a look into one of recent histories […]
How; how goes the rhetorical cry from the studio audience more a wail of exasperation than a question. This year long reality TV show style procession of food stop to food stop thinly veiled as a travel experience has taken place in much of the worlds more underwhelming food locations. Until now. There has been […]
A casual downhill calls the end to the G8 cycling odyssey, like a spotlight fading slowly on a stage the four grannies and the four gays bring their bikes to a halt at the bike shop. Warm hugs of celebration and congratulations spontaneously erupt at the thought of making it back unscathed. Well unscathed if […]
An alarm so rudely bleats at us in our warm sanctuary of comfortable bedding among the plastic city that offers so little other than this pile of crumpled sheets, there’s quite literally nowhere better to be than in this bed. Possibly the breakfast buffet has a claim to that title and in the tumbling rain […]
One could be forgiven for thinking that this part of our trip, the journey into China is about cycling, catching up with friends or even a cultural eye opener into a new country. It’s all these things but don’t look now, there’s an elephant in the room: tea. Yes we’re cycling the mountains of Yunnan […]
It’s morning time and in Zhanglang and the English translation here is more or less: market time. I’m on the back of the bike with Wendy and everyone else is crammed into the van with China-esque human rights considerations. Xiding township nearby is about ten minutes away and the G8 minus me pour out of […]
Firing on all cylinders goes the saying, that’s the G8 today as we push off from Menghun to Zhanglang in the first of the mountain stages of the Tour de Yunnan. Well all except for Andy who’s still refining his target practice at toilet time; all of the time. With the sprint stages done for […]
Yesterday my conflicting thoughts craved a jungle, a natural world victorious where leaves of green burst into every available space and a rampant jungle keeps the secrets of a forest floor far from our prying eyes. That was yesterday, today I’m basically ready to declare myself a prophet. For moments then I shut my eyes […]
Charlie is back on the bike and I’m out of the morgue ceremonially taking the front seat of the van that today seems a more comfortable beast than the one I remember. In the first few sweeping ribbons of road that carve their way elegantly around the hillsides my new found conflict raises its spectre […]
Charlie and Steve's Excellent Adventure 