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Yunnan Province; China

Mar
2004-09-14 15:37:29

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an enormous camera lens is zoomed in at us from the window of a passing touring bus just at the moment we struggle to get air and breath heavily from cycling up a nasty hill. The bus slows down to provide the passengers more time to take photos. At this moment more windows are opened and 2 video cameras and five 'thumbs-up' appear through the windows. It takes some time for the bus to pull up and leaves us in dust and a cloud of black exhaust fume. Sometimes I wonder if I breath heavily because of the hills or all the lorry exhausts that are all pointed to the side of the road and producing and leaving the pedestrians (and cyclists!) in a black smoke.

Lijinang to the Tiger Leaping Gorge

(29/09/2003) At this moment we are cycling from Lijiang to the Tiger Leaping gorge in one day (85km). The road leads us through very nice sceneries of mountains reaching around the 4000m. Ever since we entered Lijiang we have seen the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain coloring the horizon with it's rocky white summit, after a half day cycling we reach the foot of this 5896 meter giant. At 3000m the nice scenery makes place for a golf court and large parking for the Chinese touring busses. From this point a cable car runs up the mountain, transporting the groups of Chinese tourists who consider this the highlight of a day trip from Lijiang. We have a lunch in one of the restaurants on the parking place. We are placed in the backside of the restaurant between the bus drivers and tour guides at a long dark wooden table. There is a lunch buffet were we can eat for 20 Yuan per person ($ 2,50). The tour groups are placed in the main restaurant and are served at the 'reserved' tables.

Chinese tourism stops at the Jade Snow dragon mountain, and so does the attention to the pavement of the road. Now and then we enjoy the asphalt but it’s mostly a bunch of stones stuck in the ground that make the road. After ...