• Markham to Camp (86km)
• Camp to Yanjing (24.5km)
• Yanjing to Hongshan, Yunnan (46.8km)
• Hongshan to Dequin (66.9km)
• Dequin to Camp (52.8km)
• Camp to Sometinyvillage (68.8km)
• Sometinyvillage to Zondian (65.3km)
• Zondian to Qaitou (96.8km)
• Qaitou to Lijang (81.5km)
• Lijang to Sometinyvillage (86.9km)
• Sometinyvillage to Dali (81.36km)

Leaving Markham was easy - the first 50km was downhill we dropped down to 3520m on easy hard packed roads. However always at the back of our minds was the knowledge that today we would have to climb to the Hung La (4231m). The road snanked back and forth as it crawled its way up the pass, we were now in rhodedendron country, some were blooming and the smells from the clumps of vegetation became overpowering in the heat. As we reached the top of the pass and rounded a corner a fantastic Himalayan vista unfolded before us, a line of jagged snowcapped peaks in the distance and flowering rhodedendrons in the foreground. The 1,000m descent to find a campsite became a problem as there were no flat spaces unoccupied by Yak herders and their viscous snapping dogs. Eventually after 24km of steep downhill we found sanctuary in a roadworkers' compound just as the heavens opened and the rain began to pour down.

The road had deteriorated to such and extent that progress even down such a steep slope was slow, watching Matt and Ed descend we were given a reminder of the dangers as from a distance we watched Matts front wheel slide from under him, not what you want when there is a 900m vertical drop on one side of the road. The rain continued to get heavier and heavier the next day, triggering many small landslides, hearing the sound of rocks & earth beginning to fall certainly improves your sprinting speeds. Occasionally we would come across massive boulders in the middle of the road, but it was only when we rounded one corner to find a huge one in between tire tracks that we realised that these 1m cubed rocks were falling as we went past. The poor weather continued so we decided to not risk it on the increasingly unstable surface, it was then that our guide and driver voiced their concerns that the road became extremely dangerous when it rained.

About 8km beyond Yanjing ther is a huge stainless steel and marble arch it marked our exit from Tibet and entrance into China proper, clambering up the slippery marble we posed for the obligitory photos, well we reconed we'd earned it. To call Hongshan a one horse town is an insult to one horse towns, the main street by this time was 30cm under water and mud. The road all the way into town had been softened by the rain into a soupy consistency, landslide debris covered the road as we gingerly made our way along the river bank. Despite descending more than 700m we were still painfully slow, averaging only 14kmph all day. When the sun shines and the road is clear it must be one of the most fantastic rides in the world, but during monsoon!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rolling descent along the Mekong was fantastic but we knew that there was going to be a big climb to get to Dequin, what we didn't know was that the Chinese road builders had been very busy, they's only gone and paved the last 25km for us. Stopping at the top of the pass to pose for local tourist/photographers who were so impressed they said they would send our pics to the paper (Yeah right!) the hurling descent to Dequin was only interupted by coming across a Chinese cycle tourist. No tools, no puncture repair kit, about 30kg of luggage, ghettoblaster on the back he had a puncture. So what was he doing about it? He was having a fag and listening to seriously crap music on his ghettoblaster. Then we realised he was on a folding ONE SPEED bike, he was going to Lhasa. Made us feel rather inadequate on our 27 speed alloy/aluminium steeds, mind you ours worked!

Dequin was where we said our goodbyes to our driver Don Ten and guide Jabu, sad to see them go we were even sadder to be given our luggage back, we were not looking forward to cycling fully laden agin. It is surprising how quickly one gets used to the easy life! Well it was going to be OK as we could send a huge amount of the warm clothing home from the post office in Dequin, the weather was getting warm and 3 fleeces were a bit unecessary now. NIGHTMARE, Dequin post office doesn't send overseas parcels... what to do?? We could dump a whole load of stuff, or we could load our bikes to the very maximum and cycle for the next 3 days with huge loads.

Going for the latter option we headed uphill out of Dequin, I should explain that the road out of Dequin crosses 3 passes over 3,500m plus passes in one day! By the time we had done 10km I had burned 500 calories as we scaled the upto 10% gradient in very humid conditions. If I thought I was struggling Jenny was having an absolute nightmare, her heart rate was in the high 170's she was wheezing like an asthmatic steam train and was struggling to keep up. A rearrangement of the loads took place which eased the problem and left my bike looking ridiculously overloaded, it virtaully disappeared under the mountain of luggage. By the end of the day we were exhausted, finding the first flat spot after the Triple Pass (2m from the road edge) we quickly cooked and collapsed into bed.

Shangrila (Zongdian) means many things to many people, for the Chinese it means tourist bucks by the busload. To us it meant YET ANOTHER BLOODY PASS. Sweating our way up to the pass at 3500m we were horrified to see that there was a 200m descent to a valley and then a climb back up to 3570m. Up we slogged, swearing and complaining all the way, the rain would come just as we had finally put our waterproofs away and my bike began to creak dangerously, but very strangely only when I WASN'T pedalling!!!

Tiger Leaping Gorge is about 100km south of Zongdian, famous for its fantastic views, local tribes people and superb walks. We were looking forwards to a day off there. About 25km before town as we made our way down over 1600m of descent the road was being rebuilt. This is a strange ritual where the road builders try to cause as much environmental damage as possible whilst ending up with a road that will be proe to landslides forever! Or that's the way it seems! The mud was blissfully soft as our bikes swayed and fishtailed their way between the traffic coming the other way. Meanwhile overhead, men would be prising rocks from their lofty perches, these would come hurtling downhill at impressive speeds, sometimes with warning but occasionally without! The village of Quaitou was our first major Chinese backpacker town and very nice it was too, breakfast coffee and even pancakes. It was here we met Almitra (see: www.photogypsy.org) who has been walking around the world, it's taken her 6 years so far and she has a long way to go. She was waiting to get into Tibet, the thought of trying to outrun Tibetian Mastiffs on foot makes my blood run cold! We tried to get into the gorge but the 30Rmb entrance fee was a bit steep but what really put us off was the general attitude of the guy collecting the money - "Stuff it" another site along with the Potala that had priced itself out of our price range.

The Old Town of Lijang is what people think of when they think of China - all the corners of the roofs curl upwards, there are canals in betwen the houses and red paper lanterns hang from the wooden houses & gets about 2,000,000 tourists per year, but n one during SARS so we had a great time haggling prices down! For everything. More tourist faire, I could definitely get used to this style of travel, all beers, pizzas and full brekkies MmmmmmmmmThe 2 days and 170km of Toll Road to Dali are paved all the way, lined with food shops and very cheap accomodation options so it really easy for us to find our way here. Dali, backpacker capital of China WHY?, western food, beer, local handicrafts????? Nah theres lots of dope here, mostly sold by middle aged ladies with tiny kids strapped to their backs.

A quick train ride to Kunming would allow us to pick up our Laos visas and extend our Chinese Group permit as we would need an extra few days to reach the border . We handed our passports to the Loatian consul within a couple of hours of arriving in Kunming, then off to the PSB office to extent the group visa. The policemen behind the desk was very clear "No group visa extentions are being issued due to SARS, you have 10 days to leave the country" hmm maybe this was going to take some time!!!!!!!!!!!