Jinghong to Mohan

Day 62 Thursday 1st October 171 km (19008 km total)

 

Good bye yellow brick road!

- - - -

Only a short ride to Mohan, the border town with Laos, so we didnt plan to leave Jinghong until after lunch. That left the morning free for some jobs.

First one was to check the Tiger's wheel nuts & adjust the chain.

The previous evening I had nipped out on the bike with the spare tyre I bought in Astrakhan, to a tyre fitter to have it fitted in place of the Mitas E07 that I had ridden on all the way from the UK.

Actually the Mitas would easily have got me to Thailand, but that would have meant carrying the spare again (it had been in the guide's car boot all through China). So I devided to change it and give the Mitas to the guide to keep as an emergency replacement for anyone that needs it in the future.

So it was goodbye Mitas - a truly fantastic rear tyre & highly recommended - it was being replaced with a Heidenhau, which was all I could get in Russia, but also has a good reputation.

The following 2 shots are of the Mitas E07 after I had taken it off - pretty good condition seeing as it had done more than 20,000 km on all kinds of roads, still about 3-4mm of tread left in the centre.

Nipping out to have the tyre changed wasn't quite as simple as I had hoped though. The first couple of places refused to do it, the third agreed, but only if I took the wheel off myself. No real problem, except I was aleady pretty hot & sticky from the days ride and the only space to remove the wheel was on the pavement, which meant I had soon collected a motley band of observers!

Anyway, wheel off the tyre fitter did his stuff & then it was down to me to get it back on, trying to remember to put the spacers back in the right way around, as well as mount the brake pads correctly. Lots of suggestions coming in chinese from the bystanders!

Anyway the long & short of it is in my haste to get away and into the shower, I didnt adjust the chain properly and so that was the first job for this morning.

2nd job of the morning was to have a haircut. Now this was quite a novelty for me as I normally cut my own hair (no jokes please!). I stopped paying for a haircut about 35 years ago and have just used a pair of clippers since then - easy peasy. However, I didnt have any clippers with me and things were getting a bit unrully, so it was time for a proper cut, and off I headed down the street.

My 25 yuan cut also included washing and a head massage - very nice, might have to start going again!

Not long after, it was time to leave, so off we went for our last bit of China.

Nice roads for the last day

96km to Mohan & the border

 

Farmers burning off the stubble

 

Last Chinese tunnel!

 

As the road curved its way through the lush landscape, Elton John started singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in my headphones. It seemed kind of apt, & my mood necame a little melancholy.

This wasn't just the end of China, but the end of unfamiliarity. Ever since I entered Slovenia some 55 days ago, I have been travelling through countries I have never been to before, unfamiliar lands and unfamiliar cultures. Once I enter Laos tomorrow, it will all start to become familiar again.

 

 

Just as we arrived in Mohan it started to rain heavily.

I checked into the hotel, unpacked & showered and emerged from the room to find a Chinese couple having a wedding reception in the restaurant below.

Good luck whoever you are, as my chinese adventure comes to a close, yours is just beginning.

We went for a a last "guess what it is" meal with our chinese guide, and then turned in for a relatively early night, as we needed to start the border process early in the morning.

Chinese security was clearly determined to have the last laugh, though.

I was just drifting off to sleep in my room when there was a quiet knock at the door. I ignored it.

The knock repeated, this time more insistently, so grumpily, I got up went to the door opened it roughly and said WHAT?!

Outside the door were 5 policeman - well actually 4 men & a lady officer who was the only one who spoke English. She proceeded to ask me the usual round of questions, 'where are you from?', 'where are you going'

Its hard not to be flippant at times like this, especially as she was holding a photocopy of my passport (where are you from) and we are 500m from the border with Laos (where are you going). I just managed to resist telling her I was From Africa and crossing the border to sweeden!

Then a new question from the lady officer

'please give me your chinese mobile phone number'

'Why?' i asked 'what do you want my number for, are you goimg to call me later?'

'It is my duty.' , she replied, maintaining a friendly but stern face.

....

So goodbye China, its been a blast.

You are an amazing country, and have some wonderful peoples. My abiding memory will be of your sheer scale & variety. It has taken 25 days to cross you and in that time I have ridden through snowy peaks, arid deserts, lush jungles, huge cities and tiny communities of yurts. I have seen civil enginnering works that blow the mind and along side them patchwork fields being worked by hand, new cities being created from nothing, with no people yet to fill them, old monasteries and historical sites vying for the tourists attentions. I have met and been detained by your security forces in the line of their routine work and found them always friendly, curteous and never corrupt.

There is a lot to reflect on, it was not the route I had originally planned but an excellent one all the same.

Good night & goodbye China.