After 40 km of riding I am only 26 km south east of the centre of Kunming at a town called Chengong. Riding out of Kunming was reasonable, although traffic was heavy - including bike traffic. I would be sitting at traffic lights with 20 or more bikes in front of me . I got lost several times leaving Kunming and eventually had to use the GPS to get me on the right route. I am using Oziexplorer and a compact flash GPS unit. I scanned in the maps of this area and it gives me a reasonable idea of where I am.

I had forgotten the joys of Chinese roads - the roads under repair, the new roads being built, and the roads that desperately need repair. China is definitely a place for a mountain bike. I helped a guy pull the front wheel of his motor bike out a storm water drain/sewer (probably sewer) that was open at the side of the road.

I managed to avoid the main road for a few kilometres by riding along a road that was under construction. Rejoining the main south road (it eventually goes to Laos) the traffic is dense. There are semitrailers, dump trucks, nice new audi cars mixing it with bikes, horse-draw carts, three wheel trucks and more.

I tried staying at a hotel up the road, but it was not a 'Tourist Hotel'. It still seems that the Chinese make sure that tourists only go to Tourist hotels, a practice I hoped they had given up on. This hotel is fairly typical - vastly over staffed and undermaintained. There is a very nice foyer with a couple of reception people, and a woman sitting at a desk on every floor. They also wanted a 220 Yuan deposit (its only 80 Yuan a night). The roof has about 50 cigarette burns in the carpet, peeling paint, electrical fittings falling of the walls, I wonder what the deposit is for?

Kunming: the centre of the capital of the poorest province in China.


Kunming Skyline - 4 million people.

Kunming is not at all what I expected. Kunming is at its centre a nice modern city , wide avenues and malls. Many people are riding bikes, electric bikes or electric scooters. Traffic is not too heavy (for a large asian city) probably because of the wide roads. There are many department stores, supermarkets and market stalls in older 'unrenovated' parts of Kunming.


Green Lake a park to the north of the centre of Kunming

These guys were flying kites in the most unlikely of places. They were at the edge of Green Lake park but flying them over multistory buildings. They also congregated together with all their kite lines sometimes tangling. Look at their very professional reels.

Six years after my last bike ride in China, I am back again - this time in Kunming in Yunnan province.

I am doing this blog on a Toshiba e830 Pocket PC using a GSM mobile phone and GPRS through China Mobile - and the occasional internet cafe.