Michael was chubby mouth, dark hair, loud voice and was class valedictorian. It was probably a geography lesson 6 grade, and Michael talked about Asia.
"Yangtze River is the largest river of China" - I do not know why I remember this sentence has.
I'm standing on a hill and stare at the stream of the Yangtze. Now I can add a few sentences from each other more. That is the longest river in Asia (6300 km) and the third-longest in the world, that its source lies in Tibet, that crosses China almost horizontally from west to east, that lives in the delta until a third of the country's population, that sometimes the water is the color of emerald and sometimes brown.. and that you will accompany me on and off for the rest of my stay in China. The Gorge Tiger Leaping (Tiger Leaping Gorge), one of the biggest tourist attractions of Yunnan Yangtze River squeezes between two mountain ranges in height 5300 and 5600 meters, and its canyon at its narrowest point is only 25 meters wide. It is beautiful here. The color of the water is what is true at this time of year, brownish, but visibility in the żarówiasto-sunny day outstanding, which is not so frequent here. Istna unsteady.
Only I do not feel very well. The canyon is about 20 kilometers and my plan is to, to spend the night somewhere in the middle. Anything But Me "Muli" in the stomach and can not drive on a road ruthlessly rises. Two days earlier, on the way to the tourist town of Lijiang and the Gorge was also not too interesting. It was bad. Stomach trouble, the details of yourself and others spare and fever caused, that outstanding on the road for a good few hours of not being able to spionizować. This and the previous day passes by dozens of cyclists from China. This road is a real bicycle highway to Tibet, do Llasy. Not the first time I meet Chinese people on bikes going there, but there is a lot of them. How do I find out some have the custom to follow it every year, This kind of a tradition. Good for them.. I do not. Foreigners can not enter into Tibet individually. The rules for entry into the region of China (?) constantly changing and the latest changes found, that you can only get in with a group organized by purchasing not only by tour, but most of all permit. Total trifle several thousand USD. The Chinese are sincere surprised as them realize.
I have downloaded the Tibetan bicycle highway two Chinese cyclists and somehow together doturlaliśmy to the nearest shelters. The guys decided to stay where I am, to possibly help support me and English, wherein one ruled, Ping. Even in the evening I prepared dinner, which of course I could not touch. Fortunately the morning was much better and I decided to roll out further.
So much talking about przywarach Chinese, but many times I received from them too unselfish help and a lot of smiles. Był Ping, was met Cindy at the post office who had spent there with me, "intoxicating" 3 hours, to send a packet (people! How many can!), była Tin-tin, who invited me home for the night and Chiang, which got a hotel room and many other small gestures of other people. I will remember this for sure.
The stomach is, however, this, with so quickly does not give. In the middle of the road in the canyon is me so bad, I decide to go back to the last location of the accommodation. Fortunately, I've seen and so much. No data is I get to Shangri-La, that is, the gates of Tibet. I wanted to get there side, apparently beautiful, but difficult route through 3 passes of over 3 thousand. above sea level.. It was all the attraction and the "centerpiece", because I place Shangri-La is apparently now artifact full of souvenir shops and hordes of Chinese tourists. Thank you, Last week I visited two similar - Dali and Lijiang, and tarried there after 1 from 1001 nights tales. Yes, nice, renovated, Climate, but at the same time completely my some such little authentic, and not full of tourists.
When I go back to the main road and begin to wonder do next just before my nose stops big empty bus driving there, where I intended to go a few days later. Falls fast decision. We pack the bike, I get the same finish and adventure of the highway to Tibet.
Over the next few days to roll through the central Yunnan sometimes walking with bicycle (about this in the next post), sometimes quite unexpectedly classifying kilkudziesięciokilometrowe runs through the valley of the river. Views judge it themselves.
Interesting, whether Michael can ever got here?