Our route reached the end of the remote areas and spat us out at a junction town
where construction of a huge bridge, which dwarfed the town, was in progress.
Though still early, the town was of a decent size, making it an excellent place to
spend the night. This was clearly not a touristy area as hotel staff became
extremely shy, giggled, and pushed each other forward to deal with their unusual
visitors.
Half the town had gathered when a room was negotiated, all trying to help with
the bikes while jabbering in Mandarin. The unusual part was, realising we didn't
speak Chinese, the staff painstakingly wrote everything out. What were the
chances of being able to read Chinese characters if unable to speak Mandarin? I
subsequently learned the many different dialects varied to such an extent they
didn't understand each other, but all could read the Chinese characters.
Bridge junction town - Shuifu – 90 km
What a confusing day. With limited visibility and an inadequate map, it felt like we
were heading in the direction we had come from. But, aided by Ernest's GPS and
all pointing in the same direction, we kept going. In the process, our path crossed
the Jinsha River into Yunnan province (completely unexpected). The best part of
the day was spent biking along a dusty track, made worse by quarries and
construction sites.
By late afternoon, while searching for a suitable campsite, the road passed
through a long tunnel. On the opposite end, instead of camping, we discovered a
massive city with gigantic skyscrapers! Shuifu was thought far smaller and a
further 30 kilometres down the drag. This was clearly "New China"! Dusty and
sweaty, and in great need of a shower, the first convenient hotel had to do.