There are three consistencies I have observed:
1. There is a construction boom everywhere. Bridges, highways, homes, huge schools; everywhere we have been.
2. There is such an interesting mixture of old, new, and new-old, like Lijiang ancient city which looks so old, but was ALL built after the massive earthquake in the late 90’s.
3. Chinese men in groups eating and drinking are so f’n goddam loud all the time without consideration of anyone else! Yelling, hacking, spitting; and the women alike. Of course, I know I’m in their space and not judging; just observing the pattern, especially when it occurs just outside my room.

Today we left Shangrila. We rode out through areas of massive development. We saw one secondary school that had so many buildings it looked like it would house 10,000 students.

Riding back in the direction of the Yangtze, we eventually were treated to a fantastic 40k downhill! Today’s total was 90k; much of it along the Yangtze once we rejoined it. Mostly Tibetan farming and ranching areas early in the day; then moving into a region mostly populated by Yi people which do appear to be much less uniquely identifiable than the Tibetans whose clothing and houses are so beautiful.

Arriving in Stone Drum Town was not any sort of wow. We will see the drum tomorrow morning; an ancient war remnant; the drums were used to synchronize and motivate soldiers during battle, back in the day.

As we descended about 1000m today, we are back in incredible heat, probably over 90f I would guess. The last 25k was flat into a 10-12k headwind. Jah and I rode it hard and fast, switching the lead as we drafted each other arriving at least 15 minutes ahead of the rest.

Staying at by far the least attractive guest house so far. Looking at the whitewashed interior walls…no fans in this stifling heat, dead-still air. Set in on a side street in with somewhat open drainage, saw a mid-sized rat wandering the trash lining the drainage ditch opposite the entrance.

We did have a fantastic dinner with about nine different plates of panfried veggies, eggplant (auberjean?), green beans, potatoes, cabbage, pork, u-greens, rice of course, and fresh diced red hot peppers.

By then, it was dark and everyone was beat from the heat, wind, and dusty riding. A few of us took a walk up the hill, and in a small square an outdoor movie, Chinese drama of some sort, on a huge white sheet hung on a building. There is a huge bend in the Yangtze here allegedly visible from the upper town area, but it was too dark to see it clearly.

Not a good sleep; too hot, too noisy…

Day 8 – Shangri_la – Stone Drum Town The start of today’s ride to Lesser Zhongdian is relatively flat through the grass-lands and over small hills. A long but steady ascent will take us to a pass before a spectacular 40 km descent to Qiaotou. After the descent, we’ll be taken by the vehicle down the river to what is known as the ‘first bend’ of the Yangtze since leaving Tibet. This is a popular spot for the locals to sell fruit and other local pro-duce. We overnight at the ancient town of Shigu. Stone Drum Town Shi Hong Hotel. Ride 90 km. B L D