Today was intended to be a 55k loop through spectacular rice terraces. The rain was coming down strong; so much that walking was through an inch or two everywhere, and my umbrella actually somehow failed. An attempted walk was followed by an hour with a blow dryer trying do dry out my only shoes. Yeah, maybe I sound like I’m whining, but this is about our fifth out of six days with heavy enough rain to prevent the planned riding.

Now, on our last full day where an 8am riding start was necessary, and when four hours of driving in the afternoon is also necessary, and while it rained cats and dogs from breakfast at 7am until 11am and we checked out at noon; NOW when there is no time to ride, the clouds are moving away!!! Grrr…

We walked through the local market in the morning rain, and didn’t have a camera with me cuz it was drying out. Another Grrr… I saw lots of interesting things I wished I had photo’d. Maybe the funniest thing I saw was a large poly bag; the kind you’d see at the feed store full of some grain. There were four holes cut in each side and eight live duck heads were sticking out; their bodies inside the bag. Ingeniously cheap duck cage for transport to market. You see so much of that sort of thing here; ingenious solutions to everyday needs at little or no cost. It often reminds me that if you use bailing wire to hold something together or some other similar no-cost fix solution to a problem in the US, people would look at you screwy and think you were poor, or cheap, or some other inferred minor disdain. Maybe I’m wrong about that…

Mostly we are seeing Yi, Hani, and Bai people in their traditional dress frequently. It’s almost like wearing a uniform every day. And for these particular ethnic groups, only the women are so dressed; the men wear non-traditional clothing. Some of the clothes ate gorgeously adorned with embroidery and fantastic combinations of multi-colors.

Anyway, because of time constraints today, we are now driving the loop we were hoping to bike. What a crying’ shame, as Lyle Lovett would say. Especially since the sun is now out!!!!!

After some spectacular views of the Yuanyang terraces, particularly Tiger’s Mouth, then began a grueling five hours in the van back to Jianshiu. At least we stopped again for roadside mangoes! Damn, they are so tasty!!!

Arriving Jiangshui around 730pm, a quick shower to rejuvenate then out to din. I have been suffering a bit of Dehli belly, so that made the bumpy van ride particularly unpleasant. But six hours today and four more tomorrow back to Kunming in the van does definitely reconfirm for me, a tour that is vehicle-based is very inferior to one that is all cycling. It’s exhausting riding around in a car. It’s exhilarating and rewarding riding around on a bike! And renews my appreciation and thankfulness of this fortunate life in so many ways that permits these experiences…