The first riding day started with another surprise provided by the marketing girl ;-)
They have asked us to stop by their shop in the morning and someone would lead us out of the mayhem of Kunming. But she had changed her mind over night and more reporters, TV and radio station staff showed up. We had to give some interviews before we were finally released.




Andy at the interview


Herbert's turn


Finally on the way


Refused on the expressway 1

The first 100 kms were quite boring and it was only after lunch when the scenery became nicer and traffic less.


Along a river


Roads aren't too bad

I panicked a bit in this tunnel, as it is very narrow and makes a sharp turn. When you enter it with your sunglasses on, you cannot see anything! Although we were pretty slow, it seemed to take minutes before I got my damned sunglasses off.


Side valley

About half way into the day's stage, I had to break very hard behind a truck with no brake lights and hardly came to a stop about two meters from the trucks rear.
Claudio, who was a bit horny , decided to take me from behind. He hit my left pannier, I fell to the right but luckily without major consequences.
Only problem was that the left pannier holder broke and we had to fix the bag on top of the top case.


Following the rail line to Dali


A short break


Reaching higher altitudes


Mountain lake


It's green everywhere


That must be why it's called Yunnan (Yun = cloud; Nan = South)

Shortly before we arrived in Dali, I had another moment of increased heart rate, when I slipped with front and rear simultaneously but managed to stay up


Bikes in the hotel lobby


Due to our delayed departure it was already dark when we arrived old town Dali. The hotel manager allowed us to park the bikes in the lobby.

Andy