After a not so nice breakfast in a dirty hotel "restaurant" in the actually pretty good hotel, we were on the way again, but not before a good bye visit to Xiao Dong, the pannier support repair man.



Goodbye to the repair man


We left Baoshan towards Ruili, a border city with Myanmar. Roads were quite busy, full with trucks, tractors and other shitty vehicles. Remember, we were not allowed on the expressway and didn't want to bother our luck again. After almost 2 hours in this mess, we decided not to go to Ruili but to turn north into the Nu Jiang valley.



Busy roads near Baoshan city


The two guys showed us a shortcut into Nu Jiang valley - Nu Jiang in the background.


Bridge across Nu Jiang


Thanks guys, you saved us 60km of busy roads.


The first kms in Nu Jiang valley


Not long after, we have been checked for the first time. Not a big surprise since this area is bordering Myanmar.


First check point


They have been mostly interested in our passports and bike data (how much, how fast, how heavy and how much fuel goes into the tank), and after a few minutes we were on our way again.



Pleasant riding


Riding into the upper Nu Jiang valley


Really fun riding there


We came through a lager village where the market was really busy. It quite a while to pass through.



Market on the main street


Everything available


Spices dealer


Lingerie


On a free road again


Different kind of traffic ...


... open spaces and ...


... coffee beans around our lunch place.


The restaurant we had lunch.

We moved on towards Liuku after lunch in the same green scenery as we did before.


Why not have nap on the road?


A little detour to the river


Harvest season


Another, very relaxed checkpoint and ...


... a very relaxed Herbert


Another detour across a suspension bridge and back.


The valley gets much narrower from here. We had only about 30 kms left to reach Liuku and we took it really easy from now. Maybe a bit too easy ...

To avoid eating each others dust on the now dirt road, we kept some distance between each other. Claudio was quite ahead already, me in second and Herbert last. When I stopped to take a picture, the phone rang - it was Sohyun telling me that they had an accident. We turned bach immediately and found the following.


The tricycle driver just cut into Herbert's straight path, by turning left


When I passed this spot minutes before Herbert did, there was nobody to be seen. When we came back there there must have been a hundred people or more.


Herbert ...


... and his opponent's foot.


Cops showed up pretty quick and handled the case quite professional.


Sohyun was actually uninjured, but Herbert's wound was stitched on the spot by the local village doctor. The other guy was taken to the hospital and we never heard anything about his condition.
The cops arranged a pick up truck to bring the bike, which was not rideable anymore, to the hotel in Liuku.


We reached the hotel in Liuku after only 20 minutes, where the cops continued collecting data and interviewing Herbert. It turned out that the tricycle driver was completely drunk, without license and the vehicle unregistered. They requested Sohyun and Herbert to see the local hospital the next day.

After a shower we went out for a nice dinner and some beer after it. The two could smile a bit already and insisted on the rest of us continuing our trip as planned.

Andy