Day 2 (08-May-2011) Lijiang

Following early breakfast we departed the Hotel at 08:00hrs to be assigned our bikes and adjust settings. At 09:00hrs we departed on a short 45km acclimatisation tour to Yu Feng Monastery nestled in the foothills below Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, home to the southernmost glaciers in the northern hemisphere. The cool breeze and dry air on route was a complete and welcome contrast to the stifling humid conditions encountered on our last cycling expedition from Saigon to Angkor Wat. The outward leg along quiet backroads took us through Baisha, a small Naxi town famed for its Ginger tea. While we did not stop for tea, we did however take time out to listen to local music played by a Quartet – with Mitchell helping out on the cymbals.

We were then subjected to our first ‘moderate climb’ on the last 2km to the monastery. This left us all panting and weazing on arrival, with the thin air at the 2715m (8907ft) elevation making it impossible to curse, other than through an inner monologue. After a well earned tea break, we then entered the Buddhist monastery, which had miraculously survived the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. The incantations of the resident priests served to augment the austere yet peaceful setting .

The return journey to Lijiang was mostly downhill, but not without incident, with Mitchel managing to break the bike chain (and not for the first time), and Simon managing to wedge his bike in a plant box at the side of the road while we all took photographs of a statue of Mao Ze Dong. On arrival back at the starting point we dumped our bikes with our support team, Lee & Mr. Wong, and were then treated to a delicious Chinese banquet – the first of many.

With the rest of the day to ourselves we split up to visit number of other tourist and shopping destinations, before then reconvening at 19:30hrs for a Steamboat feast. Notwithstanding the fact that most found the concoction to be nothing more than a vial primordial soup, comprising extremophiles, char broiled in amino acids, garnished with diatomaceous RNA, and phalanxed by remnants of numerous failed evolutionary life forms, I at least found the meal to be very sumptuous!