Day 46 Tues 17 Oct Mengla to Simao, Yunnan, China

Although only a relatively short distance, it takes all day on rutted roads and cart track tollways to make it over the mountains from Mengla to Simao, where unknowlingly at the time we commence the ancient Tea Caravan route which leads via Kunming and Lhasa to Nepal and India. Edward knows a few short cuts which he claims are less damaged by trucks, but nevertheless need a 4WD to get thru, we understand now why David and Karen spent so much time getting new springs. They are building a new expressway and in the process have torn up most of the existing road so we drive 100km thru a building site, axle deep in mud with potholes large enough to swallow trucks which they often do. We begin to understand why the Chinese are reluctant to allow foreigners to drive thru china, we don't think they should allow the Chinese to drive here either.

Basically traffic consists of large decrepit blue, less decrepit orange and quite smart purple trucks which are generally grossly overloaded and drive down the centre of the road, pass each other slowly on hairpin bends and stop randomly for no apparent reason. Indicators are for wimps and horns replace rear vision mirrors. Brakes rely on frequent stops to fill up with water which is then poured over the wheels to cool them when descending mountain passes, engulfing wheels in clouds of steam. Road repairs entail cutting random rectangles about 30 cm deep, and several metres wide, leaving them fallow for months and then fixing them around blind corners without warning. Piles of tarmac are left in the carriageway as are piles of stones, blocking lanes with no warning signs.

Despite all this we get there thru some stunning scenery and via the “highest bridge in the world”, and check into a new hotel which is an exact replica of the one the previous night (as are most hotels apparently in China). Each hotel has to have 5 clocks in reception showing times in different cities, demand payment and deposit for keys and to lease rooms from the top floor downwards, with no lifts. We compliantly lug our bags up to the 5th floor past all the empty lower ones. Dinner is in an “interesting”ethnic Dai restaurant.

Weather 24.5, Cloudy
Distance today 308km
Distance from start 9422km