Leishan and the trip to Yongle

10/22/2009 and 10/23/2009
The bus option from Leishan didn't materialize because the through buses all come from the regional capital of Kaili, and are too filled by the time they get to Leishan to be able to take bikes. So, we've got to pedal it! We figure we can get to Yongle, which means "enduring happiness." 55 very steep kilometers.

In Leishan

XiJiang to Leishan- Day Six- 10/21
Wednesday the 21st. Evening. Great day, a little harder than we thought it was going to be. Two, count them, TWO mountain whatevers- “hills.” Four and a half hours. Got into Leishan at 6pm. Started in XiJiang, a Miao minority town, from our hotel that had the panoramic window in the bathroom. That was the highlight. Got a late start after wandering around town, trying to get something edible to eat. Left at 2pm, and then immediately started climbing and climbing and climbing. But it was pretty. And then, we went downhill for a little while (and we learned that John goes much faster downhill than Kelly). The Canadian couple said that the “middle portion” of today's ride (total ride 36 kilometers) was flat and easy. Where was that bit? There was just a little bit of level stuff. The easy portion was granny-gear worthy. The Miao people along the way were generally not very friendly; they just kind of stared at us. Although we also got a lot of laughs from the locals, too. We amused a bunch of people. And then checked into our beautiful hotel room. This one's got pretty good feng shui. It's got the hardwood floor, and it's got a little place behind the bed headboard to store things. The bathroom is a squat, but it's clean! We just had dinner. It was good! Everything was made out of rice. We had stir-fried rice noodles, wonton soup with pork, and green vegetables and beer. Oh, and talk about dessert. We had our 3 kuai beer and we had 5 kuai noodles, and 5 kuai wonton soup- and then our 8 kuai little bit of dessert! We got four tiny, tiny Dove chocolate bars, and then the candy corn... but not the “candy corn” you're thinking of, but rather it is shaped like an ear of corn and it tastes like buttered corn. And then the green colored peanut butter rice crispy cake, and the little jelly cakes.

And tomorrow... Rongjiang is far! It's not really far, but it is ninety kilometers farther than we went today, and hard.  

We're not going to Rongjiang tomorrow unless we take the bus! But if we go halfway, or even part-way. Even the Canadian couple said it was, “Wheewwww.” (difficult).

Leishan has a lot of neon, a lot of lights... seems to be a nice enough place. We can't quite figure it out.