1 Oct - Lichuan

Another great day cycling mainly on secondary country roads. On the road at 0630 meant smoky mist for at least the first hour of the morning until the sun burnt it off.

An hour into the ride, we get a good hill... the little specks
on the road below are fellow riders who probably started
later than us (and probably finished earlier too).

A good climb in the morning to this village for lunch

Threshing the hard way

Some very modern-looking apartments... still, rice dries the
traditional way outside in the sun

This colourful truck still serves as a workhorse

It would be a poor day without tree-lined roads... here Ursula and Walli are being pushed along by our 'lunch bus' which also serves to transport the weary who wish to ride only half the day for whatever reason.

A few kilometers from destination, we go through the narrow streets of a much older part of town. A lot of it has already been destroyed to make way for new apartments. We stopped to take some pictures and right away this young lad wanted to take our photo with his cell phone.

A few kilometers through these old streets, then into a more modern area that was really chaotic with a mix of traffic, markets, and celebrating, today being the beginning of the Chinese national holiday celebrations. Then across the river into a more tranquil part of town and a couple of km later arrive at tonight's accommodation, a really lovely hotel. In this photo, we are accompanied by a group of young girls who also wanted to take our photos. We had the same experience later in the evening - western tourists are a novelty here.

And the sign at the elevator...