As we realised that all routes leading north out of Dali were major busy roads, we changed our mind in the last second. Therefore we headed south instead, back to the modern town at first, before riding around the southern end of Cangshan Mountain and then taking a small road west of the range. After a short section of roadwork on the familiar road 214 we turned of into another valley on the secondary street X084. How beautiful was that! The peaceful road lead us through rural areas with authentic villages. Planting rice was on the agenda these days and everyone seemed busy on the fields. Bushes bloomed in early summer and the breeze carried delicate fragrances to our noses. Birds were singing. It was as varied, that we didn’t even noticed the slight upward gradient or the kilometers. Before and through one village the traffic jamed hopelessly. We zickzacked around the trucks and cars and eventually found the normal village market, which here naturally uses all the road. Nothing to get excited about. Among the drivers and traders was total placidness. While we moved our stuff into the room of that night the owner oft he hotel killed the chook he just had bought at the market in front of the building. We enjoyed the evening hours exploring the lanes and field of the village.
The next day continued in the same great manner as the day before just under an overcast sky. Just as the sky became very dark we arrived on a pass in a town with the only restaurant for many kilometers. We had just entered and placed the bikes under the roof as the torretial downpour started. After an hour it eased a little. With a wonderful noodelsoup in our stomachs we decided to head of into the light rain. We reached historic Shaxi in sunshine. Shaxi is an old town, that had florished in the days oft he «Tea-Horse-Route». Similar tot he Silkroad, this was a network of trading routes leading from Kunming via Lhasa to India and Myanmar on which the goods were transported by tibeten horse caravans. It was mainly tea being brought into Tibet and horses coming to China. But also salt, bronce etc was traded along the routs. Missionaris too used the paths. The old town of Shaxi is still intact with its narrow lanes covered with cobbel stones. Walking along you can still feel some oft he spirit oft the old days.Tourism ist only just discovering the place and there are guesthouses, restaurants and some souvenir stands. However the buildings are still mainly used as homes for the local population. The few individual tourist, looking for quiet places are not distroying the charming picture of Shaxi yet. In one of the old wooden houses with several courtyards we found a room also for our bikes and enjoyed the calmest most peaceful night in China so far.
Waking up with heavy tired legs the next morning we were tempted to just stay another day in this lovely town. However we packed up and started into the clear cool but sunny morning. We wanted to make it to Lijiang before the forecast rain set in. The wonderful scenery, a tasty lunch and some carrots along the way helped us with motivation and energy to cover the whole distance including two passes and some extra climbs and again some more difficult kilometers due to roadworks. We made it to Lijiang.
