Riding along the Tea & Horse Caravan in Yunnan

Trip 1: Dali Caicun - Shaxi (center of Yunnan) 大理洱海西才村 - 沙溪，云南中部

end of June, monsoon season, but relatively dry this year

transportation: Yamaha 110cc gas motorbike 雅马哈轻摩/换挡半自动燃油摩托车

 By Depth of Field Guesthouse Dali 恬野文化摄影家庭客栈

must bring: things to protect you from sunburnt, sunglasses, sun cream, long sleeves, scarf, thin gloves could be useful if riding motorbike 必带:防晒用品

Day 1, Dali to Eryuan 大理才村到洱源茈碧湖

leave from Dali Depth of Field Guesthouse by middle west side of Erhai lake, can ride on Dali Road 大丽路 or Erhai West ring roade 环海西路, fields and mountain views all along.

we left Dali at 6:30 p.m., good way to avoid the heat, the sky was light till 8:30, so the last hour we were riding in the dark, across mountain roads with graveyards, to a village Liyuancun 梨园村 on the north tip of Zibi Lake 茈碧湖，just in time to find a roof before the rain came.

The lake is not as big or pretty as Erhai lake, but better place for swimming or fishing. If I passed here again, I'd remember to take a photo of the graveyard outgrown with cactus.

Day 2 Eryuan to Shaxi, over mountains 从洱源到沙溪，走山路，从牛街上山直接翻到山的另一边，农夫说是捷径，很快的他说，三四小时，三四小时说的不是步行，说的就是我们的车子

Rode along the countryside road next to the highway, turned up to a mountain from Niujie/Xipo 牛街/西坡, it was under construction at the entrance, a worker told me that’s the right way, a short cut, he said, about 3-4 hours you can get there. I thought he meant by walk, Shaxi is just on the other side of the mountain, then I realized, he did mean 3-4 hours by motorbike… 

note: get water supply before you leave the village of Niujie/Xipo, as you won’t get to see any houses or anyone pretty much the whole time in the mountain…

straight uphill for two hours, then we started seeing the path going down

then more signs of civilization, cows, fields, houses

to be continued 待续