Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

This one was a pleasant surprise on a number of fronts. I was staying in downtown Kunming and thought I'd be dicing with the concrete jungle, but a trip to the shops late last evening showed me that the street around the corner was pedestrianised for a way, and after that I was able to get northwest to Green Lake (a worthwhile target) with only one major road crossing (although one slightly hairy bit around some construction hoardings). Back was fine, and I was also fine with the altitude (1900m), although the extra 500m of Lijiang will be more of a test - maybe my Canberra upbringing hasn't completely left me? (I noticed at 1994 World University Championships in Switzerland that the decline in performance that others were feeling at around 2000m was hitting me around 2600). All in all a nice one.

Getting to the station was a bit fiddly - its south entrance has been closed, presumably for security reasons (there was a terrorist attack here in 2014), so getting to the north entrance from the metro station involves a circuitous 15-minute walk. Fine once under way, though, and Lijiang was definitely a worthwhile destination - a very well-preserved old town, with a 5500-metre peak towering to the north (I'll be on the other side of this tomorrow). It's something of a tourist mecca - although this is low season so it was busy but not unpleasantly crowded - but it's definitely a Chinese tourist mecca; haven't seen another Westerner since I arrived in town.

The old town would be an excellent sprint venue. There is a map of here but I forgot to get a copy before leaving Guangzhou, so the plan in the morning is to head out on the tourist map.

And the taxi driver from the station actually used his meter. (He didn't have seat belts, but you can't have everything).