Kunming and much of the rest of Yunnan have been enjoying idyllic cloudless days for most of the last five months, but the azure skies have concealed an increasingly dire issue: Yunnan is running out of water.

In November of last year, Kunming officials were asserting that should Kunming not receive any precipitation this winter, there would still be enough water in the city's reservoirs to provide the city with water until late spring 2010.

Fast-forward to today, and the government's no-need-to-worry tone has given way to grim statistics that underscore the severity of the current drought, the worst the province has seen in 60 years.

What's the damage looking like at this point? Nearly five million people are having difficulty accessing drinking water, forest fires are up 600 percent and hydropower generation has been halved. Estimates of drought-related agricultural losses are currently at 6.5 billion yuan (US$952 million).

Aside from Kunming, areas suffering most from the drought include Lincang, Pu'er, Jianshui, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Dali and Baoshan, where 300,000 people lack access to enough drinking water. The drought is also causing water prices to skyrocket. In Wenshan one cubic meter of drinking water is reportedly selling for as much as 100 yuan.

In some of Yunnan's more remote areas, villagers have to walk to other villages and towns up to 20 kilometers away in order to buy water at high prices, then carry the water home on their backs.

The provincial government has set aside 389 million yuan for drought relief, which will be allocated for distributing drinking water to the areas most in need and irrigating more than 700,000 of the 2 million hectares of crops affected by the drought.

Officials estimate that more than 500,000 hectares of crops have already been destroyed by lack of water. Yunnan is also expected to produce 40 percent less grain during this summer's growing season. Farmers are also struggling to provide water for 3.3 million large livestock.

To make matters worse, the drought is fueling an increase in forest fires before the rainy season begins in late spring. Firefighters around the province have battled about 59 blazes in the past five weeks, according to Xinhua Net, though most have been small enough to have been successfully extinguished in one day. There is now a jumbo helicopter stationed at Kunming Wujiaba International airport to assist in firefighting.

Several fires have burned in the areas around Kunming recently, including on Qipan Mountain to the west, forests near Shuanglong in the northeast, and Changchong Mountain in the north.

We followed up our recent bicycle trip to Chongchang Mountain with a visit to survey the fire damage over the weekend. Though the mountain retains its verdant, forested slopes and panoramic views of Kunming, it has lost some of its charm: the summit is a mass of rock and black charred grass and smells strongly of smoke.

The timing for the drought conditions couldn't be much worse, as Chinese New Year approaches and people around the province stock up on fireworks to set off in celebration of spring's arrival. In light of the drought and superdry conditions, the Kunming municipal government has shortened the 25-day fireworks sales season to 12 days, with sales ending February 19.

Update: Fireworks sales are now banned after February 16.

Crop image: CCTV

With the dry, sunny weather of Yunnan's winter calling us out of the office, GoKunming took a few days off to cycle south to the Vietnam border. Using Guo Duomi's post from earlier in the year as a guide, we planned a route through Tonghai, Jianshui and Yuanyang to the border town of Hekou.

Day Three: Relish The Descent - Jianshui to Yuanyang
After reading in Guo Duomi's post that we faced "almost 35km of constant climbing" at the start of the day, we were a little scared as we rolled out of Jianshui at around 10am. The town lies a little off the highway, and we covered around 5km getting back onto the S214 at the 175km distance marker.

Things were not as bad as Guo made out. There's a 4km climb shortly after you've left town, but then it's pretty much smooth sailing on flat/gradual descent until around the 190km distance marker. Then, there's a 3km climb, followed by a 3km descent, and then the main event begins: a challenging climb of around 8km which tops out at around 1900m above sea level.

At this point, you're basically done for the day, as Yuanyang's new town, which is also known as Nansha (南沙) lies on the Yuan River (元江) at an elevation of around 240m. In other words, mad descending awaits. We shot down smooth roads into the aptly named town of Potou (坡头, slope head) past crowds of waving children, immediately sensing a change in weather and agriculture. A quick lunch in Potou and then we were back into the descent.

The roads are somewhat worn, with patches of unsurfaced road, but nothing a mountain bike and a bit of careful riding couldn't handle. The descent ends with a few switchbacks which drop you out onto a gravel road running alongside the reservoir formed by the dammed Yuan River. We crossed the bridge and headed into Nansha to find a place to stay and some food.

We'd covered 81km in 4hr 40min of riding.

Yuanyang is two towns - Nansha lies on the river, but old Yuanyang, which is famous for its picturesque rice terraces, lies high up on the hillside. Nansha is small and laid out on a simple grid. The low altitude means it's several degrees warmer than Kunming at this time of year.

Day Four: Maintaining Efficiency - Yuanyang to Hekou
By now, we'd covered approximately 220km over three days, so you'd think we might make the fourth day easy on ourselves. We didn't. The plan for the final day was to ride 160km downstream alongside the Yuan River to the border town of Hekou. Elevation was going to be less relevant today, as the road only deviates from the river a couple of times, so major climbs weren't going to slow us up. Our concerns were road surface quality and headwind. We figured that if we managed an average of 20km/h, we'd still be looking at 8 hours in the saddle.

It's a ride for time triallists or triathletes: the goal being to maintain a solid effort efficiently for a full day, without cracking. On our side we had an oxygen-rich low-altitude atmosphere and large helpings of obstinacy.

We pulled out of Nansha at around 8:45am, hoping to chomp as many Ks as we could before the headwind got up. We crossed back over the bridge to the north side of the river and turned right for the straight shot towards Hekou. After around 15km, we turned off the Gejiu road and onto the X102, which stays alongside the river. At 42km down, you'll see a bridge. There's a bit of a climb here, up to the bustling town of Huangcaoba (黄草坝).

After Huangcaoba, you'll notice new distance markers, as you're now on the S212, at the 90km marker. Here we encountered worsening road surface, which brought us well below our target pace. At around 55km down, we found the reason: a dam is being constructed across the Yuan River, and the heavy truck traffic has damaged the surface. Once we'd passed the construction zone, via a 2km inland diversion, the road improved, but we were feeling behind schedule. Time to push the button.

At the town of Manhao (蔓耗镇) the road reverts back to X102 while the S212 crosses a bridge to the south side of the river. The X102 mileposts are reset to zero.

At Xinjie (新街), which is also known as Lianhuatan (莲花滩), there's a passport check. Expect a few simple questions from the police officers manning the checkpoint. They offered us a refill of our water bottles as we chomped on chocolate.

The road markers change again here, as we're now on G226 at the 1451km marker. Hekou's still nearly 70km away, but the police tell us the road is good, and we get to it.

The road is becoming more level, but it's still undulating gently, with low 'Tarzan' hills - if you time your pedaling right, you can use the momentum from a descent to help you up the next ascent. The G226 road has low traffic, mainly motorbikes, because above us is the massive GZ40 4-lane highway bearing the bulk of the region's traffic.

We keep pushing, but at another roadside passport check near Basa (坝洒), it's becoming clear we're not going to make into Hekou in daylight. We end the ride in darkness, grateful to arrive on the well-lit riverside road into the town. We ride all the way through town to the border post, where we find a guesthouse near the bus station. We clock 162km in 8hr 20min of riding, and close the day with cold beers at a riverside stall, while gazing over the river to Vietnam.

There are direct buses from Hekou to Kunming that can carry bicycles in the luggage space. Expect to pay 120 yuan or so, plus a fee for your bike.

With the dry, sunny weather of Yunnan's winter calling us out of the office, GoKunming took a few days off to cycle south to the Vietnam border. Using Guo Duomi's post from earlier in the year as a guide, we planned a route through Tonghai (通海), Jianshui (建水) and Yuanyang (元阳) to the border town of Hekou (河口).

Day One: Cheating - Guanlingcun to Tonghai
Rapidly increasing traffic on Kunming's roads, coupled with construction work around Chenggong led us to start our trip the easy way: with mianbaoche transport out of town. For good measure, we got dropped at the top of a hill above Jincheng (晋城) at a place called Guanlingcun (关岭村), on the watershed between the Dianchi and Fuxian lake basins.

We began to ride at the 32km distance marker on the S214 road, at an elevation of around 2100m. We were due to follow the S214 all the way to Yuanyang. A descent of 11km blew away the cobwebs and allowed us to get familiar with the adjusted steering of our laden bikes.

After the descent, we joined the Cuida Road (翠大线) which runs along the western side of the Fuxian (抚仙湖) and Xingyun (星云湖) lakes towards Jiangchuan (江川). As is usual at this time of year, we faced fairly stiff headwind blowing from the south. This would be a feature of every day's riding.

At around 31.5km completed, we passed through Jiangchuan, pausing to take on water just after the roundabout intersection with the Yuxi (玉溪) highway. The road stays flat for around 5km, before becoming the Jiangtong (江通) highway and heading upwards for a steady 5km climb. This climb took us back up to around 1900m at the highway's 5km distance marker.

The descent begins with steep downward gradients, but it's worth a stop for the great views of the town and Qilu Lake (杞麓湖). The slope slowly levels out for the roll into Tonghai on Xiushan Xi Lu (秀山西路). The town sits at around 1800m above sea level.

In all we covered 60km over three hours of riding time. As planned, this was a fairly forgiving first day.

Tonghai's population is around 200,000, but it's spread around the lake, leaving a distinctly small-town feel to the place. There's a strong Hui Muslim presence, and Arabic isn't too difficult to spot on signs. A large mosque is situated in Nagu Zhen (纳古镇) on the northwest shore of the lake. The downtown lies to the south of S214 as it runs roughly west-east through town.

Day Two: Ups and Downs - Tonghai to Jianshui
We started out early, the morning crisp and cold, with high cirrus clouds in the sky. As the sun rose above the mountains, the town gradually warmed up as we slurped down some rice noodles for breakfast. We had stayed on the S214 road, just near the 93km distance marker, and it was from here we set off toward Jianshui, which we worked out would be at the 170km marker.

The road out of Tonghai is easy to follow, with a gentle 2.5km climb providing a good warm-up. You'll pass the entrance to the motorway to Jianshui, which is more direct, but not open to bicycles. The descent starts soon after - other than a few bumps, it's around 15km of descending to the small town of Gaoda (高大, ~1350m). Dress warm for the descent, especially if you're starting early, as the steep eastern side of the valley keeps stretches of the road in shade.

In Gaoda, watch out for the left turn which keeps you on S214. If you see the 1km marker on S216 (like we did!) you've overshot. Back at the left turn, there was a sign we'd seen pointing us to Jianshui on the S216, but closer inspection showed it only applied to large vehicles. Past the turn, the descent continues, but at a lower gradient until you roll into Qujiang (曲江, ~1300m). We stopped for lunch here, just short of noon, with 31.5km on the clock.

Soon after we rolled out of Qujiang, we passed another motorway entrance. The road is undulating, with enough climbs to keep us challenged. At the 136km marker, around 13km out from Qujiang, we were up at around 1500m, and at the 143km marker, we were at around 1650m at the town of Lihao Zhai (李浩寨) and feeling a little worse for wear. Water and a rest helped us refocus.

After Lihao Zhai, there's a lot more down than up, and the refocusing was complete. The finale comes with a fast drop off into the valley and then a steady descending run into Jianshui. The town's around 1250m above sea level, which is low enough to start feeling warmer.

At the end of the day, we had 80km on the clock which we'd covered in 4hr 15mins of rolling time.

Jianshui was something of a surprise. The town's tourism machine seems to be gathering steam. Several sites of interest are clearly marked on roadsigns, and a pedestrian street with restaurants and bars is to be found near the Zhu Family Gardens (朱家花园) off Chaoyang Bei Lu (朝阳北路) where we sat down for teppanyaki and a few well-deserved cold beers.

Police in the southern Yunnan city of Jianshui have arrested a kindergarten teacher who they say has confessed to pricking 24 students, some as young as three years old, with a syringe.

Twenty-one year old kindergarten teacher Sun Qiqi (孙琪琪) said that she used syringe pricks as a way to discipline students who were not obedient in class or who were making noise during naptime.

Police said that during questioning, Sun repeatedly said there were no liquids in the syringe's chamber and that she had not injected her students with anything. During investigation, police found a five milliliter disposable syringe in Sun's office desk at Xihu kindergarten in Jianshui.

There were also numerous needle holes in Sun's desk, which people close to the investigation said were made when Sun stabbed her desk while trying to frighten disobedient students.

A police spokesperson said 24 students have been tested for HIV, and hepatitis B and C, with no children testing positive for any of the three illnesses, adding that there were an additional 15 students that may have been pricked by Sun who may require testing.

A former classmate of Sun's told reporters that she had a bad temper and was very impatient. According to the Jianshui Education Bureau, Sun had yet to receive her teaching permit and Xihu Kindergarten, which has 179 students, had not yet received a license to operate.

GoKunming contributor Guo Duomi set off during the Chinese New Year holiday with Lady Guo to cycle some of the roads less travelled in central and southern Yunnan. Here he shares with us details of his journey from Yuxi to Jinghong by bike.

Day 1 – Yuxi to Tonghai (51km)
The first leg of the journey was the two hour bus to Yuxi (玉溪) which enables you to miss a tough day's ride out of Kunming. When the Dianchi Lake cycle path is completed this may be worth reconsidering, as would cycling to Chengjiang (澄江) and then taking the quieter roads along the west of Fuxian Lake (抚仙湖) to Jiangchuan (江川).

The first few kilometres take you out of Yuxi's industrial west on a crowded and dusty road. At the top of a hill you turn off the main road to enjoy a quiet stretch into the hamlet of Yanhe (研和镇). From here you join the highway for a climb of around 10km offering reasonable views of Yuxi's surrounds. After this there is a short descent followed by a long and straight roll into Tonghai (通海).

Tonghai is a friendly town whose attractions include the expansive Qilu Lake (杞麓湖), at which a passing groom getting his wedding shots taken may wish to take a spin on your bicycle.

Day 2 – Tonghai to Jianshui (80km)
A short climb out of Tonghai sees you pass the entrance of the motorway to Jianshui (建水) and then take on a massive 25km descent into Gaozhai (高寨). The road is reasonable quality but the combination of heavy fog and a wet road meant that is was pretty cold and uncomfortable going on a January morning.

The road forks at Gaozhai with Jianshui 50km away whilst Shiping (石屏), which looks about the same distance on a map, is 90km away. The road to Jianshui is good quality and undulates through a series of villages and towns, snaking past the expressway from Tonghai and the railway under construction, culminating in a reasonable climb and descent into town.

Jianshui bristles with historic sights and has large and vibrant old town. It offers not just warm people but ridiculously warm weather in the depths of winter – making a nice departure from the frosty temperatures that the 'spring city' of Kunming proffers during a cold snap.

Days 3 and 4 – Jianshui to Shiping and back (120km return)
As you leave Jianshui you pass what seems to be every headstone manufacturer in Yunnan. After about 5km you reach Twin Dragon Bridge (双龙桥), an impressive 17 span Qing Dynasty bridge still in regular use by the locals.

A further 10km or so on you will find yourself at the entrance to the village of Tuanshan (团山), site of the Zhang family Gardens. This complex was created by a prosperous merchant family over many centuries and, whilst now a tourist site with a 20 yuan entry fee, it remains a living community home to a population 80 percent of which are surnamed Zhang.

Spending the extra 10 yuan on a guide is well worth it (even if you don't speak much Chinese) as you will be taken into many otherwise inaccessible areas of the gardens and you'll have the footbound old woman pointed out to you - though photographs are a no-no.

Moving on from Tuanshan you shadow the expressway on poor roads until the village of Baxin (坝心站). From here you divert to the southern shore of Yilong Lake (异龙湖), passing by racks of tofu skin drying in the sun until you double back into Shiping. Shiping tofu is famous as the best in Yunnan and, just like the Guinness in Dublin, it certainly seems to taste better when sampled at the source.

Day 5 – Jianshui to Yuanyang (79km)

Departing Jianshui to the south you are faced with 35 kilometres of almost constant climbing on decent quality roads. The pass above the town of Goujie (狗街) marks the beginning 40km of descending roads which are poor but offer some awesome scenery. Steep slopes near and far provide your first view of terraced rice fields and stunning views of the dammed Yuan River (沅江) shortly follow.

The descent takes you level with the reservoir along a few kilometres of horrible dirt road before arriving at the positively subtropical town of Yuanyang (元阳). Yuanyang is also known as Nansha (南沙), the town of Xinjie (新街) which is sometimes also called Yuanyang was our target destination and lies a further 30km of steady climbing south. This could make a challenging conclusion to your day's riding or you could fork over 10 yuan and pop your bicycle on the roof of the local bus to be chauffeured up in (relative) style.

Day 6 – Yuanyang (Xinjie) rice terraces (40km)
In Xinjie you have the option of hiring a vehicle for the day to take you around - a necessity if you want to see the terraces at sunrise and/or sunset and you don't have decent lights. You do risk the chance of seeing nothing due to fog however. Heading out at your own leisure on the bike allows you to go when visibility has improved. About 10km of climbing out of town will take you to the turnoff for the spectacular Bada (八大) and Duoyishu (多依树) terraces which are a further 8 and 15 kilometres away respectively on a gently undulating poor quality dirt road.

Continuing back along the main road a further 5 kilometres will take you to the pass with a further 8 kilometres down to the Tiger Mouth terraces. From here you can keep on heading south to Lüchun (绿春) and through the rolling hills all the way to Jinghong (景洪). Reports are that the scenery in this region is pleasant but a little repetitive.

Days 6 and 7 –Xinjie to Jinghong
Given time constraints we rolled down through the fog into Yuanyang and bussed it to Jinghong overnight via Jianshui. A trip to the hot springs just south of town proved a relaxing day trip however the 'back streets' route to the springs offered by the map in Mei Mei Café is quite difficult to follow.

Days 8 and 9 – Jinghong to Banna Wild Elephant Valley and back (110km return)

Crossing the Mekong – here known as the Lancang River (澜沧江) you follow the main road past the tollbooth until the roundabout. Taking the hard left will lead you to the road from which the number three road to Mengyang (勐养镇) branches off on your right. Requiring a lengthy climb past rubber and fruit plantations on a deteriorating surface followed by a long descent into the back of Mengyang means this road is not recommended.

From Mengyang continuing along the secondary road which shadows the expressway requires a short climb of around 5km followed by a pleasant descent to the Elephant Valley entrance. The dilapidated tree houses which are a favourite with western tourists are a long walk into the reserve. Promotional material suggests that your best chance of seeing a wild elephant is in the early morning. At around 9pm however the darkness was pierced by an oddly familiar elephant sound and we were treated to the spectacle of a five strong herd taking a drink and having a mess about in the stream below.

Arrival of the megaphone led tour groups at 9:00am the next morning made one understand why the elephants preferred to make a nocturnal visit.

The return voyage sees you retrace your steps to Mengyang and then shadow the expressway until the turnoff for Menglun (勐仑, a lazy 110km away). Don't be put off by the fact that the signs don't show Jinghong as a destination – after about 5km in you will reach a turn off for the secondary road to Jinghong which descends all the way back to the Mekong/Lancang.