·Against our better judgment, we climbed on our bikes on a recent sunny but hazy day, determined to cycle along the mythical bike trail around Dianchi Lake. Kunming newspapers had run stories in 2008 announcing construction of the path. Once finished, the reports claimed, the paved trail would encircle the lake and be closed to motorized traffic.

Five years on the path remains as elusive as ever, mostly because it was never built. Instead we took a rather normal route through the city, winding our way through traffic until we reached the promenade overlooking the lake. From there we crossed the causeway to the west of Haigeng Park (海埂公园) and started the ride in earnest.。The road veered left under the shadow of Xishan (西山), running beside the Gaohai Expressway (高海高速) that eventually merges with Highway G8511 south of Jinning (晋宁). Initially traffic was light and we saw more cyclists than cars. The lake stretched greenish-blue to our left but most of the view was swallowed up in the lingering haze.

Before we reached the tiny town of Haikou (海口) we cycled past at least five temples. Some of them appeared shiny and new while others were simple single structure affairs lacking even the archetypal attention-grabbing gate. The road swung slowly up into the hills away from the lake.

Typical of the rumpled landscape around Kunming, the hills were marked by all the usual signs of constant human alteration. Where the land was not tilled and crying out for water it was scarred by quarries and mining projects abandoned long ago.