Cycling in the Middle Kingdom
Well, since I managed to last four months in China without resorting to using "The Middle Kingdom" - so favoured by typical all expenses paid "travel reviews" you read - I thought I would use it just this once. I have left China, but I thought I should just put a few closing remarks, on how to fit in when riding a bicycle in China.
First the bike. Ideally you would buy a cheap steel bike, then leave it outside in the rain for 10 years, preferably somewhere where cars can run over the back wheel a few times. If the back wheel doesn't wobble, it's not a proper bike. I've seen almost brand-new bikes with wobbly wheels. If you don't have 10 years to wait, then go down to the local supermarket, and buy a shiny, folding, full suspension bike in pink, complete with rear rack, mudguards, stand, shopping basket, bell, glittery lights, and "sit up and beg"-style handlebars. All for about $30.
Fitting your bike: There are many ancient rules, based on the Confucian ideals, that should be followed when correctly setting up your bike. Basically they can be boiled down to removing the seat-post bolt, and putting the seat as low as it can go. When pedalling, ensure that you carefully position your heel over the centre of the pedal. This should result in having your knees in the optimum position, widely splayed out.
Now, which side of the road to ride on? Well, you could do what the traffic is doing, and mostly ride on the right - but as we all know, traffic rules only apply to vehicles with 4 or more wheels. Horsepower rating is irrelevant. So you just ride on whichever side of the road suits you best - maybe it's easiest to ride to and from your destination on the same side both ways, saves crossing the road. But if you're on the left, what about all the oncoming traffic? Just give them a bemused look, as if you can't work out why they are all going the wrong way, as you plow straight through them.
Alerting other traffic to your presence. Of course your bike has a bell, which should be rung constantly. It doesn't matter if there is no-one in front of you, ring it anyway. It's part of the rhythm - pump the pedals, ring the bell. Perhaps you are lucky enough to be able to afford an electric bicycle. In this case, silently zoom up behind the laowai with the loaded bicycle, wait until you are just behind his ear, then blast that horn for all it's worth. If you only have an ordinary bell, remember to tinkle it as you cut off that 18-wheel truck.
Traffic lights. Huh? What do they matter? You only have two wheels remember, they don't apply to you. Go through the intersection whenever you feel like it. Especially if there is a large amount of traffic going across you. Glare at the cars - why are they in your way, when you're trying to cross the road?
Clothing. No need for specialised clothing. High heels and miniskirt shouldn't slow you down in the least. Unless it's raining, and you should wear a rain cape, preferably with clear plastic window at the front for letting your light shine through. Not that it matters, as even if you do have lights, you never use them anyway.
Load carrying. The official load limit is 900kg for bicycles and 2,500kg for tricycles. Preferred loads are very long, and mounted sideways across the bicycle. Long hoes or scythes are good for this. That is of course unless you are carrying one of your friends on the back. Chinese cyclists like company, so easiest to carry a friend with you. On a similar note, if your friends should happen to also be on bicycles, remember that the maximum allowed number of cyclists riding abreast is six, and should not be exceeded.
Hills. At the first sign of any slope, get off and push. Chinese bikes don't have gears, remember.
Finally stopping - brakes are never much good, so all stops should be done at a run, similar to starting really. If you are female, when you come to a stop, do not stand astride the bike. Instead jump off to one side of the bicycle. This is regardless of if you are wearing a skirt, or if your bicycle has a high top tube. The real reason is to scare the cyclist coming up behind you, into making an emergency stop. This will also help you to identify any impostors, who haven't yet learned the rules to cycling in China.
No doubt there are more rules, but this will be enough to get you underway. I'm in Vietnam right now, around 150km south of Hanoi. The first 40km out of Hanoi were OK, as a new motorway takes much of the bus and truck traffic away, but it has been pretty unpleasant after that, and I'm not enjoying it at all. Too many speeding buses and trucks, all leaning on their horns, which I believe are louder than the Chinese horns. I think the deafness in my left ear will be nearly profound by the time I get out of here. Should just be one more long day of it though, then I'll turn off Highway 1, and head west into Laos, and a bit of the unknown - the map doesn't show too many places to stay for the first couple of days.
Labels: China
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Christmas on the Road
When I started out this year, I knew I would see a lot of strange things, and have plenty of different, unusual experiences. I didn't really think too much about where I would spend Christmas. I didn't even know which country I would be in, until a few days ago. But being flexible has its rewards. We (Sally and I) reached Beihai on December 23rd, and ended up in a nice, but too expensive hotel. Since we wanted to stop for a couple of days, we decided to move.
Riding around town looking for another hotel, a passing cyclist told us to check out a bike shop, that had an associated cycling club. So we went in to take a look - cyclists can't resist wandering into bike stores, even when they don't really need anything. You never know, sometimes there might be something you didn't even know you needed. But anyway, a phone call was made, and a Chinese-speaking American came along, to do some translation. It turned out the staff wanted to invite us to their Christmas party. Why not? So we agreed to go along. We were told to turn up at the shop at 6pm, from where we would get a car out to the place the party was being held.
We had no idea what to expect. We were a bit concerned that it could turn out to be a Jesuit missionary something like that, and we would end up sitting around a fire singing Kumbaya, and celebrating midnight Mass. All well and good, but not quite my cup of tea. But let's just go along and see what happens.
It turned out to be a big party, with everyone issued Santa hats, a big feed - with a huge Chinese-style scrum around the buffet table, and later a few beers. Not too much drunkenness, just a few cans and a bit of fun. There were various party games, bike demonstrations, musical acts, and presents for the kids. Here's a few pics, with a nice close-up of me, and shots of me doing press-ups, as a penalty from one of the games. We had no idea what was going on most of the time, but everyone was very nice, and we just went with the flow.
We had been told that there were a few other foreigners who would be there, but we only met the 3 Aussies later on in the evening. No problem, all the Chinese people were lovely to us. Beihai has a nice relaxed feel about it - foreigners are unusual here, but not completely unknown, so you get lots of "hellos" from the groups of schoolchildren. You get the feeling you could live here.
Two more days of riding, and I should be into Vietnam. We met a pair of Swiss cyclists the other day, who had been on the road for three years. They had just come out of Vietnam, and didn't have anything nice to say about it. They were glad to be back in China. This tallies with what others have said about Vietnam, so the plan is to not stick around, but to zip into Hanoi, then probably 2 or 3 days' ride south, and I'll turn and cross into Laos. Sally is taking a different route to me, going into Vietnam a month later, so I'll be back to riding by myself. Probably not for too long though, there's bound to be plenty of other cyclists kicking around in South East Asia.
Hopefully everyone has had a nice Christmas with family and friends, and not too much stress. All going well, the next report should be coming from Vietnam.
Labels: China
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Laowai once more
You know, at one stage I thought I'd never want to hear the call of "laowai" ever again. And yet...after a nice long break in Hong Kong, eating Indian/Turkish/Western foods, reading/watching English-language media, not being stared at...I started to miss China.
So the bikes were packed up, and we rolled onto the ferry to Macau. Pretty straightforward, but we went on a Sunday, so it was busy. We hadn't been well enough organised, so we hadn't booked tickets in advance. Result: Two and half hours to kill to wait for the next available sailing. No big deal though. The bikes didn't need to be checked in, we just rolled them on ourselves, paying an extra HK$20 for the privilege. Easy.
Macau was busy, with people everywhere, and hotel prices high. It's an interesting place though, and while the architecture was very much European, it felt much more Chinese than Hong Kong. It was a slightly odd moment riding out of the ferry terminal, and wondering "which side of the road should I be riding on?" Obviously you work it out soon enough - in a superb piece of political idiocy, you drive on the left...unlike China, which Macau is directly connected to. Obviously some daft historical reason for it, similar to Hong Kong.
Was a bit weird seeing plenty of well patronised churches, and European architecture. In our search for Macanese food, I ended up eating ostrich, for the first time on this trip. Does that count as Macanese? I also had a weird dish with dumplings in a thick, semi-sweet sauce. A little strange, but nice.
Good to get back into China after that, although I wasn't sure about it at first - I've seen multiple vehicles waiting for the green light before turning right. Very strange. Not Chinese at all, normally they have the "turn right at any time you feel like" rule. Must be a bit different here in Guangdong (Canton) - too much contact with those foreign devils.
Smoggy conditions too, by the end of yesterday I was coughing and spluttering, the familiar tightness in the chest - how do these people breathe this air every day? Huge brutal looking factories around, pumping all sorts of dust and crap into the air. A few interesting things too, the Diaolou were a bit odd - a strange mix of European and Chinese architecture, built by returning overseas Chinese.
All going well, perhaps another 5-6 days on the bike from here to the Vietnamese border, and a new country at last! Was thinking that Christmas will be in Hanoi, but it now looks like I'll just be a little short of there. Oh well, since neither country is Christian, I shouldn't end up getting stuck at a closed border on Christmas Day.
Labels: China
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This goes with that
Lawnmowers and bicycles. Key cutting and shoe repair. Those things that shops always seem to combine, for some historical reason. But in Hong Kong there's another pairing you might not have thought of: High-brow foreign affairs journals and vibrators. Yep. Pick up a copy of "Far Eastern Economic Review" and a sex toy from the shelf right below. I was wandering along the alley next to "Chungking Mansions" and came across a newstand. Looking for a copy of The Economist, I was somewhat surprised to see a row of sex toys. One of the interesting changes from China is that they openly sell porno mags on the street, which is no big deal. Interestingly in China, things are available, although I think that it may still be technically illegal, as the stores tend to be discreet.
All part of the different scene I'm in for the next few days. I stopped in Shenzhen for a couple of nights. Another one of those cities that dislikes cyclists, putting the bike lanes in the middle of very narrow footpaths packed with pedestrians. Silly really, but some parts of China see bikes as "backwards." I would have thought that since Shenzhen is right next to a place that was controlled by foreigners for over a century, then they might not blink at the sight of me. Not to be though, when I stopped to fix a puncture just a few kilometres short of the hostel, I soon had a crowd of at least a dozen gathered around, holding the bike, checking the tyre pressure, that sort of thing.
Didn't think all that much of Shenzhen really, as a friend put it, too "artificial" - the place only really exists for political reasons. I was amused when walking around, to see large banners proclaiming the Chinese crackdowns on piracy and fake products. All well and good - but every three feet I was accosted by someone offering me "DVDs/shoes/copy watch/handbags/jackets..." Ah yes, welcome to China. Except of course if you did express an interest in a fake product, you got taken to a non-descript apartment in a nearby building, as they can't openly display the fake products.
I crossed over into Hong Kong, annoyed at having to take my front wheel off to take the KCR train. You have to take the train over the border, there's no choice. But taking the wheel off seems to achieve little purpose other than making the bicycle more difficult to handle, especially with luggage. But anyway, I got through to Tsim Sha Tsui, where I have a nice little windowless cell. At least it's cheap. And even better, Sally (another cyclist) and Em and Yan are all here, so I've got good company.
I had read some out of date info that indicated that I could not get visas for Laos or Cambodia at the borders that I wanted to cross at, so I've got an agency doing Vietnam/Laos/Cambodian visas for me. Turns out that I could get those visas at the border, but I still need to get the Vietnam one. It looks like I'm going to be here for a week or so now, to get that sorted out. A good rest though, and it will give me a chance to do some side trips, maybe see some of the other islands.
On a completely unrelated note, I have recently been listening to this podcast: 12 Byzantine Rulers. I highly recommend it for anyone even vaguely interested in European history. Think that the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century? Rome may have, but the Empire continued on for another 1,000 years. The thickness of the walls of Constantinople directly influenced the course of world history. I actually wish I'd listened to this between my visits to Istanbul, but I'm very glad to have been inside places like the Hagia Sophia. This series brings to life a somewhat under-reported period in world history, and is very easy to listen to. Well worth spending your time on.
Labels: China, Hong Kong
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Not quite according to the script
The plan was to ride across the causeway bridge to the island of Xiamen, and from there get a ferry across to Gulang Yu. This area was one of the first treaty ports in China, and is supposed to be a nice quiet little island, with colonial architecture, ideal for a few days rest. It had been recommended by both Chinese and Western people I'd met, and I was looking forward to stopping there. The road from Fuzhou down to here along the coast was absolutely appalling, way too busy, with hundreds of minibuses driven by people who have never driven a vehicle until last week, and get paid by the horn blast.
Roadworks for 20km at a stretch too. The Chinese have built thousands of kilometres of roads in the last few years, and maybe they're getting good at it - although I still think they have some fundamental design issues, since they don't do things like drainage properly, which is going to cause them major maintenance problems over the next few years. But anyway, the thing that they seem totally incapable of is traffic management during roadworks. Rather than thinking about how they are going to keep the road open, and minimise disruption, they just go ahead with whatever they're planning, and let the traffic work out what it wants to do. So if they're working on a dual carriageway, rather than putting in a contraflow, and completely renovating one side before switching over, instead they get a large jackhammer to tear up both sides of the road for 10km at a time, leaving traffic to bump its way over it. Not much fun on the bike.
So I got into town, and made my way down to the ferry terminal, looking for somewhere to buy a ticket. "Mei yo, mei yo!" the girl came running up to me shouting. Hmmm. Try going another way - but she's onto me, and it seems will not let me board with my bike. Crap. I look around, and realise that there are no other Chinese boarding with bikes, although you are allowed a cartload of random stuff. Now what do I do? I had planned on staying at the hostel on Gulang Yu, but it seemed I couldn't get there. I had read other cyclists' accounts of staying there, but they didn't mention any problems getting over there. I hang around for a while, hoping that there will be a shift change, and I can try my luck with a different attendant. But no luck, so I go in search of a hotel.
Dear old LP had their budget accommodation starting at 200Y per night - way too much. But I manage to find a Chinese hotel for less than that, although still a bit overpriced for what it is. I'm crap at negotiation, but it's important to do some in China with most things, especially hotels. The usual trick is to go in, ask the prices, then turn away - this usually results in them running after you and offering better prices.
This seems a nice town, and I could stay here a few days, but I think I'll make a push from here to Hong Kong tomorrow - maybe 6-7 more days riding. I could get the ferry from here, but I think I'll ride it. I'll head inland though, hopefully get some respite from the traffic along the coast.
Labels: China
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Quick notes - RSS and Photos
Just a couple of quick things - one is that I'm sorting out some China photos, but don't expect them to all be uploaded any time soon. They are taking forever to upload from here, with frequent connection resets. So if you are following any links from my
China photos page, don't be surprised to get "file not found errors." At least I've got them sorted now, and I should at least get all the HTML parts uploaded.
Secondly, you may notice I've added the RSS subscription link to my pages. I've always had the RSS stuff in the background, but for some reason or another, I never got around to adding the links. If you use RSS, I'd appreciate it if you could confirm that it's all working OK. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it!
UPDATE 22/2/8: I've finally added the necessary meta tags, so that if you're using a modern Internet browser - Firefox, Safari, IE7 - it will auto-detect that there are RSS feeds, and show an appropriate icon for adding the feed to whatever reader you use.
Labels: China
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Start of a New Career?
For some time now, the exploits of Jan
"Hollywood" Slatter have had me consumed with envy. Repeated requests for television and print interviews is just sickening. Surely he's no more handsome than me? But at last I have got off the mark, with my first television interview, for a regional TV station! I was stopping in Pucheng, a small city off the tourist trail, where very few white people ever visit. I ran into Rock, a local who thinks he is probably the only person in that city who speaks English. He showed me around the town, and sorted out getting a decent haircut and his friend's hairdressing salon.
Rock works at the local television station, and so the next morning as I was riding out of town, a car pulled up alongside, with a TV camera sticking out the window. We then conducted an interview at the side of the road, followed by footage of the tollgate officials giving me a cup of tea, before I rode off into the distance. With a bit of luck at some point I'll get hold of an online copy of it. A really need to do a print interview as well though, so I can get something in Chinese about what I'm doing printed out, to show to people.
So-so riding the first couple of days south-west from Hangzhou, but things have been really nice once I crossed the border into Fujian province. Not nearly as much money here as in Zhejiang province, but less industry and fewer vehicles has made for some great days out. Riding down the G205, a national highway, feels like a backroad after some of the busier roads. Just a nice concrete road winding down through a forested valley, tracking a clean wide river. Small rural villages, just nice and pleasant. Another surprise though at Jian'ou - after checking in, I got a knock at the door - rather than the usual "massage happy ending" proposal, the hotel owner had gone and gotten his English-speaking friend to make sure that I was happy, and I didn't need anything. If I needed something later, they would give him a call to help sort it out. How nice is that?
A bit of hilly stuff over the last few days has left me feeling a bit more tired than usual, so I've had a half day today, and I'm stopping in Nanping, a nice city at the confluence of two rivers. I might take the day off tomorrow too, will see how the legs feel in the morning. Trying to download the 157MB update for my iPod is taking forever anyway, it could be a while...But by all accounts the city/riverside is beautifully lit up at night, so should be nice.
I was going to go in a straighter line to Hong Kong, but since I'm liking this province, I'm taking the advice of locals, and tacking southeast to Fuzhou, and I'll follow the coast around from there, via Xiamen, to Hong Kong. Perhaps 10-14 days, I haven't really worked it out. As usual, I try not to plan too far ahead. Frequently when I wake up I'm not even sure where I'll sleep that night. Here you can get away with that. Someone asked if I was worried about getting lost, but it really doesn't bother me much. Obviously if I was in a remote area I would need to take more care, but then there would probably only be one road anyway. Worst case here, I'll end up in some town I didn't plan on stopping in. But no problem, I can get back on the road soon enough. Perhaps that's part of why I'm so happy in China - it's not just that I'm enjoying China for being China, but it's that I'm just in a good rhythm, and feeling completely comfortable with what I'm doing.
Labels: China
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Cocktails, watches, lakes and leaves
Shanghai was lots of fun to visit, but the pollution's fairly heavy, and I'm not sure I'd want to live there. At the suggestion of a friend, we went up to the 87th floor of the Shanghai Hyatt, to the extremely fancy bar, for cocktails. The best time to go is around dusk, to watch the city lights take effect. I was wearing jandals (that would be "thongs" for my Australian readers), and was told that I could only stay until 18:00. No worries though, we couldn't afford to stay too long anyway, at 90Y per cocktail, plus 15% service charge. Outstanding views though, well worth it.
A bit tricky getting out of the city, heading out through the French Concession area. They don't hate bicycles the way they do in Qingdao?but they don't make it too easy. Bikes aren't allowed on the main roads, so I needed to tack back and forth around the main road leading out of town, trying to keep it in sight. It actually wasn't too bad getting out of the city, it was as I got out to the industrial areas that I got a bit lost, with a few deadends, and bemused locals wondering why I'm riding down the road that they no has a massive roadblock 500m down the line. Eventually found the G320 highway that I wanted, and I was rolling.
It was good to be back on the road, and back into places where tourists are quite uncommon. It was starting to get quite annoying in Shanghai walking around the main tourist areas, and being constantly asked if we wanted to buy "watches/bags/shoes/jackets/DVDs." You stop saying "no" and just ignore it. When wandering around the fakes market, we had one guy following us for about an hour. It all got a bit creepy. I didn't think much of the quality of the fake watches, so gave them a miss. But perhaps I should have bought one, my Polar watch stopped a day after leaving Shanghai...
Next big stop was Hangzhou, which is a very nice city, one of the premier tourist sites in China. The mist that was hanging around probably made the West Lake even more picturesque. The hostel was in a flash part of town, right next to the Lake, over the road from the Porsche dealership, etc...not cheap though. It was just as well we did lots of walking on the first day, as the second day the rain kicked in, so we just stayed inside most of the day, watching "Band of Brothers." Digital TV in this province is cool. One other note is that most hostels have a huge selection of DVDs (all copies of course) that you can pick and choose from, to watch in the evening, or on a rainy day.
Walking back from the Wushan Lu tourist centre, with all sorts of stalls, statues, etc, we came across one of the most outstanding sights I've seen so far in China. A man was up a tree, madly shaking the branches. I couldn't quite work out what was going on - was he trying to shake something out of the tree, like fruit? No, it wasn't a fruit tree. Watching for a while, I worked it out - he was shaking the branches to try and shake out the leaves that would be going to drop off over the next few days. They were then sweeping up the leaves. Rather than wait, they were trying to accelerate the process. Of course, this was being done at 9:00pm, in the dark, no safety equipment, not even a ladder. Ah, China.
Back on the road now, heading southwest towards Hong Kong. Not sure exactly what stops I'll make along the way, will just keep on riding, see how things go and what I find. With a bit of luck, the light rain/drizzle will clear up soon enough.
Labels: China
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The Epitome of Capitalism
Just a short note to say that I have arrived in the epitome of capitalism, in the most capitalistic country on Earth - yes, that's right, I'm in Shanghai, and the end of the G312 highway, that I first started following at the Kazakhstan border.
I enjoyed Nanjing, but unfortunately the one thing I specifically wanted to see there, the Memorial to the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, was closed due to construction. So I jumped back on the bike, and rolled on towards Shanghai. There was a mix of riding along the way, some boring industrial corridors, but then some lovely riding along the Grand Canal. Watching the barges cruising up and down reminded me of Germany. Except a lot dirtier of course. Suzhou was nice enough, but all get a bit artificial now. A real highlight was finding two places selling Erdinger Weissbier - both helles and dunkel, and one had bottles, the other a tap! Not cheap, but the 50RMB (about 5 euros) was worth it for my first wheat beer since Austria.
I have said before that China continues to amaze me every day, and today was no exception. I was wandering around the Yuyuan area, which was overly touristic, and had had enough of it. So I headed off down a side street, and came across someone setting fire to a rubbish bin. A flag went up, a whistle was blown, and someone came sprinting down the street with a fire extinguisher, put the fire out, and ran back. A couple of minutes later the process was repeated. There was some sort of drill going on, and staff were being timed in how quickly they could respond to a fire. Ah, China.
And for today's Chinglish quiz, I'd like some guesses as to what this means: "Point profess your excellency seat." Answers on the back of a postcard please.
Labels: China
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Can't believe I forgot these
Not quite sure why I didn't think of these the other day, but here's some more
CCP that I thought of while riding into Nanjing:
- Roger that, 193643! Qingdao has six beaches. When naming them, the council was looking for names that would reflect their individual nature, famous figures from the area, historical events, the beauty of the Chinese language, and the great imagination that the Party has. So, in no particular order, we have:
- Number 1 Bathing Beach.
- Number 2 Bathing Beach.
- Number 3 Bathing Beach.
- Number 4 Bathing Beach.
- Number 5 Bathing Beach.
- Number 6 Bathing Beach.
Seriously. Everything is like that - bridges, schools, factories, etc. Everything is just a number, not a name. But it gets worse. If you go into a Post Office, or come across policeman, shop assistants, whatever - all their name badges simply have a number, and not a name. Objects I can handle, but I find referring to people by number deeply disturbing. I'm not sure if this is a Communist thing, or if it goes back further - I suspect it's Communist.
- Turn it up to 11! Everything in China is done at maximum volume. People who are sensitive to noisy environments will have a rough time in China. It's not just noisy traffic and car horns, it's everything. Talking on your phone in the middle of a restaurant? Well, it is a mobile call, and the other person might be a long way away, so better to shout as loud as possible into the phone. Chatting to the person at the other side of the table? Why not shout at them instead, in case they miss something? With construction work taking place over approximately 97.5% of China, it also adds something to the aural mix. Not a lot of peace and quiet here...
- Facemasks as fashion accessories. You've probably seen footage of Chinese people wearing facemasks, especially during SARS outbreaks. But what you might not realise is that they are quite commonly worn, almost exclusively by women, to try and filter out some of the crap in the air. Interestingly not so much in the really polluted places like Lanzhou, and Coaldustville, Shanxi Province. But where they are worn, they're not always plain white surgical masks. I've seen all sorts of colours, and even crocheted ones. Don't think they actually do much about filtering the air, but I guess they make people feel better. I see them as a sort of silent protest against the rape of the environment too.
- "Happy Birthday To You." China is the only place I've ever seen street cleaning machines that blare out loud tunes as they meander along the roads, blasting jets of water into people's houses. The washing machine I used yesterday that played a tune on startup was quite a novelty to me too.
- Chav China. I don't know who made this decision, but every school in China has tracksuits as their uniform. So when you are riding through a village around lunchtime, you are suddenly surrounded by hundreds of Chavs on bikes. Very disconcerting. I think someone visited England, saw all the shellsuits, and decided that would make for a good uniform. Dear oh dear. (PS For my much beloved Scottish readers, I am aware that the correct term is "Neds," however I prefer the alliteration.)
I'm now in Nanjing, after some fun with some unplanned expressway riding on the way in here. I was sure I was going to get thrown off, and indeed I wanted to get off the epxressway, but it took ages to reach an exit. Not that the police cared, they just left me alone. It's a nice city, except I'm back into pollution, after some lovely riding down here, through nice countryside, with lots of waterways and lakes, and some nice riding along quiet country roads. No more of that as I head to Shanghai though...
Labels: China
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CCP:Chinese Cultural Practices
I'm on the road south from Qingdao to Nanjing - thankfully a much more interesting ride this time, I'm quite enjoying it. I'm staying in yet another no-name, identi-kit town, where no Westerners ever come. I sit in the restaurant, eating my noodles, and in the background I can hear people practising saying "Where are you come from?" Finally someone has the courage to come and ask me. I reply "Xinxilan" - NZ in Chinese, no point saying New Zealand, people don't know it. That's either all they want to know, or (more probably) know how to ask, for they then go and sit down again, and I hear whispers of "xinxilan" being passed around to anyone within 50m who wants to know. Ah, China.
But anyways, I've being meaning to write something on various Chinese cultural practices - things that the Chinese do, that amuse me, and/or I don't really understand, nor probably ever will. I would like to stress though, that I am thoroughly enjoying China, and nothing here should necessarily be taken too seriously.
- Spitting. This is a big one, so I should get it out of the way first. Despite what you may read in the LP, spitting is conducted by almost everyone, pretty much everywhere. Outside, sure. Inside, at a restaurant table - no problem. At an Internet cafe - why not? You work in a bank, behind a desk in full view of customers? No reason for you not to try and bring up a lung in front of the customers. Like others, I have wondered where this practice arises from - does it go back a long way, or is it more recent? Is it for some health benefit that I'm unaware of? Is it some way of coping with the pollution? Possible. Whatever, I can assure you that waking up to the sound of 5 men busily trying to out-spit each other is not the most pleasant thing.
- Staring. Another biggie. From what I understand, this used to be much worse, and in places like Xi'an and Beijing it's not really an issue. Anywhere else though, I frequently get large groups of people staring at me, sometimes open-mouthed. Thankfully not drooling like some people in Uzbekistan...Children are either fascinated or scared by me, pointing and (sometimes) screaming. Mothers run and get their children, to look at the "laowai." People working at the side of the road call out to all their friends, to make sure they don't miss a chance to stare at the funny foreigner. For some reason, different towns have quite different feels. Sometimes people just stare, but in other towns people gather round. E.g. last night in a small town, a large group of men interrupted their mah jong game to gather round, fiddle with the bike, and help me find a hotel. All very friendly, and completely understanding my inability to speak Putonghua.
- Who needs nappies when you've got...well...everywhere to crap? I've seen more bare babies backsides than I ever thought I would in my whole life. Small children here have crotchless pants, and just go to the toilet wherever they happen to be. Mothers hold them up, recalling Thubron's nice line about holding them "proudly steady." For some reason they tend to avoid gutters, bushes, etc., preferring to make a nice little pile of poo in the middle of the footpath.
- Team bonding. Now when I worked at Vodafone, they were all into funky/trendy/zesty ideas, but thankfully the HR department there never tried this one. Early in the morning, shortly before opening, some businesses get their staff out on the footpath, doing team exercises - I've seen China Mobile staff with a long skipping rope, others doing various calisthenics...all just a bit strange for me.
- But that's not to say that doing group exercise routines in public places is bad. You often come across tai chi groups in the morning, or sometimes ballroom dancing in the evening. Stranger ones involve doing ritualistic movements with a sword, or a ball and racket, where the objective seems to be to keep the ball on the racket, while twisting it about, around your body, through your legs, etc.
- Going to the supermarket can be an experience in itself. Most stores have vast teams of workers, doing little of discernible value. They follow you around the store, and point out various items for you to buy. I must try getting one of them to hold my basket for me. The other day they were so excited to see a foreigner, that I had 10 people following me around the store. One young man was so excited he ran up to me, grabbed the item I was holding, and said "How much?" Dunno mate, you work here, not me. But then when you get to checkout, there's only one girl there, no-one else doing the packing. The bags are hidden under the counter, and she must swipe all your items, then start packing them. You get some outraged looks if you try and start packing things yourself, and the bag is snatched away. I've given up trying now, I just stand there and let things take their course. I'm in no hurry. Which is just as well, since there is invariably a delay at checkout. I'm not sure why, but there is always some sort of problem. It's not like the Turks, or Central Asians, where the concept of a checkout and queue is a complete mystery (they try going through backwards). A classic one is where everything is swiped, the total is rung up...oh no I can't afford all that, take that one off. Except they can't do that. The whole sale is cancelled, everything comes back out of the trolley, the food the baby has started eating gets yanked off it, and everything gets swiped again. I am not making this up.
- Paying for items is also a challenge. It is very, very, very rare for the person who served you to also be the one you pay. In a department store, you will be given a ticket to take to the cashier. You pay them, then trek back to wherever your items are, stopping for sustenance as required, hand them the receipt, and they give you the goods. I once walked for 5 minutes, and queued another 10, just to pay $0.50 for a couple of pens. It was a bit strange trying to work this out the first couple of times, now I don't even blink. I was a bit shocked in Hong Kong where I got something from a small chemist, and the man who served me also wanted me to pay him. Outrageous! There's people out there need jobs, you know! It gets more amusing in smaller stores, where you have to walk 3 metres over, pay someone, then turn around and pick up your goods.
- Driving. I've mentioned this before, but drivers in China simply do not have any concept of what safe driving involves. They are all absolutely convinced that their horn gives their car magic properties, and simply blowing it will automatically give them the right of way, and make it safe. Sadly, every day I come across the result of where both cars blew their horns. If only they could afford an Audi or black VW, as they automatically have right of way over all other vehicles. Of course, the head-on collisions between Audis indicate there may also be a problem with that theory, but never mind, China has its top scientists working on the problem (all those not involved with the Lunar orbiter, anyway). Development is underway on a 196dB horn, the most powerful yet!
- Throw-away society. There is a complete absence of quality control, and so many things have all sorts of bells and whistles...but only last a few uses. Like the shower I had that had a radio, multiple lights, massage heads, all sorts. Except for hot water. And none of the other things worked properly. One of the neatest things is the dodgy food stalls, where rather than wash the plates, they just stick a plastic bag over the plate. After you're finished, they just throw the bag away. Presto! Clean plate. Students/bachelors take note. Now you can look like you have proper crockery (for when Mum comes around), but still not have to do dishes.
- Fireworks - of course, being the inventors, they have a pretty incredible array. But there's still something strange about sitting at the side of the road, watching a truck go by, with workers throwing hundreds of double happies over the side, making a huge roar along the road. Right now it sounds like light arms fire outside. In one town it sounded like something heavier - a whoomph, was followed 10s later by a dull boom. No-one even blinked.
- The packaging revolution. I've never seen such incredible levels of packaging, for so little product. A classic example might be a box of biscuits, where the biscuits are individually wrapped, then placed on a tray, then stuck in the box. And under no circumstances should the contents ever, ever match the photo. That's why I now tend to buy international brands, or things in clear packaging. One good thing is that all packages will have a small nick in the side, so that you can get them open easily. Otherwise some packages would not be openable without the aid of pliers and a cutting torch.
- Jobs for the boys. And girls. If something can be done by 2 people, why not hire 5 instead, and have most of them standing around doing nothing for most of the day? I watched a group of men digging up a tree stump the other day. One was swinging the pick and doing all the work, the other four were...watching. Oh and the driver - of course you need a dedicated driver - was just sitting in the truck, waiting to take them back to wherever they come from
- Women are tough. Real tough. Women here do everything - all sorts of hard physical labour, breaking rocks, roadwork, tough field work, everything. I wouldn't want to mess with them. At least here the men also do some work in the fields, not like some countries, where women do all the field work, while men just sit around drinking vodka.
I would like to emphasise how much I am enjoying it here though, and the Chinese people continue to amaze me. They are so full of life, and have so much energy, incredible for people who have had so much done to them. In some things, like their night food markets, they really know how to live.
I'll add some more things as I think of them out on the road.
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From Sea To Shining Sea
I have at last arrived in Qingdao, which means I have now travelled overland all the way across the Eurasian continent. It was quite something to wander down to the beach, and dip my toes in the water (no more, it was cold!). I broke out of the fog at last, and I even hit a few minor hills on the way into town, so things are not as dull as they were.
I quite like the feel of this place - it's not especially exciting, and would presumably be quite a bit nicer in summer - it's too cold and windy right now - but it's nice to kick back in for a couple of days. The Tsingtao brewery was a nice diversion - the beer they give you halfway through is a rather small glass, but thankfully at the end you get 500mL.
Much enlivening the proceedings here is that Yann and Em, who I first met in Bishkek, are also stopping here, along with Em's Dad. It's nice to spend time with people that you know somewhat, and can have conversations beyond the normal "what's your name/where are you from/where are you going" conversations.
Not quite sure exactly what route I'll be going from here south, but the rough plan is to head towards Nanjing, then Shanghai. Hopefully things will be a bit more interesting along the road - may follow the coast for a while.
I've been doing some thinking about Chinese culture, and things that are done here that I simply do not, and probably never will, understand. Will try and write up something if I have time here, or if the weather is cold and I stay indoors.
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The Shining
All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. Fog, all flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy. All flat roads and no climbing makes Lindsay a dull boy.
I'm currently somewhere in Shandong province (don't even know the name of this town in Latin script), just south of the Yellow River. The four days riding south of Beijing have been all flat, and incredibly dull. Flat roads, too many bad drivers, flat countryside, corn and cotton fields. For the last two days, it's been heavy fog, visibility 5-10m, so there's even less to see - although in a way it's not quite so dull, as the danger factor has increased - Chinese drivers don't slow down for fog, no sireee. You just have to beep your horn more frequently.
However, another two or three more days, and I'll be in Qingdao, which should be more interesting, and I should have something more enlivening to write about. Possibly I'll even drink a Tsingtao or two.
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Repeat after me...
(preferably in a female BBC presenter's voice)
Escalator safety is easy to learn, and easy to remember
I kid you not - this was part of the message I kept hearing on the MTR (subway system) in Hong Kong. It all felt very British to me, with so many pointless safety announcements and signs everywhere. For someone straight from the UK, I guess they would notice the Chinese influence more, but the whole place felt quite British to me - perhaps the large number of people from the sub-continent were part of it.
This is not to say it was bad - for one thing people were not staring at me. Another is that I have found the Chinese are not genetically incapable of good driving, as I had suspected. Remarkably few horns were in use, and I even saw one driver let another in. It did make for some odd moments though, as I would just waltz across the road when I felt like it, only to look back and realise that everyone else was waiting for the "cross now" signal. Someone else commented that they liked it because they felt like just another expat - perhaps that's what I didn't like, that I wasn't special any more. Overall, I was glad to visit Hong Kong, but I'm not sure that I would want to live there.
I had two reasons for visiting Hong Kong - one to get a new visa, two to do some shopping. Visa was absurdly easy - used an agency to get a 90 day dual entry visa - all done on the same day. Easiest process ever. It's like a big shopping mall there, so the shopping was easy too. This message is coming from my new iPod touch - a rather sexy little piece of kit that does music, videos, photos and can browse the net with Wi-fi. All with a very cool finger-operated display.
Flew back to Beijing, going to be here for a couple more days, then make my way to the ocean. Rather worryingly, I'm having a mechanical issue with my Rohloff hub - they've given me something to do, to try and fix it - need to get my hands on some kerosene. Hopefully it will hold together long enough to get back to HK, where I can go back to the "Flying Ball" bike shop - they are the regional distributors. Or maybe it will all come right, would save me a lot of hassle if it does.
Oh and thanks to all who sent me birthday greetings, much appreciated
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Birthday in Beijing
It's still taking a little while to sink in, but I have now reached Beijing. It seems a very long way from London - over 15,000km actually - and it feels a bit weird, walking around, meeting people who are complaining about the jetlag from the flight to London. Oh yeah? I just got in from London too...
Some tough, but extremely beautiful riding from Pingyao up to Beijing, following the G108. Patches were really tough, with massively cracked up pavement, enormous lines of coaltrucks, huge mudbaths to struggle through - but then at some points the trucks took a different route. Suddenly the road was beautiful new seal, through glorious rural valleys, just a few small villages, hardly any people. Really glorious riding.
But tough tough tough. At one point they were resealing about 20km of the road, and I had to wait for a while as the machine laying down the seal went past. Had to haul the bike up the side of the road past the hot stuff, then where it was a little cooler, I could ride by myself, on brand new seal, on a road blocked to traffic. Great right? Except it was a 20km uphill climb, winding around switchback after switchback, grinding my way up a never-ending slope. Finally reach the top, huge rows of mountains stretching off in the distance. Ridiculously steep concrete roads wind down to villages precariously perched on steep slopes.
Of course, all that uphill built up my credit...and then it was repaid...70km of downhill, through a glorious valley, with huge amounts of slate piled up on the side of the road, being cut and polished, before being boxed in crates to be shipped out. Getting later in the evening, decide not to stop at the obvious place, instead head up a tough, but short, slope into the deepening gloom, spying a small town at the outskirts of Beijing. Pull up at the place with a hotel sign, but some other locals say that I can't get a place to sleep there. But don't worry, come and have something to eat at our restaurant, and we'll sort something out.
It's now full dark, and I no longer have any lights, after one went missing (stolen/fallen off, not sure) the other day. There is another climb coming up, and no obvious places to stay coming up. So yet again, I put my trust in the locals, figuring that something will work out. This works surprisingly well, having only let me down once. But sometimes it's a leap of faith, especially when you are having trouble communicating, and you're not sure if you've got the message across.
So shortly I'm being given hot tea, to warm me up, and I'm recommended a dish. I haven't learn any Chinese words or characters for foods yet, instead either pointing at dishes, or just picking a dish from the menu entirely at random. Sometimes that results in me getting a bowl of cold noodles and tripe, sometimes it gets some really nice stuff. For some reason I often get dishes with a lot of chillis in them, not sure why.
This time I end up with duck soup, with a ducks head floating in it, one eye staring up at me. Hmmm. How do I eat a duck's neck with chopsticks? Oh well, tuck in.
The 6 year old daughter comes home from school, and is shown the foreigner. She is shy at first, but then out comes her English language book, and she is going through it with me, practicing the words. Her mother is also learning. Lots of fun. And then at the end of dinner, someone says "Come with me for somewhere to stay" - OK then. We pedal off into the dark, down some dodgy streets, into a dark residential area. Hmmm. But no worries - we turn into what seems to be some sort of place that I think is set up for slightly longer term apartment rental. I'm shown a great room, hot shower, all clean and nice - and they have a photo of another cyclist who stopped there! All costs the same as the 6 bed windowless dorm I'm staying in here in Beijing. The trust thing worked out again. The next day, it was a relatively easy 40km ride to the centre of Beijing.
My birthday is coming up shortly, and I believe that you should always have your birthday off. I've done this for several years, and see no reason to change. So I'm going to have some more time off in Beijing, and do a side excursion to Hong Kong by plane, to sort out a visa, and maybe buy myself some birthday presents.
Assuming that all goes well, and it's not too cold, I'm then going to head to the coast - to say I've crossed the Eurasian continent - then down towards Qingdao, to have a Tsingtao.
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Blackened
Blackened is the end
Winter it will send
Throwing all you see
Into obscurity
Well, perhaps not that bad, but things have been absolutely filthy on my way here, incredible levels of pollution, all those cheap "Made in China" things have a price, even if you don't pay it upfront. Thick smog for days, you can barely see the chimneys and cooling towers through it. Valleys shrouded in smoke, just the flare of the tower in the distance...if only I could post photos here.
But in a perverse way, I've actually been enjoying it. Not sure I could keep doing it forever, but it's an unusual sort of challenge. The roads have generally been OK, but for the last 100km, it's just been a mudbath. This delayed me a bit, and it took me 4.5 days to get here, rather than the 4 I had hoped for. I was so filthy when I got here, that the hostel staff hosed down my bike, my panniers and me.
I'm now in Pingyao, a city that somehow escaped the bulldozers, and is something like what I expect much of China must have looked like - a walled city, with narrow streets, traditional architecture, really quite nice. Hopefully the tour groups are only here for the day, and it should quieten down tonight. I was only going to stop here one night, but I think I'll take the day off tomorrow, have a rest. Then race up to Beijing, hopefully find somewhere that will have the rugby on. Local times will be shocking though, unclear if I can find somewhere that will be open.
Had a couple of students on bikes escort me the first 20km out of Xi'an the other day, quite nice since the road was a mess, and navigation was a touch tricky. Not sure what it is, if it's me (filthy face and all), or the new province, but people seem to be treating me differently now. Far, far, more pointing and shouts of "Laowai" - can get a bit frustrating when you just want to sit and have a quiet moment of rest, eat a chocolate bar or whatever. Cars following me for 15km, cyclists riding along with me, seemingly not too bothered by my inability to understand them.
So a rest here, then the plan is to race to Beijing, hopefully find somewhere to watch the rugby. Current thinking is that I may get a flight to HK, to sort out my visa, and watch the RWC final there. Will see what happens - must do something about my visa though, current extension expires in two weeks.
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End of the (Silk) Roads
Long time coming, but I have made it to Xi'an, the start/end of the Silk Roads - depending on which particular story you read. But it was quite something to get through the city walls, and make my way to the Bell Tower, where my
hostel is superbly located.
Random thoughts/views from the road from Lanzhou to Xi'an:
Roll out of Lanzhou, busy busy, lots of commuters, I'm just another cyclist...not quite, I get the thumbs-up from a normally staid policeman. Want to buy water from my favourite street vendor. Seems to be not right in the head. His wife doesn't trust him, he sells me things, she comes over and makes sure he gets the price right. Saw her hit him once, great left jab. He just defiantly went and sat back down on his chair. Don't think it was the first time she's hit him. She clearly felt no threat towards her. The power politics of women here are interesting, but that is another blog entry sometime.
Smog smog smog, as I slowly grind up the hill, I see just how bad it is, hanging over the city, cloaking the valley. Surely it must be just around the city...no, it goes on for miles and miles. Visibility cut right down, filtering out the sun.
Riding through tough terrain, steep hills, but terraces cut into them, small plots cultivating all sorts of crops. A man works a plough behind a pair of donkeys, struggling to keep up with them as they turn the corner at the end of the small field. No tractors used here. They couldn't get to the small plots. Steep narrow footpaths wind their way up the hills, too steep for any vehicle.
Carts are pulled by people, not animals. A strap across the body, handles on each side, hauling all manner of things. Corn, apples, pears, vast bunches of celery. People with stalls on the side of the road, selling pears - "Refined Pears" - on the box. Some stalls are well setup, tables and umbrellas, lots of stock. One man stands on the side of the road in the rain, only a small amount of stock, no shelter from the rain, he's holding up the scales, as he doesn't have a table. Yet he seems the most cheerful of the lot. People are remarkably upbeat, considering what's been done to them over the last 100 years.
Pass the 2,000km marker on the 312 road I have followed from the border. Started at over 4,800, have gone a long way in a month. Want to take a photo, nothing to steady the camera on, get a slightly odd shot. No matter.
Dirty town, stop for a Coke, sit on the steps outside the store to drink it. Realise a large crowd of girls is gathering at the window of the restaurant next door, pointing and staring. Doesn't bother me so much, I sit and relax, ignoring it for now. Find a hotel, hot water promised for later, but is still cold, fall asleep, not bothering with a shower.
Rain next day, not happy grinding up the hills in the rain. Puncture. Crap. Rear tyre falling apart, only bought it one month ago. Oh that was about 3,000km ago. Put on new tyre, roll again. Two more punctures that day, not happy, didn't have much time to spare, days getting shorter now. But where are the trucks? Ah, another main road joins this one, here they all are again. Grind up the hill. At the top is a tunnel. No lights, and roadworks closing one lane. Chat to guy directing traffic. Laugh about tunnel, then go for it. Noisy trucks with me, so loud in the tunnel. Then they speed off and...it's pitch black and I can't see anything! Have my rear flashing light, but no front light. I know there are potholes in this tunnel, and lovely metal conduits running across the road to catch cyclists out, so I stop and wait in the darkness. Finally more vehicles come along, lighting the way, and I make my way through, emerging into the light, and the downhill!
Struggled a bit today, thought I wasn't going to make the planned distance...then I go downhill for ages, onto the flat, racing along, make my planned town just before dark. First hotel wants to look at my passport, calls various others over, mucks around for ages, finally says, "mei you" - no foreigners. I was obviously foreign, why didn't they just say that in the first place, instead of mucking me around? LP says this place is a "quintessential northern town, broken streetlights and coaldust everywhere." Well, there is coaldust, but it's not that bad, and the streetlights work. Order a bowl of noodles, turns out to be noodles and trip. Remind myself yet again that I really must learn some more Chinese characters and words for food. Usually I just point at something random on the menu, it's like a lucky dip. Sometimes wander around pointing at other people's plates, or walk into the kitchen. Good thing I'm not vegetarian.
Roll along the dual carriageway, lots more farming and people now. But then turn up into the hills, and it's beautiful, no people, bush. Too much fog/rain today though, very limited visibility. I think it actually is fog now, not just smog. At least it doesn't taste like coal. But then I head downhill in Victorian England. Or something like that - coal everywhere, filthy muck along the road, huge piles of it everywhere, trucks carrying it. Stunted bushes along the side of the road are covered in black, small patches of green struggle through. A girl walks out in a shockingly white jacket, the cleanness harsh against the blackness. Wonder how long it stays clean. Ride on into town.
Find a hotel, they show me a room, but then don't seem to want to look at my passport, and take my money. No, I must sit down in the bedroom with three ladies knitting. A pregnant women sits wrapped up in bed. I am given a cup of tea, and told to wait. Vaguely I'm wondering what's going on, I'd really like to go to the toilet, and get a shower. But a surprise - a young man walks in, the son I guess, who speaks English, and he gets me sorted out. 24 hour hot water, I need it. The shower represents China to me - it has lights, a radio, 9 different places that water can come from, out of a hose, the roof, jets on the wall...and yet nothing works quite right, and the water isn't hot enough. But it will do.
Eat a bowl of noodles and other random stuff from a clay pot, down an alleyway. Bit cold and miserable tonight. Getting some supplies from a small store, a man walks in says something to me - hang on, that was in English. He was vice-principal of Bin Xian Number 2 Middle School, and he studied English back in 1989 - must have been an oddity then. He wants me come and talk to a class at his school. Why not? The school is nearby, and even though it is 20:45, classes are still on. We walk into one, and he asks me to "give a lecture on learning English." Err, OK. So I babble some stuff in front of this class:
After that, I meet the family, including the 16-year old who wants to become an interpreter, and they encourage him to talk with me. Some other students from the class come along too. They don't understand all I say, but they want to hear the native English speaker. Afterwards, I am given mooncakes and fruit, for the journey to Xi'an. It was getting late, and I need to sleep, but it was a good experience.
Long grind out of town the next morning. Two good climbs, with tunnels to match. Total lack of driver ability, courtesy and understanding mean that minor incidents turn into major traffic jams, trucks backed up for kilometres. I ride past it, make it to the top of the climb before the trucks. Mostly coal trucks, black dust everywhere. Mixed with rain, I watch the fluid running down from my front mudguard. It looks like used engine oil.
Pass through a town, major roadworks on the main road through town. No do one lane at a time stuff, rip up the whole road. Lots of rain, total mudbath through town, takes ages to get through. Getting all a bit down about it, it keeps going and going. Get to the edge of town, a dual carriageway starts, and a wonderful piece of Chinglish lifts my spirits. The road has two lanes in each direction, plus another wide shoulder/lane. Over each of these are signs indicating their use - I can choose from "Non-flexible Lane," "Runway," or "Exceeding the Lane." I have to think a bit, before opting for the "Non-flexible Lane."
Getting more filthy through the day, I stop to clean vast amounts of muck off my brakes. The drivetrain is a hopeless case. I wonder if I should stop at one of the many little stalls along the side of the road, where you can wash your coaltruck. I would do it, but my panniers don't seem quite so waterproof as they were when I started, and I don't really feel like filling them up with water. Dropping the tent and Thermarest has I helped I guess, but my bike still feels heavy enough on those uphills.
Finally get to the outskirts of Xi'an. Distance signs contradict themselves, and the city seems enormous. Try to work out where I am on my maps, not sure. Some locals help out. Always seems to be a bit further than I think. Finally, there they are - the city walls. Still some pedalling to do, but it can't be far...there is the Bell Tower! And beside it, the first McDonald's I've seen since Istanbul. 6 months, 11,000km. Further investigation this morning reveals that there seems to be 3 Starbucks and 3 McDonald's within a few hundred metres of where I'm staying. Crazy stuff.
Making it to the hostel, I'm vaguely wondering about what I must look like, and I just want a shower and clean clothes. I'm getting some strange looks from people - even the Westerners are staring at me. Must be because I look like this coalminer:
For some reason they stuff me around for ages when check in. Just give me the key will you? Put the bike away, don't even bother cleaning it, don't want to think about that yet. Will be nasty. But finally I get my room (dorm this time, same price as a cheap hotel in small towns). But it is nice and clean, and there is hot water, lots of it. And I settle into the bar, drinking my free beer, and I'm warm clean, and happy.
It's a bit strange though, suddenly I'm back into the tourist circuit. Dreadlocks, etc. The usual crowd. People just come in on the plane, or talking about how tough the train journey was. No matter, it's a very nice change to speak in English for a while.
One more thing, this post is ridiculously long already - there is a fancy supermarket over the road that sells New Zealand Mainland cheese! Colby, Edam, Mild, Tasty! Don't think I can hold off, I must go and buy some...
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Heavy Air is Good For You
Right? Because after all, we just can't guarantee getting all the minerals, chemicals and various substances we need from our diet. And we can't just add these things to water, like fluoride, when you are in a town where most people drink bottled or boiled water. No, no, the provincial government in Gansu is far smarter than that - they have come up with an innovative air distribution network for these vital nutrients. OK, OK, it does make it a bit difficult to see more than 200m, and some people think that Lanzhou has the worst air pollution in the world, but they are just lack the true vision of the future that China is trying to realise. Not to mention the side benefits - no need to buy sunglasses or sunscreen, even on a cloudless day, the "heavy air" is filtering out those harmful UV rays. And of course I don't need to buy cigarettes any more, living here is like smoking a pack a day.
So here I am, relaxing in Lanzhou, one of the most polluted cities in the world. I presume it gets worse in the next month or two, as vast amounts of coal get burnt, to provide heating. Speaking of coal, I'm starting to see more coal trucks on the road, but nothing like what is coming up, based on others' accounts. The thing that I don't get though is that I've seen fully laden coal trucks going in both directions on the roads. Some sort of market failure happening there, surely.
Fairly good time riding here from Jiayuguan, 5 days on the bike, no more monster days, but some up near the 200km mark. Back in the hills too - a couple of big long slow climbs. Of more concern was a freezing cold day of rain. It was the first day out of Jiayuguan, and I didn't realise it was going to be so bad when I got up. Started out cold, then after a little while rain started coming down, and just kept coming. If I'd known it was going to be like that, I would have stayed in bed. They wouldn't let me onto the expressway - shocking that, surely those no biking signs only apply to locals, not laowai? - and so I had to stay on the old road. A couple of days later, the old road disappeared, so I jumped through the gap, and back onto my preferred position riding along the "Urgent Lane" of the smooth expressway.
It wasn't too bad, but the surface is not so clean, with more glass and sharp objects around. I'm running very slick Maxxis tyres now, much faster than my XRs, but not nearly as robust. So of course I got a puncture. Problem was, since I don't have full finger gloves anymore, my fingers were frozen and didn't work properly. I found a bit of shelter in front of a service station in the middle of nowhere, and started trying to sort out my puncture. It took me about five minutes just to remove one fingerless glove. I was really starting to wonder what the hell I was doing there, and why I didn't just go and find a hotel, then get a train to Lanzhou. But then the girl working at the service station came out, and said, in English, "Can I help you?" She invited me inside, to the warmth, where I could thaw out a bit, and sort out my tyre. There was one other staff member there, sound asleep on the couch - nothing unusual there. I was left in peace, no hassles, just warmth. Rather different to other times when you get crowds gathering to watch you do the most mundane tasks.
Later on, the weather eased up a bit, the rain stopped, the road was downhill, and the wind stayed at my back. Considering I stopped twice for punctures, I still quite easily did 175km. Some more good days after that, but had a few issues. One pump had been playing up for a while, and I'd gotten a new one. The new one didn't want to come off the valve, and I delivered it a swift kick...resulting in two half-broken pumps. Neither entirely useless, but I couldn't get my tyres above 40psi, meaning I was having to work harder than I needed to for the next few days, until I could get to here. I have since purchased a new main pump, and a basic, small lightweight backup.
A few interesting places along the way - obviously I was visiting places that very few tourists go to - but clearly almost every tourist that does visit is on a bike. You know that, because looking on your map, it's the obvious only place for a cyclist to stay in the area - and then when you turn up, they don't even blink at the bike, and help you get it up the stairs, and put it in your room. Always the best option if you can get away with it, but some hotels don't like it. Generally the cheaper places are OK with it - not usually carpeted - but then the rooms can be small, making it a bit crowded. For a different storage location, at the enormous hotel I'm staying at in Lanzhou, it's in the gatehouse, in the guard's bedroom.
I've posted my tent and Thermarest ahead to Darwin. Camping is difficult from here on, and there are many cheap places to stay. This drops a few more kilos from the bike. I could maybe have changed to just all my gear on the back of the bike, saving some more weight, but decided to stick with four panniers, so that the weight is distributed more evenly. I've now dropped a few kilos from my gear over the last few weeks, which should make it just that bit easier getting up some of those big climbs. Just checked my body weight today - 78kg - which is only a little bit down from my starting weight of a little over 80kg. Certainly not dropping weight like Jan has been - he's dropped probably more than my whole luggage weight! But I think I'd be looking pretty unhealthy.
Off to the visa office yesterday, to try and get an extension. Remarkably helpful, very polite, no queues or fuss, excellent English spoken, some of them must have lived overseas. They said I could have gotten an urgent same-day service, but I was planning on being here until Tuesday anyway, so I said no problem, will pick it up on Monday. Fingers crossed of course, but it looks good. A little bit concerned about hotels being full for the first week of October (national holiday week), so have already booked my hostel for Xi'an. It may be the first time I've booked a place in advance for this whole trip. Problem is that it means I must leave on Tuesday, and I must do several big days to get there in four days. But I'm feeling up to it. Ate some dodgy street food last night, which came back up in the middle of the night, but that seemed to be it - once it was gone in the first go, my body just returned to normal, and I'm eating well again. Have eaten plenty of food from little carts on the side of the road, not normally a problem when lots of other locals are doing the same.
A bit more mucking around here for the next couple of days. General relaxing, maybe a bit of sightseeing. Apparently the museum is good. Has surprised me a little, this place - it doesn't really get many tourists, yet I've run into many local people who speak English. This is quite a change from most of the places I've been to. Thankfully I haven't had any requests to look at my pianist yet - read Jan's blog to understand what I mean.
Labels: China
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Records in the Desert
I wasn't going to do it, I really wasn't. I had read
Jan's account of doing 262km between Anxi and Jiayuguan in one day, and was very impressed, but thought it was just a bit beyond me. I started out from Anxi with headwinds, and it was looking like it could be a long day to achieve the 178km I had planned.
But then as I lay sprawled on the side of the road after 60km, having a rest, as you do, I noticed that the wind had swung around, and was now behind me. It started getting stronger and stronger, and suddenly I was easily doing 30+ km/hr. A couple of hours of racing along like that, and suddenly 260km didn't seem out of the question. The wind got stronger, I kept racing, and when the 100km sign came up, I realised I could make it - so I put the foot down, and raced along to Jiayuguan. I made it to the "Jiayuguan West" exit around sunset - but of course I needed to do another 10-15km along the expressway to the real exit. As I came off the expressway, darkness really falling now, some petty official came running out of the tollbooth to tell me I couldn't ride on the expressway. Too late buddy! Every other tollbooth they just wave, or sometimes direct me to an easier path to ride through.
260km, average speed 25.0 km/h - easily my best day. Then of course I had to ride around about 7 different hotels before I could find one that would take foreigners. This has been the most frustrating part of China for me so far - hotels that don't take tourists - they have English signs, even English-speaking staff (very occasionally) - but they don't take foreigners! Eventually I found somewhere, total 269km for the day. More than 50km more than my previous best. Then went and had dinner from a street stall - a mobile kitchen on the back of a bike, doing Mongolian hotpot-type skewers of various meats and vegetables. Very nice, and I've been back twice since, but I felt I deserved another dinner, so went and had another meal at Dicos - a local version of KFC.
I didn't feel too bad after all that distance - I've done longer days time-wise on the bike before - but I was pretty tired. Collapsed into bed, and then did not much the following day. Have been out doing tourist stuff since, visiting the fort at the end of the Great Wall. Was pretty amazing to think that I am now inside the Great Wall - I am into the real China now, after only 1800km from the border. The last three riding days were 209, 162 and 269km - big miles being covered now.
Back on the bike tomorrow, hope to get to Lanzhou in five days, so that I can start the visa extension process next Friday. Hard to say how long that will take - LP says same day service in Lanzhou, but LP is crap - but I was going to spend a few days in Lanzhou anyway. Still trying to work out my route from there onwards, have got a few different options in front of me. Unfortunately it's looking like I may end up in Xian around the start of October, which is a national holiday week. Will make finding a hotel difficult/expensive. Hmmm. Could start a big train loop from Lanzhou then, so I get to Xian earlier, then return to Lanzhou to pick up the bike and head south. Decisions decisions.
Oh and I got a few Xinjiang photos uploaded too.
Labels: China
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Shoeless Joe
I now have no shoes. I have only worn them a couple of times in the last few months, so I decided to get rid of them. I have noticed that when I walk around town with jandals, I get the usual number of stares, but everyone is looking at my feet now - maybe because they look like this:
I wanted to spend some more time writing a longer post, but the high levels of Honghe smoke in this Internet cafe are making me feel physically ill, and so I think it's time to leave. I did get my Kazakh photos done though.
In Hami now, about to head out on what should be some of the last long desert stretches for a while, heading across to the end of the Great Wall. Will do some Chinese photos at the next big stop - Jiaguyuan maybe. Big landscapes here, vast emptiness.
Before I go, a few quick notes about some of the T-shirts worn by Chinese girls. Many have fake brandnames, with spelling mistakes (e.g. Abercrombie and Titch). But some of the more amusing ones have English phrases, e.g. "Trouble Everyday" or "Bad-ass Lover." My current personal favourite is "Juicy American Princess," worn by someone who was neither juicy nor American, but maybe a princess of sorts. Ah China.
Labels: China
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The Great Urumqi Underwear Theft
I only carry two pairs of underwear. Given that with bike shorts, I don't actually wear any most days, I had been vaguely wondering if that was one pair too many. But now the decision has been made for me! I had done some washing yesterday, and hung my clothes on the communal line at the hostel. This morning everything else was there, except for one pair of underwear. Very strange. They definitely came out of the washing machine, and got hung up. Who would want my undies?
I'm in Turpan now, 154m below sea level. Did 196km today from Urumqi to get here - overall the trend is downhill, and I had some phenomenal tailwinds late in the day - going at 40km/h, hardly pedalling. If I had been going into that wind, I would not have been able to move - I would have to seek shelter, and cry. Except there was no shelter - this was in the middle of a large valley utterly devoid of vegetation. Completely bare, not even small weeds growing between the rocks. Very odd - most other deserts I've been in - e.g. the Sahara and Turkmenistan deserts - do have some plantlife. Hopefully more tailwinds tomorrow!
I went to the "Geographical Centre of Asia" yesterday. Rather conveniently, the Chinese have calculated this as being about 30km out of Urumqi. Basically it's a big monument in the middle of nowhere. I expected a few tourgroup buses, but I was more or less alone there. Pretty cool though - from here I will be getting closer to the ocean, whichever route I take - after chatting with Pete in Urumqi, it may no longer be a straight ride to Beijing. We'll see.
Looks like a few long hot desert days coming up, should be the last ones before China!
Labels: China
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About Bloody Time!
After much delay, hassle, and a total of six visits to the Chinese embassy, I finally got a Chinese visa! Only 30 days, but still, it's enough for a start. Queued for four hours the first time, got within two feet of the window before they closed. The second time I got some assistance from the crowd, and only queued for 3.5 hours, before getting a visa.
As soon as I got the visa I started heading to the border, to find...the border is closed on Sunday. A major international border, between two large countries, and of course it's closed on Sundays. Ok...back the next day, get processed through Kazakh customs. Takes a while, I'm in the Chinese queue - should have gone in the Kazakh line. Finally get through, get the stamp. No questions about lack of OVIR registration.
So finally I can enter China, right? Not quite...one last delay...it's now 11:00, so of course customs is closed for two hours for lunch. Once it opens, can I ride across the 800m between customs posts? No, I have to wait another hour, and pay $3 for a bus. What a scam.
When I finally get to Chinese customs, it's an absolute breeze. No hassles, very quick, no search for contraband - e.g. maps showing Taiwan in a different colour. Just a couple of forms, and I'm in China!
What a difference too - sometimes it takes a while to notice a new country, but not this time - wham! you're in China. Total difference. Crappy small roads, with a few shepherds have gone - now I'm in a big city, cars/people everywhere, big city in the middle of nowhere.
I've now made it to Kuytun, around 250km west of Urumqi. Great smooth roads, although long ways between towns in this part of China. I'm quite enjoying China, everyone is very nice, and hotels are good and cheap. The first shop I stopped at, they told me to wait, after buying some supplies - and then the husband came out, with some fruit he'd gone and gotten for me. Later I stopped at a service station in the middle of nowhere, and they came up with a guestbook, which a cyclist had written in a few years back. I was asked to add something, and I had photos with the staff.
A bit of fun sometimes trying to work out exactly is in the various packages of snacks I'm buying, but no worries, it's all an experience right? Long way to go though, the kilometre markers started at over 4800, counting down - I guess to Tiannamen Square? We'll see, I think I'm following the same road for a very long way. Urumqi in a couple of days, time for a rest there.
Labels: China
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