Posts from — November 2008

daily distance: 105km
total distance: 13,751km
riding time: 6h 

It was an early morning start and it was freezingly cold. Not fun. It was bitter.

The good thing was that I found a daudse place, steamed dumplings of hearty goodness. After a slight detour (spell wrong turn) it was a long climb up and an equally long and arduous downhill. The cold became oppressive. All I could think was cold, cold, cold. Clammy cold. And bad roads, very bad and bumpy.

Once I got to Dingxi, things were a bit better. I found an internet cafe after some time (people kept giving me a hard time) and started out again late. The end of the day was another long, long uphill and a beauty of a downhill. The riding was fun and awesome, both on the way up and on the way down. Take a look here if you want …

I found the perfect spot to spend the night. Protected by the wind and just far enough away from the road so as to not hear the traffic. It was again cold though and I am still pondering as to what to do about the remainder of the route. We shall see. East is the general direction though …

I am again having difficulty with the flickr site, my apologies. I have a pretty good idea where the problems are emanating from. It is your guess now … (suffice it to say, it is not in my hands).

daily distance: 138km
total distance: 13,646km
riding time: 7h 

There wasn’t much going on all day. The CCC land (coal, corn, cabbage) was replaced by corn and potatoe land towards the end of the day and the middle was taken up by getting into and out of Lanzhou.

Here is where I spent the night …

Lanzhou is a bigger place.

And has some interesting figures on the riverside.

Pollution was my friend on the way in and a mighty big hill on the way out. While I was putting down water at the end of it, a little tractor had to be refilled with water as it was blowing a good amount of steam towards the top of the climb. You get what you need I suppose.

Pollution (the type you can feel in your lungs) …

The one problem I am facing is that I couldn’t find the road that I had been meaning to take. G309 that is. Instead I am now traveling on G312, which is Rob’s road. The guy from www.14degrees.org. And who has traveled the whole length of the road by skateboard. At any rate, the idea is to head to G309 some time later now. Maybe. The area I am in is busy and with G312, the highway and the railroad in the same valley, things are a bit hectic at times.

Dinner was frugal. After being turned away for caming a couple of times I pitched behind some corn fields. But hey, deja vu. Another guy with a flashlight and the burner simply makes too much noise. So, it was cold food of which I didn’t have all that much left.

Thanks for all the comments that I received the last couple of days again. They make my day.

daily distance: 153km
total distance: 13,508km
riding time: 7-8h 

I had another sweaty night, not sure what was going on. I had breakfast and then I went … and went … and went some more. It was a long day and it was a good day in the end. The day was characterized by coal, cabbage and corn. The predominant things for the day. The wind was in my face and it was a busy day. There are people everywhere it seems. But the area is changing. Temples of some kind are starting to replace mosques …

and there are trees that have withstood the forces of many a revolution and evolution of sorts ….

And many are carrying picks and shovels … men and women that is. Construction work is almost always carried out by men and women, equality reigning supreme or something along that line. Compare that with Iran … nevermind. Here is a guy without a shovel though …

And they didn’t really want me on the highway … 

As I was nearing the end of the day I was looking for a place to stay. Eventually I found a shed with not many people around. It was a good place were it not for the guy running around with a flashlight about 300m away who was - I kid you not - doing the thing for about an hour. He was searching for something, but certainly didn’t do it methodically.

So, all I had to do today was to pick up my visa. And that should not be a problem really. But you really never know with bureaucrazy. And it is rampant where I have been before and if the whole hotel business is any indication …

I had to wait until the afternoon, the office wouldn’t open up until 2:30pm and so I stayed in bed and tried to rest up. A slightly upset stomach (nothing major) made for an easy decision though. Then, I got to the office and was told to wait. “Please sit down.” The nice official went to the office and took the papers which I assume have been lying around for the last two days and took them to her boss. Then I waited … and waited … and waited. And then some more. What happened over the last couple of days? I really don’t know. I would love to know. But I really don’t. 45 minutes later she comes back and says: “I’m really sorry, but you will have to come back tomorrow. My boss killed the computer, he broke the line.” Ouch. No, I don’t want to wait until tomorrow. I want to leave. “Can I come tomorrow morning at least instead of tomorrow afternoon?” She asks and says yes. Good. Another try: “Can I come back in one hour and see if the computer has regained consciousness?” Wait, no: “”Can I come back in one hour and see if the computer has been fixed?” OK, that is possible also. Then, I was about to leave. She calls after me and says: “It is working again.” Good stuff. I got the visa within 10 minutes and was out and away.

The remainder of the day is quickly told. Planning the next days and figuring what I will do for the flight back. Looks like I will be on Air China. But try to find out what the deal with the bike is on that flight. It took the better part of two hours … and I still only have a shaky answer. But it should be OK after all.

No pictures today … I am having trouble accessing my flickr site. Take a look if you like, interesting people abound.

Note: I am running into issues with the flickr pictures. For some reason - I have a hunch what that reason is - I can’t access and include some of the flickr pictures on this blog. Bear with me as I am trying to figure things out. But do check out what’s on the flickr site, interesting people and places did meet the lens for sure.

So, I was bumming around in Xining and figured I would spend some time on the web when I decided to email Yuan, someone I had met a couple of days prior. And lo and behold we spent most of the day together. It was great … and I got to find out more about the place and the people. Yuan’s work leads him into the plateaus towards a province South of here and he himself belongs to that ethnicity as well.

It was an interesting day we spent walking around the city and exchanging views about all sorts of things.

There are other big squares in Xining.

Then it was dinner time … it was yummy, but the best part of course was the company. The Hot Pot extravaganza is bound to haunt me, but whatever will happen it was well worth it and I certainly wouldn’t have gone into one of the places by myself.