Pedaling from the Black Forest to the Yellow Sea

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.

Visa extensions are always fun … not really. This one proved to be an exception almost. I got to the office and was greeted in a modern office which could rival anything you see in Germany or the US by an official whose English was impeccable. This was the foreigner desk, but the locals were next to me so it’s not just the foreigners who get good treatment (at least in this office).

I anticipated some glitches and sure enough there was one. Where are you staying? I mentioned the name of the hotel, not sure whether it would be a permissible one or not. The name didn’t ring a bell. I was given two forms and had to go back to the hotel to have them stamped. On the way back I ran through my options as to what I would do if the hotel wasn’t good enough. Just move to another one or move on to Lanzhou. The good news here though was that it would take two days only. The same day myth wasn’t credible, but two days is pretty good I would say. Unfortunately the new visa starts from the day of the application, but that can’t be changed and since I do want to get back a bit early it is roughly the right timeframe now.

So back to the hotel I went and - lo and behold - they stamped it without much of a fuss. I filled out the forms and went back. “Come back in two days, the papers are in order.” Alright. Why you can’t give me the extension right away then is beyond me, but hey.

After all was said and done I hung around the city again. There are more markets to explore, more food to sample and more people to watch.

And some more alternative areas to discover … the ones I have seen tend to be in the less modern parts, but are in danger of being torn down it seems.

And then there was everyday life again …

If the visa comes through, this is the plan for the remaining time in China. I am feeling much, much better and am keen to ride again. This is a good thing. At the same time the distance is as far as I would like to go and ideally I would like to do a little less. Now, having said that I will see how everything develops (bike, myself and I, weather, roads and the like). If things go well, I may be able to go all the way. If they don’t, I will take a bus again part of the way. It’s all about enjoying the rest of the ride now. Again thanks to all that have written in with notes of concern / encouragement / advice. It was all immensely helpful and I hope I didn’t come across as complaining about things too much.

daily distance: 10km
total distance: 13,355km
riding time: 1/2h (it was fun) 

It was bike fixing day … or at least I hoped it would be. The day started out dull and grey and with what I thought was snow on the roof of the next house. It wasn’t, but my bleary-eyed negativism made me think so at first. Out with it I decided after taking another look. It was still dull and grey, but it was just some white powder on the roof. Not snow.

Off I went with the bike, pushing myself with one leg the 5km or so to where the bike store was. I had not much else in mind at that point and when I got to the bike store we got to work. The guys liked the bike and the bike seemed to like the derailleur alright. We fixed it on and it seems to be working alright. The bent frame is a bit of an issue, but the re-bending in the middle of nowhere seemed to have done the job. At least for the time being. I don’t want to jubilate too early just yet. So do keep your fingers crossed. After fixing up the rest of the things that needed to be taken care of after the truck and bus rides (breaks, wheels and the like) I was on the bike again and cycled back to the hotel. The sun was just burning away the fog and I was smiling again. Things were on the brighter side of life and it was Spoil-Markus Day. Or so I decided. Well deserved. Or so I thought at least.

And so I set out …

And I wasn’t the only person for whom this city was new … these guys had never seen the steamed dumplings. They refused my offer however.

I milled around and did whatever seemed the next best thing to do. I strayed in places where foreigners probably don’t go and was stared at (I’m used to it by now and let the camera stare back at times).

I’ll call them early adopters …

My straying included lots of food and trying out whatever life threw at me. And there was lots. With my stomach back in shape, things were better on that front too. Instead of telling you all about it, here are some of the more than 50 pictures of today that I posted. For more, take a look at the flickr site. Here are some market impressions …

It was good times to say the least. The city is extremely multi-cultural. People in red robes (you can figure out where they are from), people in other colored robes and many more Han Chinese make for a colorful mix in the city.

Although he wasn’t happy to have his picture taken … (he came after me when seeing me, but I disappeared in some side streets)

And the city is big (and you should view this in larger size, so click on it).

It was a good day and my mood has brightened considerably. I am looking forward to reaching the Yellow Sea (or thereabouts) without however breaking a leg in the process (and taking the bus if necessary once again). We shall see what happens …

PS: I want to thank all of you who sent me notes to cheer me up. These messages make my day and you won’t believe how much they help in what can be frustrating times. So THANK YOU!