Now in Xian, Shaanxi province, the cradle of Chinese civilization (travelguidechina.com), lots of history to sightsee. There's an ancient 15km wall encompassing the 'inner' city, modern & old intermingled. More populated now as we head east, hopefully will be quieter heading south, hear good things about the route to Chengdu.
End of Silk Road
Xian marks the this end of the Silk Road, a romantic notion which has given our journey some spice. Along the way we've seen silk carpets & fabric, ancient historical places & buildings, bazaars and kebabs. We started the silk road in Istanbul, and now realise is should be Venice, oops, will have to go back for full points. Zig-zagging southwards next, probably Hong Kong, which you could say is the start of the 'maritime silk road', so haven't lost the spiritual side of the journey, bla bla bla.
Getting Here
Memorable 700km ride from Lanzhou to here (Xian) in 4 days, started out climbing into fresh mountains, cooler climate and conifer trees, and ended up amazing polluted and bee infested. Another puncture & no sooner than I pulled into someone's driveway when the owners return and a crowd forms to watch. Doesn't bother me, on one side its annoying having your privacy constantly invaded, on the other, it's rewarding to make a connection with people from vastly different backgrounds, a smile from a shy kid, a handshake from an old man, the cycle route, sign language, etc... The further East, the more populated China becomes, and personal privacy isn't the same. Walking back from the city centre, in full public view through a glass shop window, a dentist is drilling the patient's tooth, all very modern, wonderful looking surgery, in full view. You can stand there watching it all through the window, next time maybe take a photo.
Opted for the hilly route, instead of the flat, climbing again, looking down on things, having a view, speeding downhill, rivers, irrigation, crop terraces. Fields of melons & pumpkin, villagers selling from the road-side, cars & trucks stopping for a deal. Keith and I became separated (again) on the 1st day, however, turned out a good 3 solo days, resting up, stretching out the day later on. Didn't care where I slept, just cycled on, will always be somewhere to stay now the area is more populated, and have tent too. Got totally locked in the truckers overnight stop, walked around big compound shouting for someone to wake up and let me out, 8am.
Idyllic mountain passes, up & down, and on the 3rd day, the bees came. Must have cycled 50km with bees everywhere, a plague of biblical proportions, didn't stop riding because then they might settle. As I rode, bees bounced off me, off the sunglasses, no idea where they came from. At one stage I was on the hard shoulder of the express way tailed by a police car, so pretended not to see them, concerned about getting through the toll gate ahead, however it turned out fine as usual, they passed me slowly watching the unusual foreigner on his bike, smiling and applauding, me too. A little while later, a policeman beckoned me to stop, opened this patrol car boot, revealing a shopping parade of assorted drinks. Insisted on giving me an immense load of new bottles to carry, which I had to accept and strapped onto the bike, he was very keen to help out. Pretty cool too.
Then I passed a huge line of stationary lorries, thinking there must be a toll gate ahead, but turned out to be a 100km traffic jam, slow moving, sometimes overtaking up long mountain passes, sometimes they passed, lots of encouragement as I kept seeing the same trucker drivers up the pass. One handed an apple out of the cab window, and we both laughed as I grabbed it, and consumed it straight away. Then I spotted the lorries carrying BEE HIVES, surrounded by immense swarms of the bees (photo opposite), huh!?!? how could anyone get away with this!!! Later I passed another bee-hive lorry on the hard shoulder, close by, due to vehicles being 4 abreast on the 2 lane road. Didn't get stung once, during the day, a few clung onto my clothes, just swiped them off in a frenzy, trying not to veer into any traffic.
Riding uphill through a cloud of diesel fumes, covered in soot, t-shirt pulled up over my nose and mouth, and stationary traffic jams in unventilated 4km tunnels, amazing smoke haze pollution. Did become concerned about mon-oxide poisoning at one stage, but alas, no worries. It was all grimly wonderful, a fabulous experience, although not to be repeated. Before entering long dark tunnels, I avoided the police by hiding on the far side of trucks, otherwise, they may have stopped me for safety reasons. Done a few other tunnels day before, not much fun finding the potholes in the dark - front wheel bared the brunt of one, slightly un-true now, may attempt to straighten. Also, a citreon 2CV expedition rally passed by, caught them up in the traffic, a quick hello, they were French and not very communicative;)
So Lanzhou was a big & now Xian even bigger, a vast sprawl coming in, surprisingly less polluted than the 2nd half of the mountain ride coming in. Arriving on bike, I sat outside a shop eating an ice-cream, when this very kind person, insisted on buying me drinks, gave me a pendant, and welcoming me to his city. A young lady spoke some English, very pleasant, personal welcome arriving in the big city, yum, yum, love it.
15 Minutes of Fame
Phone call to my room, "please come to reception", and it's the press requesting an interview and photos - published in the Shaanxi newspaper the next day, cut the clipping out as a souvenir; here's the online newspaper article. Enjoying my 15 minutes of fame, the staff were enjoying the show too. There are other touring cyclists who stay here, at the popular Xian YHA, throughout the year, but they seem to be making a fuss of me, feels like a birthday having all this sudden attention.
Back to hotel again, the TV station has been trying to make contact, phone rings again, and they request an interview 8.30am tomorrow (on a rest day), by the scenic south gate (5kms away) with my bike. Well, really have to go to visa office 1st thing, so declined. Fame, let me tell you, it's just not worth it;) Seemed pretty keen, don't know why the sudden interest in me, but its rather nice, whatto. The staff at this hotel are treating me like a special guest, grinning and smiling, over the attention I've been receiving, lucky me:) Don't know how the press/TV knew I was here, or why me, but letting it go to my head;)
Latest: TV interview re-scheduled for when we ride out of here, works out well, since we'll have all the gear/bags on the bike. Will request a video clip, and when I'm sitting in some cafe later at the day's end, maybe I'll switch the TV to get a free beer.
Terracotta Rest Days
Applying for visa extension of 1 month, visiting the office for 4th time tomorrow, ahhhhhhhh. hard to get things done here sometimes, not talking Chinese makes it hard. will all be fine, but annoying to have to go again just to hand over a receipt. However, people have in fact been very helpful in helping out us English speaking foreigners.
Seen Bell Tower, visited visa office 4 times, & MacDonalds (for convenience), but having been eating the local food mostly, buying from stalls on the street. Visited Taoist temple, ying-yang, murals depicting ancient mythology, practising priests, good atmosphere and since I used to do tai chi, understand some of what was going on.
The Terracotta Army, a touristy must do, organised our own un-guided trip, catching the locals bus, about an hours ride. An inquisitive lady seated next to me, enquires about my work here, maybe because my shirt gives an ex-pat image. Couldn't resist, reluctantly, whipped out the newspapers article (see above), whoooosh, great way to make an introduction.
We've all seen it on TV, and it's impressive for real, an aircraft hanger sized building houses the excavation, still ongoing, a 360 degree view educational cinema show, rich epic history, about the 1st emporer who created China, conquering neighbouring states, built the great wall, bla bla bla. But essentially, they're soldiers made of terracotta... 2km away the emporer's mausoleum is believed to have taken 700,000 workers and craftsmen 38 years to complete, all underground, completely covered in earth and un-excavated. Nothing here in China, is done on a small scale.
Meanwhile Dad has been sending in weather reports for the trip, accurate too, had rain for the last 2 days, he he he, makes a change, a 'ying yang' to all the glorious sunshine these last 4 months. And a big welcome to Lindsay here in China, a fellow cycle tourist met in Iran, see his blog here.
Go South Young Man
Leaving Xian headed south, but first there's a TV interview arranged at the picturesque 'South Gate', an enjoyable hour, various shots, questions, resulting in a 2 minute slot for the provisional news programme. Hopefully they'll email the video clip to Keith and I. Can't wait to watch myself dubbed into Chinese, speaking perfect Chinese for a change, instead of pointing to words in phrase books. Didn't catch it on TV as more concerned about riding & eating after woods (so humble).
Going south on route 108, we ended the day in gorgeous mountain scenery, expected the hills, a pleasent surprise with a quiet rural mountain road. Next major stop is Chengdu about 900km away from Xian. Rained most of the way except the last day in Chengdu, clouds lingering around mountain slopes, misty valleys, stunning and hard to photo, views unfolding as I floated along with the clouds, bla bla bla. First 2 hotels were rough, sleeping in the damp, catching cold, streams of snot, still beats a day at the office. 3rd stop in Hanzhong, one night luxury break (for us) and a good hot shower. Have been scanning the roadside for camping spots, but every spare piece of land is cultivated, terraces on hills, even the road's grass verge is used by people (from the nearest village I presume). No one has grass front/back gardens, it's all used, and a soccer pitch would be a dream. Occasionally there's a possibility, but we'd have pitch tents just before dark, if we'd like a quiet time of it. Miss camping, however, easier to find accommodation here, prices are reasonable.
Some 40/50km riding up deep cut river gorges, lovely downhills, switchbacks, bla bla bla, watching the train on the other valley bank as it zips in and out of tunnels. Bamboo growing wild on road side, rice paddies, rural communities, huge amounts of sweetcorn hanging to dry, and bananna trees making their first appearance. Rice paddies, usually mean buffaloes, which in turn, means 'beef', delicious yum yum. Also, the region of the 'golden haired monkey' and maybe 1 panda out there if it hasn't been chow-meined already.
Didn't see the press on the roadside, Keith was infront and cycled straight past. Oh well, my 15 minutes are up. Using the press clipping whilst bargaining for hotel room rates worked a treat in Chengdu, explaining that we've cycled all over China and know when prices are high.
Our mountain road turned into an express-way, no bad thing, smooth velvety roads raised above ground for good views, good for getting some distance done. We knew cyclists where banned from this particularly express way, but that hasn't stopped us before. No sooner than I'd raced through a dark tunnel and a police pulls me over, oops, time to pull out the press clipping. Was afraid he'd put my bike in the boot and drop me off at the next exit, however, couldn't have been a nicer chap, as now, I had a 20km police escort to the next exit, and shown the smaller mountain road to take.
Lots more rain, muddy roads, dirty bikes & dirty us. Had a good bike cleaning session before arriving here in Chengdu, and gosh, this has been the toughest place to find accommodation so far. People, cars, bikes, scooters, everywhere, our guidebook almost useless for navigating through the mayhem, and rooms taken everywhere, this is a popular place for backpackers and Chinese tourists.
Enjoying China immensely, and I like the people too, although there's too many, and most Chinese would agree. There are some idiots too, like any other place, but I don't get upset, the good encounters outweigh the bad, and there are some jolly nice Chinese. An interesting discussion here from another cyclist, can see his point, guess I'm a lucky dude. Keith looses his temper at the lack of personal privacy here, being stared at his pet hate. At one restaurant Keith physically man handled this man's head and turned it round to face away.
Chengdu Rest Days
Due to lack of rooms, Keith and I have different 'hotels' close by. Have an airy corner room with wonderful views, at the Loft Hostel, the first guesthouse on this trip with the 'unadventurous backpackers' crowd, fair enough. Previous to here, western travellers had interesting stories, tales of remote places, hitch hiking through Tibet, gun markets in Pakistan, bribing officials, archaeology in Afghanistan... Here, its step off the plane, do the panda thang, return to the plane, fair enough, understand that, and some have laptops with wireless internet access. Where's the 'adventurers guesthouse'. 100yds down the road food prices reduce by 100%, whinge, whinge, still a great guesthouse now that I've got over the first night in the prison cell room: curtains opening onto brick walls, no light, no fresh air, no basin, no toilet, no water. Next day, used my press clipping (laminated!) & bargained for a better room at a reduced rate, worked well. Now, its all lovely, the staff great, and have the best room here.
We're in Sichuan province, a town called Chengdu, home of the Panda, did a tour of the the Panda Breeding Centre, however didn't see any copulating. We all know they look cute, & wow, they are charming in the flesh; sleepy, docile, lying on their backs rubbing stomach, playful in a sleepy/drugged up sort of way, sleeping it off in trees, must be something in that bamboo, 40kg daily intake. Keith said he'd like to be re-incarnated here as a panda. My camera doesn't take good zoom pictures in bad light, being 5 years old, maybe there's a shopping challenge for an up-to-date camera in Hong Kong.
Walked to town centre, Mao's statue, all very pleasant, and a KFC on the way as a bonus. Busy town, walking around punctuated by waiting traffic laden road junctions, wardens in charge of pedestrian crossings waving their red flags. An escape from the city to People's Park; relaxing, boating lake, tea houses, communal stuff like ballroom dancing, roller blading, comic entertainers, traditional Chinese music. Would like to join in some tai chi in the park, but thats probably 6am, um.
Meanwhile: Been text messaging friends back in England, 40p a pop. For the same price parents phone for well over an hour, from England to China, using the internet & voipbuster.com. Beer here is 20p in a locals restaurant, a pack of 20 cigs is 45p, a good filling Chinese meal 1.50 pounds, KFC meal 1.30 pounds. Double rooms, half the price when sharing, smaller towns/villages is 1 or 2 pounds, good room in down-town area is 4 or 5 pounds and a reasonable room in the central areas of a big city about 8.00 pounds. Banks/ATM machines on every street corner in China, all very easy, as from Iran to China I used the cash bought from Engerland. Which reminds hows the Rugby World Cup going...
It's raining lots this last week, a local tells me it's unusual, fingers crossed for tomorrow for the next leg to Chongqing (travelchina.com), 3 gorge river cruising territory. By hydrofoil it's a short 22 hour side trip. That's the next blog...