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Cycling in China

Email from the Road

Part 10

The Silk Road

Did it ever exist? I mean that famous Silk Road? Of course it did exist! So if it did exist, where did not run? That is a good question. Many people believe it was the road from Constantinople to Xi'an, or if you want, from Venice to Xi'an. But was this the real Silk Road? And how do we know this?

The fact that many people these days believe that was "the Silk Road" has to do with Marco Polo, the first backpacker of modern times, already 700 years ago. Though not many people read his book, many people know his name and fame. He traveled from Venice to the Middle Kingdom as China was named in those days. During that journey he suffered a lot and wrote a book afterwards. This is the reason why people believe that what he traveled was "the Silk Road.

In fact there were just a veer few merchandisers who really traveled the whole "Road". Usually the merchandiser went from one place to another. The road was as long as the merchandise traveled and went in all directions.

Since Xi'an was the capital of the different dynasties in China, it's usually seen as the starting point. From there goods went in all directions, including, of course, west! In west China the conditions are harsh and there's few road one can travel. Besides, during the many centuries there were robber gangs working on the roads who demanded toll or simply robbed the whole caravanserai.

Kashgar was another big stopping point for the caravanserais. The massive Sunday Market is a living witness of the great days of caravanserais. From here goods went further west but also to the Indian subcontinent on what now is known as the Karakoram Highway through the Kunjarab Pass. Goods went north into Siberia and Kazakhstan. Of course also good were transported back to the Middle Kingdom itself.

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Kashgar

Further west there where many kingdoms and cities like Persia, Bukhara, Baghdad, the Arab kingdoms and the Russian Tsars. All wanted to have their merchandise to be sold and bought. And to me all of this happened on parts of the Silk Road.

The fact that from Kashgar goods were traveled in all other directions prove that "the Silk Road" was more then just a road. In a way, I think, it was a way of living. In modern times one good compare it to the big harbors as Rotterdam and Antwerp for Europe that bring good into Europe by ship as Shanghai and Singapore do this for China and South East Asia. Big Airports are another good example.

The famous Silk Route therefore is a myth and it isn't! One man told me that the Silk Road went from the household where it was made to the household where it was used. Since the road went in all directions this description is to me very sufficient.

So, here in Xi'an people claim this town was the starting point of the Silk Road since this town was the capital of the Middle Kingdom. They are right and they are wrong. But it doesn't matter. What does matter is the history and the stories that give the Silk Road its name. The stories written down by Marco Polo in the 13th century are still very accurate and for those who want to visit Xi'an, Kashgar or places like Yarkand or Yecheng in Xinjiang province China, they'll find in Polo's story much of what is to be seen today. The Sunday Market of Kashgar hasn't really changed in 700 years time. It's the same with Yarkand and Yecheng as it is for some areas in Xi'an. And the Silk Road still exist, in the memory and fantasy of the people. And yes, in the area of Xi'an there's a lot of history. The Silk Road still lives after all these hundreds of years, maybe I should say more then 1000 or even 2000 years.

Another Episode

I could have named this e-mail: cycling in the mountains, what about the dirt roads, or being stupid on the road, or even What do people do in Mian Xing? I could have written a story on fear in tunnels or even using internet in Xi'an.

But I simply choose this title. My last day in Xi'an was the day of the discovery of an excellent bike shop. The guy checked my bike and gave me a little Giant (brand name) towel. They had excellent material.

That same day I was hanging out on the south side of the city walls. There in the back streets one can see why China was so long off-limits for foreigners. The houses are so typical for the communist way of building in the 60's and 70's. But, as usual the people were very friendly and I played a few Chinese chess games.

Then I rode away to the "nice" town of Zhouzhe. Forget immediately the name because there is nothing to mention apart of a ruin of a pagoda of 13 storey which is not available to enter.

I left the town the next morning to cross the Qing Ling Mountains with warnings that the road to Foping, now I am cycling south, was bad but not impossible. It was exactly as it was described. In Foping last month 1000 people had died of floods. Some people told me there were even no hotels available because people still had no houses. Many seemed to be flooded away.

The road for about 40 km was ok. It went slowly up through beautiful scenery. I was surprised by the quality of the road. Here the floods seemed not to have taken place. The road followed a river so the ascending percentage was never a problem. Sure, for more then 55 km I had to climb but that was it.

The last 8 km were more steep. Here I had an excellent climb with good views all over the whole area. There was almost no traffic which worried me a bit. Since this road is the lifeline to Sichuan I was afraid the road further on, after the pass would be worse then here. Parts of the road were under construction and it was sometimes not easy.

Then the tunnel came. Since I cycled in Iran I fear tunnels. I can write a full story on this subject which I'll do later on. Let me be short by telling you this tunnel was 2 km long, no lights and my light was running out of battery! So there you have the story. Fortunately there was no traffic in the tunnel so I was quite safe.

I left the tunnel at 5pm with the idea that with 35 km to go I could be around 7 in Foping. It was a mistake. The first kilometer after the tunnel was excellent and I went fast. But then I saw the destruction of the water. The road was now under construction but I could easily see how the water had demolished the road. This was the reason there was hardly traffic on this main road. Some parts I had to walk or balance on a small stroke to cross areas. People were working hard to reconstruct the road. It was literally a nightmare.

Around 7.30 it became dark and I had not arrived in Foping and there was no way I could set up my tent anywhere. It turned out Foping was only a few kilometers away and with the light of the construction workers I was able to reach this little town. I had cycled more then 80 kilometers up on the mountain, a total of 130 and I was dead tired.

But I had to eat. So I went out, found a girl who spoke English and she told me about the disaster of last month. The town was indeed flooded away and the water in the main street had been as high as 1.5 meter. The river itself was normally 3 meters lower. And there had people died although the girl didn't know how many.

I had been lucky to see the Foping now in a better condition. Still, water was still not available for all the houses and in the morning I saw many people collecting water at a central point.

After Foping the road condition was also under construction but in a way it was easier to cycle here then the day earlier. The scenery was again beautiful and I was told that if I would hike in the mountains here I would probably see pandas. True or not, who can tell.

The day I cycled to Chenggu had three mountains on the program nut none of them went up to over 1700 meters as the one a day earlier. The climbs were not too difficult.

I arrived in Chenggu dead tired. All I wanted was fluids. I had been drinking the whole day more then 9 liters which was fair enough with temperatures of almost 40 degrees.

Was the town of Chenggu interesting? I have not much idea but I saw some tombs in a town earlier. There was not much left of the Caijun tombs and I don't know if they are mentioned in any guidebook. But they are not much worth a visit though the town had different ideas about that.

My next stop would be the town of Xian Xing. I decided to stay in this town although I knew the road would be flat and only 75 km or so. But I needed to wash my clothes, needed desperately some rest since the last two days had taken it's toll.

So I took my rest in Xian Xing. I got an excellent double room. It was in fact a suite for Y70. It had even a bath so I could do some work on the bike too.

Here is the moment to say something on my bike. There were almost no problems during the days on the bad roads except flat tires. In Xi'an I bought a bunch of new ones but all now have lots of holes, fixed by now of course. But the stones killed the stones.

I always check the maps I have available to see if there are mountains to fear. In the years I have learned to have respect for the mountains. It's like a sailor, he'll never sails out without the respect for the sea. And this morning I checked the map. It seemed there would be only one mountain range to cross.

The only mountain to pass today was one of over 1100 meters and it was a fine climb though there was some truck traffic which at least showed me I had nothing to fear from bad roads!

Ningqing, what can I say about this town. It's ugly. What do people in Ningqing? It seems they eat and die. That is what I saw. Sorry I forget one thing, they reconstruct the main road in the town which causes now traffic problems since there are no rules in China. Everybody pushes his/her vehicle on the road and try to get along. So there are long waits for going further on. I, of course have found my way of dealing with it, I join! And with a bicycle it's easy. There's usually a little hole I can use to continue!

And for the rest it is as I said. People are making noodles in all kinds of ways and I had some fried dumplings in spicy soup. The other people I saw in active duty were the stone carvers. They were busy in carving tombstones.

The people here seem to be very friendly and kind. They told me I had to prepare for a difficult climb tomorrow. Impossible they said but then again, they said the same on the climb the other way, the way were I came from!

Next: Part 11

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