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Cycling in China

Email from the Road

Part 11

The Road to Guangyuan

I left the town of Ningqiang this morning very early. Since I have learned to respect the mountains and the maps were telling me I could expect some heavy climbs I didn't hesitate.

But to my surprise I passed in the first few kilometers at least 2 kilometers of trucks. Those trucks were waiting for something. But I wasn't stopped and I cycled further on. The road here was good so I didn't quite understand. Some police cars passed but they too didn't stop me.

After those two kilometers the end of the row of trucks was there, as there was an end of the good asphalt road. Here the road was again "under construction". I write this between quotes since I have not seen a single worker here.

The road slowly swindled up but was never steep. There was almost no traffic which was very nice. Had all those truck been through I had been cycling in the dust. Now it was just occasionally that a bus or car passed me.

The top was again a tunnel but this one was easy. It was short and not finished and anyway, there was no traffic. I feared after the tunnel more climbing and it did came but again it wasn't tough. After another few kilometers I finally understood the problem. This road I was cycling on was a very new express way! The old road was in extremely bad condition and no longer in use. At a certain point I saw a bridge under construction and here I came back on the old road 108. Here people were working and here I saw trucks waiting to pass in the other direction. It was simply impossible for trucks to pass this pass.

I passed all those trucks and came back on a better road which a few kilometers further turned into a new express way. I was not allowed to cycle here but what alternative did I have? So I passed and cycled on a very new express way with no traffic.

Then I saw the old road on the other side of the river. I thought I had been lucky because that road didn't seem to be in a good condition. Cycling on this road gave me the possibility to see a bit? more of the landscape. I had crossed the Shanxi/Sichuan border and had left the high mountains behind, so far at least.

I cycled on this road for 22 kilometers with only every now and then a bus or car passing me. The trucks were probably still waiting on the other side of the pass.

But I decided to leave this excellent road and go back on the National Road 108. It was a mistake. This road was in such a bad condition that even in my descending I couldn't go faster then about 10 km/h. There were extremely steep parts were I feared I would even bend over. But even bad things come to an end and in this occasion it ended in a town...I thought.

Unfortunately after the town the road followed downstream the river but it seemed I went more up then down on a road that was never meant to be a road. Big stones came out of the ground and it was hard, very hard.

As soon as I could I went back on the express way which by now was slightly busier. For the next 26 km I cycled next to the old road which I joint about 10 km before Guang Yuan.

And then I got my reward of my work. Next to the road I saw it. I saw the Longmen Caves of Luoyang! And no, I had not cycled in the wrong direction. Here was simply another sort of Longmen Caves, just down the road. Some of the Buddha's were beautiful painted and excellent carved. I was the luckiest man in the world just to have seen this. It was maybe not as beautiful as Luoyang...but who cares!?

Finding a hotel in the big town of Guangyuan wasn't easy. I had to try a couple before I found one I could afford. After the horror of the road I was tired. Time for a meal and a drink (no alcohol of course!).

guanyuan1.jpg (19633 bytes)

Guangyuan Grottoes

About road conditions, broken cables and pain

Life is not so bad I think every now and then. One who rides the bicycle is always concerned about the road conditions. And by times it seems the condition of the road on the OTHER side of the road is better. Wasn't it that the grass is always greener on the other side. I did an investigation and found that indeed sometimes the asphalt on the other side is better. But then again, at other moments I move in the best direction considering the road conditions.

After leaving Ningqiang I came in a wide-open valley but soon I left this for some short climbs. I passed little villages were there was not much to see. The only thing was .... the asphalt. I was wondering, now in northeast Sichuan, it seems the authorities were really busy to create an asphalt road to improve traffic. They had already succeed in building an express way which, of course was not for me, but it showed in Sichuan too, they were able to make good roads. Unfortunately my old road 108 was updated too. And not to my happiness.

What actually had been done was simply put a new asphalt layer over the old one. The problem now was that the new layer was melting in the daytime. This happens more often with asphalt but in China I had not experienced this problem. I cycled up and down, made a mistake, which cost me 35 extra kilometers! and came on a road that moved up and down on this sort of soft asphalt. The hills were steep though the mountains itself were a bit further away. The beauty of this is that I had good views all over the valleys. The bad thing was that all the time I was sweating. I didn't even know my ears could sweat! And I left my marks on this asphalt. At the heat of the day I found out that my tires made big marks in the asphalt. I could hear the rubber doing it's best not to be stuck in the dirt. Together with the steep hill sides, it never went really high, the whole experience because a very painful thing.

So I was lucky when I saw the town of Jiangu. This town had a little surprise for me. There was an old heart of the town with little old wooden houses and a very nice little old market. Of course next to all this beautiful there were the traditional white tiles, blue windowed houses which made it less attractive. But it was nice to hang out on the streets, talk to the Muslims who were selling their kebabs and flat breads. It made me almost stay another day there.

But this morning I left for a ride of at least 80 km. Again it went up and down, steep all the time. I had three climbs today, all three went up to over 800 meters. That wasn't the problem. The real pain was caused by ... the asphalt. It was again sticky melting stuff and it made all my efforts to enjoy the great scenery to a nightmare. It was pure pain and I disliked it.

At a stop for a drink, I think I drank at least 6 litters in the first 2 hours a man started to talk and didn't stop. And all I wanted was to sit and rest a bit. But he didn't understand. So I left and sat just outside the town.

On the last mountain another surprise was there that eased the pain. Here I found a large temple complex, of course there was an entrance fee but it was quite beautiful. It was a Confucian temple and there were still monks active. To the Chinese it was probably well known because I saw some busses with Chinese tourists stopping there.

Further down I found another smaller complex. This temple was basically build during the Tang dynasty. Unfortunately inside there were reconstructing and the views that the marks said they were beautiful I haven't seen. But a bit further on the views were excellent. The town of Zigong turned out to be a good place to stay. One of my problems at the moment is a sore ass and a broken gear cable. Hopefully the latter I can repair and my butt, well that has to get used to be on the saddle!

The Big City

I was hoping I had left the dirt roads behind. And indeed, it seemed that in the first kilometers those roads were history. The National Highway 108 was here a real highway although it lacked traffic. Here and there I could see tracks of the old road 108, further in the hills. I had left the mountains behind and was cycling in the hills that didn't go much higher then 500-600 meters. Some slopes were quite steep but since it was early I had no real problems.

My front gear cable had been broken a day earlier and I had not been able to fix it. The outer cable was broken but it turned out the inner cable had to be replaced, too. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that both of my new cables were too long. And I was not able to cut them. So I had to find either a cable cutter or a decent bike shop.

The road after a little town turned again into dirt and went steep up but it turned out to be my last real climbing. After going down I ended up on a new excellent section of the 108, again with almost no traffic, maybe because of the nearby express way. I cycled to Deyang, a big city nearby but I wasn't able to find a hotel. No one goes to Deyang, there's nothing to do and there's nothing to see. Not even a temple. The hotels were either Chinese only (who says Chinese do not discriminate?) or too expensive.

So I cycled another 16 km to the town of Guanghan. Here was a nice little temple and a descent cheap hotel with a very sweet staff. "Yes, you take your bicycle to the room, we give you a big room!" they said. I got a big room and lots of steaming hot water and later on some excellent dinner. What one town lacked, the other one had. I loved it.

My plan was to get up late today since I had only 45 km's to go to Chengdu. Why should I get up early? But I woke up at 5.30 and why should I stay in bed while I was ready to go? Now I couldn't find breakfast! I was too early. I thought I would find some a bit further on but it went so smooth to Chengdu that I arrived at 9 in the Big City.

By accident I passed a bunch of bike shops and I tried my luck. I explained my problem and I had to sit down. Two guys were too much interested in this problem and wanted to solve it for me. Later it turned out I didn't even have to pay for it. So my cable problem is solved, a hostel, a very new one was easily found. Now I needed a bus ticket for Guilin.

Of course I could take a train but there's no direct train to Guilin. Why back to Guilin? I need a new passport and a new visa before the 22nd of this month. In Yangshuo, near Guilin I want to leave the bike and just take a bus/train to Guangzhou and arrange the passport. The bus ticket was easily arranged at the east bus station, still more then 10km's out of town. So on the 6th I'll head back to Guilin and arrive there the 7th. From there it's just 67 km to Yangshuo. And then a new chapter will be opened.

Back in Yangshuo

I had this bus from Chengdu to Guilin, 21 hours in an express bus with 3 Israelis and 6 Chinese people. So I had space to sleep. The roads were almost all express ways and good of quality but still it's hard to sleep. In Guilin I found my bike without any problems and I cycled easily with the wind in the back, back to Yangshuo.

There I found me a warm welcome by my friends. The reason why I came back here is easy: my visa will expire on the 20th of September. I have just one page left on the passport so I need a new one and that I can get in Guangzhou. Of course Shanghai or Beijing would have been possible but I don't want to stay 10 days or even more in those cities.

Besides, from Shanghai I can get a boat to Japan but what am I supposed to do after Beijing at this time of the year? Mongolia is by then too cold to ride the bike. So tonight I have another 10-hour bus to Guangzhou. I'll do my passport business there, check a bicycle shop and then hop on a bus back to Yangshuo. That's the price I have to pay for being in China.

When I can get the passport I will continue to Hong Kong and get me a new 6-month visa. If I can stay in this part of the world at least I have a visa for a longer time. The thing if I can stay depends on my tenant of my house in Holland. If he stays, I can stay for another year, if not, I'll find me a way back to Bangkok and fly from there to Amsterdam. But as for tonight, the bus will take 10 hours to Guangzhou and I have a day there.

Dangerous

After a 21-hour bus ride I arrived in Guilin. From there it was another 65 km to Yangshuo were I found a place to sleep in the 7th Heaven. Sunday night was the night I had a bus to Guangzhou where I arrived the next morning. In 15 minutes I had done my application for a new passport which I hope to get somewhere next week. So I went back to Yangshuo to bide my time. Since I have stayed here for a long time this year it was great to meet many friends.

One of the tour leaders told me a story about robbery. China is one of the safest places in Asia (at least) to visit but small criminal activity exists everywhere. My problem with the credit cards showed it earlier. What actually happened was this: One of the members of a tour group decided to go on her own to Guilin, about 45 minutes by bus from here. She got in the bus while it was still empty. Soon after she got in, a woman set herself next to her. The bus filled up easy and just before the bus left the woman next to the victim left the bus. A man with a suitcase got in and set himself next to the woman. Almost immediately he fell asleep on the woman's shoulder. The woman was carrying a money belt under her shirt and when she sat in the bus a small backpack she got on her knees to her belly.

What happened is this. In the suitcase of the man must have been a hole. The man had a razorblade and cut first her shirt, then made a long cut in the backpack and then got to the money belt where he made two long cuts. At that moment she felt something and moved. She saw the suitcase with the hole and the razorblade. She began to hit the man who escaped. None of the Chinese, including the ticket salesperson helped the woman (already 74 years old) and let him get off the bus.

With help of her tour leader and William of 7th Heaven they made a report at the solicitation. The woman had not lost anything, just some damage on her clothes and bags. Will the police do anything? As a foreigner you will not know if they will act but in the case of my stolen credit cards I know the thief's were caught a couple of weeks later.

Another story of danger was of a couple of girls coming back from Fuli. On the way back they cycled through a tunnel of several dozens of meters. At the end of the tunnel some guys attacked the three who fled without losing anything. The guys later on where caught by the police. So the police seems to work here. Does all this mean Yangshuo, or even China nowadays is dangerous? Not in my eyes. This sort of criminal activity happens almost everywhere. Be careful, use a money belt and don't take all the money and the credit cards with you and it'll be ok. And Yangshuo is a good place to have a rest and eat apple crumble!

Next: Part 12

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