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Cycling in China

Email from the Road

Part 13

About garlic, playing cards and rain

The bus was full to my surprise. Little by little more people joined my bus to Chengdu. Still, there were many seats left. A few weeks ago I had the same bus and the same driver, he even recognized me! So we left Guilin. My bike was inside and as usual I was worried if it would come out in one full piece. You never know.

Just outside Guilin the bus stopped and seven men stepped inside and my double seat was gone. One of the men sat next to me. Too bad I thought but a full bus is better then an empty bus, at least for the company. In the long run it's better for everybody, if those busses are all the time empty it's no profit to run such a bus.

So my journey started. I felt around me the smell of garlic. The men brought the smell with them. They must have had their lunch yet the smell was very intense! So I had to go into the night with an intense smell of garlic around me. Since I was sitting in the second half of the bus, all of the men were surrounding me. I do like garlic though I admit I do not admire the smell in this way too much. But what could I do? I listened to some of my CDs. That wasn't easy too.

The men were playing cards, for hours and hours they were playing and shouting to each other. So I had to play loud music, I choose for some Neil Young and later for Spiritualized. Even then I could not hear sometimes the music. Finally they stopped playing and it became silent. During the time the men were playing I saw many others sleeping. I wondered how they managed to do that.

Then I remembered what happened to me when I was on the way to Tibet from Yunnan some years ago. I had a bed in a bus stop hotel. There were three rooms in a row with only one entrance door. Of course I was given the first room. In the middle of the night I heard three jeeps coming in and a minute later shouting and slamming doors. I knew what was coming. A laowai was here and all had to see the laowai. So one by one they came to my door, opened it with violence, shouted and laughed and slammed it back in the lock. I could not lock the room but I am sure if I could they would simply bang on the door. I remembered the next day I when talked to some other Chinese who stayed there. They had not heard anything. They were asleep! I wish I could sleep that way!

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Tibetan woman

But all things end and this too. The bus stopped a few times and around 1 PM I arrived in Chengdu. The journey from Guilin to Chengdu was over.

The driver helped me getting my luggage. Now I had to set up my bike. The front wheel I had taken off and the handlebars I had turned 90 degrees. The Chinese around were looking what I did. It was as always, a theatre play. But none of the people touched my belongings and when they saw I could use a little help they gave it without asking. I cycled out of the long distance bus station to the centre of the city. The bike felt fine, I realized I was worrying for nothing. Sam's guesthouse had just one room left for me but they had to clean it first.

It was already 2 PM which I found a bit late. But they had to clean it and it would take just 5 minutes. 2 and half hours later I could enter the room. Just as I came at the guesthouse men came to my room to fix the pipes for the shower. So I told the staff I would go out and eat. It was only 5 minutes so an hour should be sufficient enough. It took another 90 minutes before they were ready. Bu hao! (not good) I had even to push the staff because they said it could be another two hours. I told them I would simply look for another hotel.

If you don't do anything in the first 90 minutes, why would I give you the benefit of the doubt. And now anything turned out to be possible. In just half an hour everything was ready they said. It took longer but at least I could have a shower, with using the old pipes! The new pipes were just fixed for eventual new users of the room! Around 9pm I fell asleep. After a night in the garlic smell with no sleep I was dead tired. This morning at 9 I woke up. Actually I was woken up at 5.30 by a phone call. No idea who it was. This happens I guess. And when I came outside? It was raining! Probably the day of yesterday was just an accident because I was told it was raining here for the last week. That will be nice journey into the mountains.

Other news I got from the mountains... the road in some areas seems to be vanished. I need more information. That information I can't get by using Yahoo...it is nicely blocked by the Chinese government, even mail from the yahoo mail servers is not available. Welcome in China!

Have fun

The last things I heard about the road to Kangding and Litang didn't make me happy. It seemed the road is in very bad condition due to bad weather and rebuilding operations. Hopefully I get more information in the next few days. Otherwise I simply try my luck.

Talk about luck, what to think of what happened last night! I wasn't really asleep when I went to toilet. Then I realized I was wearing my contact lenses. So I cleaned the box in which I store my lenses with water on the tap. At that same moment I realized I had already taken off my lenses a few hours earlier. The tap water had flushed away my contact lenses, so someday in the future when some archeologist in the 30th century will do their work they'll find two contact lenses and might conclude that all Chinese were wearing them! The only luck I had was my last set of spare lenses.

More luck to mention, my foot that hurt since a week or two. Some days it's worse then others. Yesterday I felt much pain and decided to visit a doctor. He couldn't find anything. At least it's not broken or injured. He said I could safely cycle though walking I should not do too much.

Since I met that doctor this morning I am still in Chengdu but I leave tomorrow. Today is the National Holiday and it's incredible busy here in Chengdu. It's a day like our Queens day in Holland on the 30th of April. I have never liked these days. In fact I have never been a fan of many people. I simply can not handle too many people together, it makes me nervous and very lonely. So I basically stay in my hotel.

Sam's Guesthouse has rented rooms of the Rong Cheng hotel (don't ask me why or what). The wing I stay in was probably an old temple, inside rebuild and now in use as hotel. There's a nice courtyard and there's shade and it's cool. To sit there one of the girls wanted me to buy something (fair enough) but the prices are far beyond my budget (coffee was about Y20. So though I have a nice courtyard I have to find another place.

I went outside and had a not so spicy noodle soup for breakfast (probably in the rest of China they would tell me it's VERY spicy). Then I had some ice creams but it was almost impossible to buy other things since there were so many people wanting to buy things. And since my Chinese is limited and time is money I had to wait and wait and wait. So I bought some bread, milk (I have some digestion problems with milk), yoghurt and cheese with tomatoes. I boiled some eggs and had a fantastic lunch. What else does a man need?

Yesterday I tried to buy new tires and a provincial map of Sichuan. It turned out to be impossible to buy a tire. Nowhere they were willing to understand what I wanted, even though I had my bike with me! The Giant store here has excellent tires but were not willing to sell them. Strange, so I gave it up. Other bike stores, there's many of them here didn't have them or had ones I didn't want.

A map buying was funny. I went to a big store. There were three different maps hanging. The first was of Sichuan, the second of China and the third of the world. Obviously I asked for Sichuan. The woman gave me China (Zhong guo as the Chinese call their own country). Of course, Zhong guo sounds exactly like Sichuan. When I made clear I wanted Sichuan, she gave me the world map. But it was impossible to get the Sichuan map though behind the counter I saw a pack lying.

It was worth a laugh. So I went to the next store and got it there, went back to the first and showed her. Then she understood and wanted me to buy another one! There are moments I wonder if some Chinese are just stupid or that they simply can not believe what a foreigner wants so they won't sell it.

Later yesterday I went to eat somewhere and here something similar happened. I asked for some rice with meat and vegetables. I pointed out what I wanted, got the price and got... noodle soup! This is China!

The front portage

The front portage, that is what this area could be called. I was reluctant to see it. I was even a bit scared. Could I do it? Could it be possible to climb that high? Many other people did it though so why shouldn't I?

I walked through the streets of Ya'an and felt confused. It was as if I was walking in a mist. Then I saw the crossroads. To the left the road goes all the way to Kunming, about another 1000 km's. Straight through it goes to Kangding and Litang. I looked behind the marker and saw the mountains. High and not so far away though at the day time when I cycled to Ya'an I had not seen any apart of one small hill I had to climb.

I walked down to the riverside. That same river that comes from the road that leads to Kangding. What should I do? There were teashops at the riverside and in the cool shadow there were many people enjoying the late summer afternoon. It was nice and warm and some people took the possibility to play some mahjong or Chinese chess.

I looked westwards, there I would go to. The sound of the water made me feel at ease. It was as if I heard the water whispering to me. The beautiful blue color gave me the peace I needed at that moment. I knew what I would do. I would go but I would not go to Kangding, no I would take another road, a road that would lead me to Danba, 4 extra days at least.

With that feeling I went to eat something. The night was full of weird dreams. I had not completely lost my fears. Some of it was probably running around in my brain. From time to time I woke up but I could not remember my dreams.

Early in the morning I left Ya'an and cycled west. The crossroads I passed. The road swindled slowly up and down near the river. It felt as always. The scenery was as in many other places where I had cycled before. The road was good but it was a bit cool, just 20 degrees. I was late this year. I knew it would be cold at the passes.

I had no choice then to make this day a short one. The map showed me a pass but didn't tell me how high it would be. I decided to go as far as Luding and then go north to Danba. That road seemed to be in good condition and in Tianguan, local people confirmed it. They also told me about the road construction and the new tunnel that would make traveling next year much easier.

For me being in the front portage it was a confirmation I had chosen well. And the 4 or 5 extra days...I didn't care about it. It would be an area that would be more interesting since it seemed that not many people travel there.

And as it goes, when the heart is lighter, the sun comes out. I knew tomorrow will be my first big day, 127 km's to Luding with a pass and a lot of climbing. I am looking forward for it. This is my life, this is how I want to live it.

The family

It was not so late in the afternoon but I was hungry and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue today or not. As it goes in this part of the world there was this little village, about 50 houses, on a crossroads.

The road to the north went all the way to Zoige. I had been in there some years before and felt no need to continue that way. Of course I didn't want to go back to Barkam so I had to go southeast, back to Chengdu.

I stopped at the exact middle of the crossroads and asked for some food and accommodation. It turned out I was standing in front of the accommodation and a little further I could find some food. Meanwhile my bicycle got all the attention. Especially the Chinese map I had visible on the handlebars. People told me where I was, which I already knew but that was not the thing.

The accommodation was a sort of guesthouse where some people were playing mahjong and it seemed they had no intention to show me a room or even told they were full. And woman waved me by and made a sign of eating. I nodded and she told me to follow.

A little further she went in a house. I went in too. In the room there were a few tables and chairs. There was of course a television and a vcd-player. Later I understood why a vcd player is so much wanted here. They turned on the TV but here people cannot choose the channel. They have the luck of the draw which channel comes in!

Further in the room I saw an electric cooking spiral and a huge heater. The heater worked on dried cowshit. On this stove there was a kettle with tea.

The woman showed me a tiny very basic room with bed and an electric blanket. I jumped my luggage in the room and asked for a toilet. The woman showed me the toilet. I had been lucky to be guest in a house on the riverside. These houses all have toilets! The houses on the mountainside have not. The people living in those houses have to use the public toilet outside of town.

On the balcony I hanged my wet clothes to dry in the afternoon sun and went back inside. A little boy was doing his homework while the woman had put a pan on the fire to make my meal. She cooked an excellent soup which I ate with steamed rice.

Meanwhile the boy offered me some walnuts, which he cracked in the door. The wood of the door had cracked, so to see, many walnuts. They were a bit wet but ok.

I went back to my room to get some things and saw that there was a corridor that separated the living room from the 4 bedrooms. This house was in use as a guesthouse.

Back in the living room I met the husband of the woman. He told me with pride that his son was 10 years old though he was quite small for his age. Probably the food wasn't too healthy.

The man asked me where I wanted to go and told me then I should have to climb 20 kilometers but after that it would be all going down to Chengdu. He was a truck driver and thus driven that road many times. It wouldn't be easy to do.

He was complaining about the government. The new road would not go through this village but 20 kilometers further on where they were building a tunnel. His family would miss some income from the tunnel since part of the traffic would not come through the village anymore and thus not stay or eat here. His salary as a truck driver was low and he needed the money from the overstaying guests.

The woman meanwhile came back in the room with a large pan with soup. I saw some whole eggplants floating around. It was a red colored soup, probably very spicy. But then I saw also a cigarette floating around. The woman dropped some fresh cabbage in the soup and when it was boiling the family had there dinner. Fortunately they didn't invite me for joining which I had no desire for.

After the dinner they put on the TV but when the TV-signal changed all the time they put on an American movie. It was a very violent movie but it was in English with the usual kung fu and ouches and uhs. After 45 minutes I had seen enough and went to bed.

The electric blanket didn't work though the red light was doing well. I didn't care much. There were two heavy blankets and I would not get much cold that night.

In the morning the man woke me up. He went to his work at 7. Even on Sunday mornings people work here. A bit later I paid tribute to the toilet and had my breakfast. I was the same soup (fresh made) as I had the day before that gave me a good solid base for the 20 kilometers climb later that day, which however is another story.

I bid farewell to my hosts and cycled away.

Next: Part 14

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