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Cycling in China

Email from the Road

Part 20

A country girl in the Big City part 2 (18-1)

One e-mail I get last week was called: "you lazy bone!" It was as if I had not done anything! In fact I was waiting for material which came eventually yesterday from Holland. So tomorrow I will leave Yangshuo for a few weeks. I'll go to Nanning to meet some friends. In the last weeks I was hanging around in Yangshuo, gave a little help with some homepages for two cafés here in Yangshuo.

But yesterday I had to go to Guilin. The coffee machine of the Drifters Cafe broke so I went with Joanne to Guilin. It was Joanne's third visit and again she was excited to go. In the bus she looked outside and told me how long it took before we would arrive. But the bus stopped somewhere where she didn't recognize the place. "Walk or taxi?", I asked. She wanted to walk. So we walked for about half an hour to the McDonalds. It was because I needed the toilet. Besides, the Mac has decent ice cream.

While we sat on the second floor we watched the activity on the central square. Joanne looked at the place and told me how beautiful it looked at night. She thought it was a good idea to stay long in Guilin to see the evening lights. But after the ice cream it was first time to pay a visit to the shop where she had bought the coffee machine. We had to use the escalator and again Joanne was excited to go all the way to the fourth floor. It was not too difficult to change the broken machine for a new one. And after using again the escalator, if it was up to Joanne we would have gone up and down for a few more times, we went into the supermarket.

Here a complete new experience came over the 18 years old girl. Here we had a basket on wheels! That was toy she had never played with. The way out went to the tunnel below the road. Here was a good amount of shops. The idea of cars above her head was another experience she couldn't believe. We walked for awhile but it was already dark now. We walked near the riverside. Again it were the lights that made her excited. She loved to bright colors on the roofs of the buildings and in the gardens. We passed a nightclub. Curious as she is, she wanted to have a look but she was refused to get in! She wondered why! Then we found a tunnel with different lights. There were sculptures. She had not seen these in her previous visits. The lights and the echo (!) made her trying to use the echo. No other people were around.

Since there was also business in Yangshuo, I didn't want to be too late back but Joanne made me walk slow, pretending she had some pain in her leg. True or not, finally we made it at the bus station. With a sense of sadness she stepped in the bus, not knowing went she would be back. And in the bus she immediately fell asleep, probably dreaming of a much longer stay in this "beautiful" city. Through the eyes of this girl Guilin was the most beautiful city she could imagine. It was also the also the only city she had been to in her 18 years of life.

On the road again 21-1

I left Yangshuo for a short ride to Moonhill. Of course I didn't want to stay there though I might stay on my way back at the Mountain Retreat nearby. It was foggy and chilly. In fact I could hardly see anything of the beautiful surrounding.

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Moonhill

By the time I was in Lipu it was clear and comfortable warm with 23 degrees. I had been in Lipu before and saw no reason to stay there again. After Lipu the 321 became a pothole road with little traffic and a few villages.

As some of the readers know I think that cycling is for maybe 50% a mental activity. Today I could prove my right or wrong. The second part of the day went difficult. I had strained muscles probably due to lack of cycling days in the last month. There were a few little climbs to handle but it was no reason why I had so many difficulties. My bike is ok right now although I might use a new tire for the front wheel.

Mengshan

And then came the "historical" city of Mengshan. There a big billboard that claims Mengshan is a historical city. As I am curious I tried to find out but all I could find was a new build traditional bridge. The rest was a typical white tile/blue window Chinese city were the majority of the people were busy with selling tractor motors and motorbikes. Even food was lousy so I would see no reason for anyone to make a stop in this "historical" city.

Taiping

On my way to Taiping I had the same physical problems as the day earlier. The first 40 kilometers or so went smooth but then the "man with the hammer" came for a look (and a bang on the head).

And the town probably has the idea that with building a bunch of new buildings it will attract tourist. This is at least the impression I got when I was walking around in the town.

The old town could be called "characteristic" with it's narrow streets and old buildings. In fact, a better description would be a dirty old town. the street was never paved and if it was done in the past it was probably done a million years ago and even then it was done bad! Wherever I walked, I had to be very careful where to walk because it was difficult to walk, there was a lot of garbage and here and there a dead rat. Like I said, very "characteristic", it understandable why the Chinese want to get rid of this sort of old towns and why the people want to live in modern (and ugly) new buildings with all the facilities.

Guiping

Again it was a difficult day. it wasn't because the road was bad or the hills were steep and high. It was mostly flat or flattish. The first 45 kilometers or so were quite pleasant. There was not much traffic but after I crossed the river by ferry it became a highway! My both maps, Nelles and provincial Chinese one claim it's a small provincial road, yellow which usually means: bad.

This one however was a main road. It should have been a red one on the maps. There was a lot of traffic, mostly trucks and busses and they drove crazy! Here it was life on the fast lane. I found it amazing I didn't see any accidents. But then again, this is China.

And Guiping also isn't too interesting with one exception: the hotel is cheap and very comfortable with nice ice-cold water and bad TV receiving. But the water will be hot at night, the staff promised me and the TV.... ah well, who cares about the TV! I need my sleep anyway!

Guigang 22-1

After just 74 kilometers I had to stop in the city of Guigang. For whatever reason I do not cycle easy. Besides, it started to rain. And Guigang seemed to be ok enough to have a stop here. It means I'll be in Nanning on Friday, a day later then expected.

It wasn't the road surface that made it difficult, nor did any hills. I was just not in shape so to say. It was difficult and there was a lot of traffic.

Guigang seemed also big enough to be able to get some money. With just 200 Yuen left it's not much though enough to survive. As I said, Guigang turned out to be big. There were lots of ATM machines, which I should be able to use. The Bank of China has anyway the service for Cirrus and Visa cards. However, the service is probably new in the city and communications with other parts of the world was difficult so I have to wait until Nanning. Mei wen tie or No problem.

The city of Guigang is a busy noisy place. In fact I like it here though there's not much that a visit should be made until the moment you have nothing else to do further. The streets are busy and the buildings are a mix of old run down houses, old Maoistic run down houses and newer run down houses. The streets are quite clean, not surprising because there's many street cleaners at work!

Food is another thing that is widely available. I tried my luck for lunch in a noodle stall. I got blend noodles with a little bit of veggies and a piece of pigtail. Now I don't care much of what part of the animals I eat and pigtail I had never had before. But this part showed me why we don't eat it in the west: there's not much meat on!

Noise is another fact of China. It seems the Chinezen live with noise. They can't live without it! People shout and scream even when it's not necessary. Not for nothing many older people have hardly a voice left and many are deaf too. Talk about deaf! When I cycled to Guigang I had a lot of trouble with the traffic.

It's not as bad as in Vietnam where the driver before he starts the vehicle first put his thumb on the claxon. You never know if anybody wants to step in front of the vehicle that is not even started!

In China, especially this part, the idea is the same. When vehicles pass other vehicles they use the horn as long as possible. In many ways it's for minutes since it takes sometimes a while before a truck has passed another truck.

In other words, many people should be deaf anyway. In the cities it's no different. Out of many shops the music blasts out to the extreme as if the owner wants to warn the potential customer not to come in. In fact it does work with me but some people actually visit these places of noise.

An internet cafe is no better. Here all the computers have there own speakers. With music available on the internet it means that all the PC users get their favorite tune from the net and play it as loud as possible which causes a headache. How the people can listen to their own songs is a mystery to me.

Again troubles 29-1

The year hasn't started or I have again some troubles. This time there are several things that came at the same time. I cycled to Nanning to meet some friends I had not seen in months. Unfortunately just before I cam in Nanning I found out my tenant had not paid the rent of the house. To find out what happened I had to go back to Yangshuo because here I have possibilities to get in touch with the people in Holland.

So I cycled back north. The first day was no problem. It was a little cool and it went slightly uphill which caused slight problems.

But in Liuzhou it went completely wrong. The front wheel started to move in all directions. The was a loud cracking heard and then the wheel didn't move anymore. The axle was broken. Earlier that day the new stand had broken too. Another problem I had since I left Yangshuo was my saddle. It was impossible to fix it on the saddle pin. For what ever reasons it started to slide back every 20-30 kilometers. No idea what that problem is but I have another saddle.

And there is a problem with the back derailleur. So all in all there's a lot of problems going on. In Yangshuo I got a message from my sponsor, they stop sponsoring me!

When in Liuzhou the front wheel gave up it's life, I had to take a bus back to Guilin. It cost me a lot of time to find the bus station and while I was walking around with the bike, a motorbike was friendly enough to ride straight into my bicycle. There was not much damage on the bike or luggage but I was shocked.

The bus took me in about 2 hours to Guilin. I was expecting to drop my bike now on the bus to Yangshuo but there was no way I could take a bus. After two hours I trying to get a bus or a taxi I was willing to give up for the day. Then I saw another taxi. This was my last try I told myself. And this taxi brought me to Yangshuo.

William of the 7th Heaven Cafe helped me to find a place to stay since his hostel was full. I'm happy to have friends like him and his wife. But I have to admit I am walking on my nerves at this moment.

At the moment friends and family in Holland are trying to find out what happened with the tenant and the bureau in Holland and why there was no payment. Hopefully they will be able to solve the problem in a short time. But until that moment I won't be able to cycle and besides, I have to go to Hong Kong for bicycle repair. I probably do that in march when my Chinese visa expires. So there's nothing certain what I will do in the next months. Anything in between staying in Yangshuo and teaching English or going to Mongolia and Russia and cycle back to Europe are possible.

A life in Yangshuo

A few weeks ago I came back in Yangshuo. I had been on and off there for the last year. It had been a convenient location for me and I met many great people. The 7th Heaven had been a great base and William was a great friend.

I went to Nanning to meet some friends who gave me some fantastic days. But I had to go back to Yangshuo for some other things to do. I was still in doubt whether to continue cycling or to stay for a longer time in Yangshuo to make up my mind and see what else I could do.

I decided to stay to make up my mind but I also wanted to make myself a bit more useful instead of sitting in the cafes, drink tea and coffee and use the internet. So I called a phone number I got from a Canadian. The girl on the phone made an appointment and an hour later I had a job as a teacher. Teacher English was well paid as I was told. I would work for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. The payment was good with Y3000 (around US$400) and free food. For accommodation they would give me another Y450 (around US$55) and they even would try to find an apartment for me.

That apartment became a nice, new and very clean place for just Y300 a month so I would save another Y150. Good paid, especially if I looked at the lessons material and the 40 minute classes. But the Chinese teachers do not get paid that much. The laowai get this money because otherwise no one wants to work here as a teacher. Discrimination.

So I started this morning with a naughty class with rich kids from Nanning. They'll go back to Nanning on Friday and next week a fresh group comes. See what happens.

But does it mean I will give up cycling? No way, I have to make up my mind. I am unsure how long I will teach here. I can't say, I can't even think in terms of months. However, I do think of staying until September when my Chinese visa expires. I'll see what happens.

Jim's call (May 4)

Life is strange, on moment you're in the middle of the SARS, the next moment you're in Bangkok. Jim and me left Yangshuo for some more cycling. The last days Jim was very upset. I had no choice, Jim told me I had to leave for some time. I couldn't teach in Yangshuo anyway at the moment. So why not. I needed some exercise too. My belly started to grow a little bit. So where to go? The first thought was Hong Kong, in the heat of the SARS epidemic! I needed to repair some of Jim's materials. And thus I left Yangshuo by night bus. The bus wasn't full, it was even that I didn't have to pay double since the may holiday week in China was abandoned by the government.

After some hours of sleep the bus came near the epidemic centre. Almost no traffic could be seen. It was in a way a bit scary. Was it that dangerous? But after the border the bus went to the Yin Hu bus station and from there I cycled to the border. No problems there as there were no problems on the Hong Kong side. The KCR train brought me to Kowloon. I expected many people wearing masks and deserted streets. But nothing of all. It seemed the majority of the Hong Konians were more clever then the people in the west who do not read the WHO websites or other more reliable sites about the SARS disease. Is the disease then not dangerous? Of course it is dangerous.

But still, more people die on yearly base on normal flu let alone other known diseases as Malaria. 200.000 unborn children die every year due to malaria. But no one cares. And of course no one can go to the Netherlands with this one case of birdflu. I repaired my bike, bought a new digital camera and left this morning to the airport. No problem with the check-in. They even didn't care about my weight. Jim didn't cause problems too. So I arrived in Bangkok. The airport seemed to be a very dangerous place. There were lots of men in white wearing facemasks. I had to sign a declaration I had not been ill the last 2 weeks (which was true, except maybe my leg wound).

Then in 35 degrees I cycled straight to the National Library where I found my guesthouse I use as a base when I am in Bangkok. As it is on a Saturday, it was quiet on the roads. And Jim was happy, I felt that. Jim liked to be back here. It went so smooth that I hardly felt I hadn't done much cycling this year. Life is good to me, and hopefully that will stay for awhile.

Manchester UK (October 18)

England, I never thought I would go there in the next coming up years. I had been there in the mid 80's and didn't like it at all. But with love coming, things do change. And Manchester was the place my girlfriend chose to live. Since she has a holidaymaker visa, which will expire next year in September I thought I could see and take my chance. Does it work out? For sure I am happy and do not regret the life I gave up. On the other hand, I do miss travelling. There are a few ideas to go back to Asia overland. Since my girl is Chinese Malay we have to go there sooner or later anyway. And why not go overland and why not even cycling? I have done that before and I can do that again. But will my girl be strong enough? I think she can. Anyway, we have to make a living here and we have to save money to start any journey back to the east.

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Peter and Eunice

THE END

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