Haggling over the price of apples at a street market

Mountains Mist and May Day

Mountains, Mist and May Day

We collected our passports with our new visas and left Guilin on a morning that had been pouring with rain, but cleared up enough to allow us to set off. We left before the morning rush and were able to get through the city without too much traffic and we were back in the countryside again. For the next nine days we rode on terrible roads.  There are many road works being carried out, the road gets dug up and left for the next stage, leaving road users to dodge pot holes, boulders and floods.  It rained most nights which meant lots of mud, the bikes and panniers were covered in it.  We had to walk the bikes through some parts as the puddles were too deep or the mud too slippery to stay upright.  When the roads were good we were able to enjoy the rural scenery, mountains, rice paddies, forests and lovey old bridges.  The people were always friendly and helpful.  We were rained on a few times but we are not complaining we have been very lucky with the weather, our biggest problem with the wet is keeping the chains oiled and through this section Mike has had to clean the chains and oil them most days. Because we are in the mountains there is a constant mist shrouding the peaks.  Food was not a problem, we were able to find noodles and stir fries which were cooked while we waited. In most cases we were taken to the kitchen and told to point to want we wanted and then it was cooked.  In one very small place Heather was trying to explain we wanted an omelet so the woman handed her the pan and indicated she cook it herself, which she did. 

We have crossed into Hunan Provence, the birthplace of Mao Zedong, his photo is everywhere and his following here is strong.  It was May Day as we rode between Shaoyong and Lianyuan, and businesses were closed, no roadside food anywhere and people were making the most of the day by playing cards or sitting around chatting.  We came across some reenactments of the hardships of the cultural revolution and lots of fireworks.  The terrible condition of the road that day caused a small bag to slip off the back of Mike’s bike.  We did not know how far back this happened and the thought of riding back over 30 kilometers of bad road to look for it , it was now also raining, meant we decided to cut our loses and ride on.

The bag contained the Chinese maps Mike has so painstakingly cross referenced with the English map, with the assistance of one of the staff at the hostel in Guilin. The other things were easily replaced. The maps were the big loss as the English map is not understood by locals when we are asking for directions, and until Mike worked on the Chinese map we could not understand it.

There was so much water on the road we saw ducks having a great time in a large puddle in the middle of the road. At one point we came to a section of new road not yet open with a bypass in very poor condition, a motorbike was on the new road so we decided to follow suit and rode for about 5kilometers on a smooth surface and no other traffic, much better than 5 kilometers on mud and potholes.

When we reached Lianyuan we stopped to look for accommodation and were lucky enough to be approached by a number of young people who spoke good English and took us to a hotel, organized our room and then invited us back for dinner. We walked through alleyways to get to Leo’s place, we would never have found it on our own, and had dinner with his family which was very pleasant.  What a day, we will always remember May Day in China.

We needed to replace the things lost so we stayed in Lianyuan the next day.  Lianyuan is a small city of about 1 million people and we were able to find the things we needed easily with the exception of the map. Some stitching had come away on one of Mike’s sandals and we found a lady in the street with a sewing machine who repaired it while we waited. We had difficulty withdrawing money from the ATM, so the bank rang for a staff member who could speak English, Dong Jong Don, who organized our withdrawal and then went with us to the bookshop and found the same map we had lost.  Dong Jong Don invited us to dinner and we met him later and we went to a newly opened restaurant and had a delicious meal, we could not understand the menu so he ordered for us.  He was surprised that we enjoyed the meal so much, he thought that we ate only deep fried food, he also thought Americans ate the same.

We continued up and down hills and bad roads until about 30 kilometers before Chang Do when the road suddenly flattened and we road on good roads into the city of about 2 million people.  The richest man in China comes from this city and we saw the Sany pipe factory as we rode in.  There are many factories here, huge ones.  A pharmaceutical factory had a frontage of about 1 kilometer, we don’t know how far back it went. We found a hotel and the staff sent for someone who could speak English, Chan, the daughter of the owners of the hotel who had only returned to China two weeks ago from studying in England for four years.  She helped book us in and then got on her bike and rode with us to the bike shop which was about six kilometers away.  The bikes have had such a battering over the last nine days Mike wanted to have a few things checked out. Chan would not eat with us as she wanted to wait and eat with her parents later but she had a drink with us while we ate, she was a charming young woman and we enjoyed her company, it is a while since we have had a proper conversation with anyone but ourselves.

Heather’s shoulder is coping well, still not 100% but getting there.