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English Version 18
Saturday 19.04.08
7.30 o’clock
It’s a depressing morning. The weather is all grey. There’s quite a bit
of wind, but mostly from the north it looks. If so it couldn’t have been
better. Two dry “I climbed the Great Wall”-t-shirts are hanging over the
curtain rod. Jeg swept the dust away first – which hadn’t been done for
a long time. My trunks have dried too, but not the socks. I’ve only one
white pair left. They’re going to look like those yesterday.
I can’t pull myself together today. It’s the socks that’s slowing me
down, I have to find them first, everything else is ready for packing.
In the end I’m off at 9 o’clock. Cross the railway and go up through the
town the same way I walked yesterday. I locate the fruit-man. 3 bananas
and 2 oranges, thank you. When I return a young mother is there saying:
Ni shi na gou ren? Literally: You are what citizen? For once I
understand every word. She speaks very articulated and is nicely dressed.
I answer in my best putonghua (peoples language – mandarin) that I’m
Danish and to emphasize it I point at the flag on the rear mudguard.
Come and have a look she says to her son. He’s Danish, look at the flag!
Another woman arrives and says uninvited in understandable English:
Welcome to Xiangfen, and the first ask where I’m going today and again I
understand every word.
We look at the map because I’ve forgotten what my target-town is called
and I take the opportunity to ask how I get back to G108. A minor
discussion is the result where I understand the meaning, I think.
Yesterday night I saw that the road to the right here in the centre of
town went over a bridge which only could be crossing the railway, so I
must be able to go that way instead of going back. But the other thing I
mean to understand is, that I can also just go on straight, then I’ll
meet with it.
When I continue, I take the road to the right, just to be sure, but
later when G108 does a big turn to the left I see a road, which surely
is the continuation of the main street. So the other woman was right,
and I had understood, but better be sure!
But my coming across this young woman makes a big impression on me. Her
straightforwardness and self consciousness and sincere interest radiated
from her. I sense in her the upcoming Chinese middleclass and its wish
to learn. To demand information. To look at things from more than one
side. It won’t be easy for the regime!
The road climbs immediately. Not much, but for a long time. It actually
continues for the next 8 km. It ends on a plateau, which interrupted by
climbs and descents to riverbeds continues for the rest of the day. By
riverbeds I mean lowerings that the water in a not too far past has dug
in the plateau. Maybe connected to floods.
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| In the middle it says 20 km to Houma | Watertanks - made of old car tyres |
Houma is first partly target. It starts already after 36 km and looks
big. And after 52 km it’s still there. Or maybe New Houma? All the same
there’s a sign which makes me confused because the name on the signs
suddenly has got another character. After some turns in New Houma I’m
even more confused. I believe I’ve followed the road, but there has to
be a road south from here too f.ex. Dayun Expressway, which the last
time I saw it had changed its name, so…. It’s not possible to find the
position of the sun, but suddenly I remember my compass! And it tells
the tale: the road has swung to the west, as it is supposed to. More
ugly road towns. In a bigger one with a crossing main street I make a
short stop and a slight rain starts.
I arrive at a bridge, where a “gate” stops all vehicles above 3 m. Which
means all bigger trucks. After the bridge the road gets more narrow,
which means one lane and 1 m shoulder in each direction. But the traffic
has almost disappeared! At the same time it’s like we’ve gone back in
time. Small insignificant villages, where men are standing dividing logs
with a handsaw of the kind where you drag from both sides. There’s a lot
of minor wood industry, but I never hear an electrical saw. It’s
obviously Saturday but that usually doesn’t prevent the Chinese from
working. In the next villages they produce water tanks (to be placed on
dong-dong-che’s) by worn out car tyres. I see piles of tyres and tyre
patterns on the tanks. For the first time I see vine-yards and later
hops. An old man dragging a cart with a long trunk seems to be the night
man. The latrine buckets are hanging from the branch ends. Later I see
another one. Are they just on their way to fertilize their fields? But a
family don’t have that many latrines?
A sudden sound from the bicycle makes me stop. What’s the matter?
Luckily it’s just a small ferruginous piece that has stuck to one of the
magnets and now produce a sound for every turn of the wheel.
Just when I pass a sign telling I’m entering Jishan it starts raining
more heavily. It’s the first sign with the name of a town I’ve seen.
But it’s a little exaggerated. The real town doesn’t show until 10 km
later, and then I’m pretty wet and strongly need a cup of tea and a
cookie. In a short time I find a place. Not so nice but toilet and
shower for 40 RMB.
Again one of those water containers which is supposed to produce both
hot and cold water. The hot water isn’t even lukewarm. I walk downstairs
to ask for a thermo, which is standard in Chinese hotels. But there IS
hot water in the room. And he accompanies me back and shows that there’s
a switch at the back. Oh, then I could have made tea the last place too.
I consider how hot it will get? It doesn’t actually boil. But I estimate
80-90 degrees and that should kill the most of it including salmonella.
Not an exiting day, but efficient.
Hejin
21.00 o’clock
I should be able to eat somewhere in the street nearby, which suits me,
cause it’s still raining.
It’s a fine restaurant with 3-4 girls in nice yellow jackets. There are
numbers on some doors, so I wonder if it’s a hotel too? That should
often be the case with these “fandians” (which actually means eating
house). If so I’d preferred to stay here.
It turns out only to be “private rooms”, where people are sitting eating.
The phrasebook have an expression for fried rice with vegetables, have
they got that? No, not exactly, but they decide on something.
I have a huge dish of something green a little like spinach which you
have to chew a lot, and with chilli and garlic. The chillies are SPICY!
I put most of them aside. Besides a bowl of rice, a small plate of
peanuts and a beer. Now I’ll have enough C-vitamins for the next days?
Then the surprise of the day is served! A girl enters and stand in front
of me saying something I think sounds Swedish. Hvad sprog taler du? I
ask in Danish. No reaction. Which language are you speaking? It’s
certainly not Chinese. I’m speaking English she answers in fine English
and then we sit there talking the next half an hour. Her name is Yang
and she’s been to Canada and is dying to speak English.
It’s fantastic suddenly to have someone to tell my experiences to who
even understands my problems with traffic aso. All this confrontation of
cultures which is a part of this journey.
A friend has called her telling that there was a foreigner in the
restaurant. In other words: it’s all over town that a mad cyclist has
arrived.
Unfortunately her mother calls telling her to come home. But it’s
Saturday night? I say. Yes, but – you know – Chinese culture!
Her mother doesn’t find it appropriate ( because she too has learned
what’s going on – small town in the country, you know?) that her
daughter – who I estimate being 20-25 – speaks to long to a mysterious
stranger – and even a man!
Bah…
When I have to leave, I think a little pity for the girls, that a
stranger stole the picture, they really did their best. So I hint with
my camera if I may take a photograph of the entire crew?
IF I may.
One isn’t enough, and two of the girls have camera phones so it turns
into a longer photo session. If you want to contact a Chinese here in
the country, bring on your camera!
When I return to my lüguan the landlord brings me a note saying: The
police let’s you stay at the Tianshi Hotel. It was a huge hotel
reminding of the Chrysler Building in the outskirts of town. Totally
misplaced for a town of this size. I rejected it at once as too
expensive.
So, where is the police? Don’t they show themselves? I pretend not to
understand. He says something about one or two nights? and I say just
one. Then he leaves. Maybe I can stay? We’ll see. Surely I have turned
the town upside down!
111.00 km
18.49 km/t
6:00:13 tim
48.9 km/t