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Letter 51
Tuesday 01.06.10
This is probably the least interesting day on the whole trip. I just
have to reach Chengdu in a hurry and the road should be easy.
And it goes fine. In the outskirts of Deyang most of the traffic turns
right but my compas tells me it’s the road straight I must follow.
Milestones or not. But they reappear - later.
The road turns bad. At Xindu the traffic for Chengdu is asked to turn
left and I follow, but at the first opportunity I take the "compas road"
south. The road is much better here but I end up back on the G108 as
there is a smaller mountain straight ahead.
Traffic increases. Between fourth and second ringroad it’s insane. There
is a fence to keep the cars and the slow traffic apart, but another blue
fence to the right makes our part too narrow. At one moment things go
bad. As the traffic in the slow lane goes both directions – the chinese
way - we end up with two scooter taxis of some kind not being able to
pass each other. Jam in the slow lane - very special. I swing my leg
across the fence and lifts the bicycle out between the cars and go there
for a short distance. What a relief. Nobody coming from behind, now I
just have to watch out for the oncoming vehicles.
It’s raining again, it’s muddy, there’s the pollution from the stuck
cars, the hell of a boring distance.
I reach the second ringroad, right for the train station, left towards
the river, left again and I’m HOME.
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| My faithfull bicycle on the road again | A G108 reunion |
I left at 9.00 and it’s now 1.30 p.m. It must have been more like 60 km and not
46 km as suggested in the map.
After some inquieries I decide to get a taxi or it’s actually a mini van, for
the airport on thursday. I book and pay the 60 RMB it costs. Now I don’t have to
worry about that and don’t have to go by bike, it would be too complicated even
I know the way.
Later in the afternoon I go out to find a cardboard box for the bicycle.
At the chosen bicycle shop some bikes even stand outside still in boxes,
fortunate, then it’s easier to explain. I pay 10 RMB for a box. It’s too small
for the entire bike, but with my knife and gaffa tape I’ll do it some way.
This evening I feel satisfied. Peace comes to my mind. I think I achieved what I
came for. All my trips from Chengdu has in some respects been successful. The
only thing missing is the DR programme from Maoxian. So now I just have to write
the book, I guess?
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| Down the G108 | To the right it says Loujiang - I can read that |