Category — China

daily distance: 138km
total distance: 13,646km
riding time: 7h 

There wasn’t much going on all day. The CCC land (coal, corn, cabbage) was replaced by corn and potatoe land towards the end of the day and the middle was taken up by getting into and out of Lanzhou.

Here is where I spent the night …

Lanzhou is a bigger place.

And has some interesting figures on the riverside.

Pollution was my friend on the way in and a mighty big hill on the way out. While I was putting down water at the end of it, a little tractor had to be refilled with water as it was blowing a good amount of steam towards the top of the climb. You get what you need I suppose.

Pollution (the type you can feel in your lungs) …

The one problem I am facing is that I couldn’t find the road that I had been meaning to take. G309 that is. Instead I am now traveling on G312, which is Rob’s road. The guy from www.14degrees.org. And who has traveled the whole length of the road by skateboard. At any rate, the idea is to head to G309 some time later now. Maybe. The area I am in is busy and with G312, the highway and the railroad in the same valley, things are a bit hectic at times.

Dinner was frugal. After being turned away for caming a couple of times I pitched behind some corn fields. But hey, deja vu. Another guy with a flashlight and the burner simply makes too much noise. So, it was cold food of which I didn’t have all that much left.

Thanks for all the comments that I received the last couple of days again. They make my day.

daily distance: 153km
total distance: 13,508km
riding time: 7-8h 

I had another sweaty night, not sure what was going on. I had breakfast and then I went … and went … and went some more. It was a long day and it was a good day in the end. The day was characterized by coal, cabbage and corn. The predominant things for the day. The wind was in my face and it was a busy day. There are people everywhere it seems. But the area is changing. Temples of some kind are starting to replace mosques …

and there are trees that have withstood the forces of many a revolution and evolution of sorts ….

And many are carrying picks and shovels … men and women that is. Construction work is almost always carried out by men and women, equality reigning supreme or something along that line. Compare that with Iran … nevermind. Here is a guy without a shovel though …

And they didn’t really want me on the highway … 

As I was nearing the end of the day I was looking for a place to stay. Eventually I found a shed with not many people around. It was a good place were it not for the guy running around with a flashlight about 300m away who was - I kid you not - doing the thing for about an hour. He was searching for something, but certainly didn’t do it methodically.

So, all I had to do today was to pick up my visa. And that should not be a problem really. But you really never know with bureaucrazy. And it is rampant where I have been before and if the whole hotel business is any indication …

I had to wait until the afternoon, the office wouldn’t open up until 2:30pm and so I stayed in bed and tried to rest up. A slightly upset stomach (nothing major) made for an easy decision though. Then, I got to the office and was told to wait. “Please sit down.” The nice official went to the office and took the papers which I assume have been lying around for the last two days and took them to her boss. Then I waited … and waited … and waited. And then some more. What happened over the last couple of days? I really don’t know. I would love to know. But I really don’t. 45 minutes later she comes back and says: “I’m really sorry, but you will have to come back tomorrow. My boss killed the computer, he broke the line.” Ouch. No, I don’t want to wait until tomorrow. I want to leave. “Can I come tomorrow morning at least instead of tomorrow afternoon?” She asks and says yes. Good. Another try: “Can I come back in one hour and see if the computer has regained consciousness?” Wait, no: “”Can I come back in one hour and see if the computer has been fixed?” OK, that is possible also. Then, I was about to leave. She calls after me and says: “It is working again.” Good stuff. I got the visa within 10 minutes and was out and away.

The remainder of the day is quickly told. Planning the next days and figuring what I will do for the flight back. Looks like I will be on Air China. But try to find out what the deal with the bike is on that flight. It took the better part of two hours … and I still only have a shaky answer. But it should be OK after all.

No pictures today … I am having trouble accessing my flickr site. Take a look if you like, interesting people abound.

Note: I am running into issues with the flickr pictures. For some reason - I have a hunch what that reason is - I can’t access and include some of the flickr pictures on this blog. Bear with me as I am trying to figure things out. But do check out what’s on the flickr site, interesting people and places did meet the lens for sure.

So, I was bumming around in Xining and figured I would spend some time on the web when I decided to email Yuan, someone I had met a couple of days prior. And lo and behold we spent most of the day together. It was great … and I got to find out more about the place and the people. Yuan’s work leads him into the plateaus towards a province South of here and he himself belongs to that ethnicity as well.

It was an interesting day we spent walking around the city and exchanging views about all sorts of things.

There are other big squares in Xining.

Then it was dinner time … it was yummy, but the best part of course was the company. The Hot Pot extravaganza is bound to haunt me, but whatever will happen it was well worth it and I certainly wouldn’t have gone into one of the places by myself.

Visa extensions are always fun … not really. This one proved to be an exception almost. I got to the office and was greeted in a modern office which could rival anything you see in Germany or the US by an official whose English was impeccable. This was the foreigner desk, but the locals were next to me so it’s not just the foreigners who get good treatment (at least in this office).

I anticipated some glitches and sure enough there was one. Where are you staying? I mentioned the name of the hotel, not sure whether it would be a permissible one or not. The name didn’t ring a bell. I was given two forms and had to go back to the hotel to have them stamped. On the way back I ran through my options as to what I would do if the hotel wasn’t good enough. Just move to another one or move on to Lanzhou. The good news here though was that it would take two days only. The same day myth wasn’t credible, but two days is pretty good I would say. Unfortunately the new visa starts from the day of the application, but that can’t be changed and since I do want to get back a bit early it is roughly the right timeframe now.

So back to the hotel I went and - lo and behold - they stamped it without much of a fuss. I filled out the forms and went back. “Come back in two days, the papers are in order.” Alright. Why you can’t give me the extension right away then is beyond me, but hey.

After all was said and done I hung around the city again. There are more markets to explore, more food to sample and more people to watch.

And some more alternative areas to discover … the ones I have seen tend to be in the less modern parts, but are in danger of being torn down it seems.

And then there was everyday life again …

If the visa comes through, this is the plan for the remaining time in China. I am feeling much, much better and am keen to ride again. This is a good thing. At the same time the distance is as far as I would like to go and ideally I would like to do a little less. Now, having said that I will see how everything develops (bike, myself and I, weather, roads and the like). If things go well, I may be able to go all the way. If they don’t, I will take a bus again part of the way. It’s all about enjoying the rest of the ride now. Again thanks to all that have written in with notes of concern / encouragement / advice. It was all immensely helpful and I hope I didn’t come across as complaining about things too much.