Blogs from Hunan, China, Asia - page 21

This journey has been going now for quite sometime.... I've got a website running called 'Chinawheelie', but I've decided to post a few entries here up until this point. In the last year I've cycle a long way, through searing heat, torrential rain, gail force winds, sand and snow storms. I also found a puppy that now travels on the back of 'Little Wheelie' (my tricycle) and met a girl in Beijing who I asked to marry. She stupidly said 'yes'. The scarey part is that this journey is only just starting really. I've covered the whole of the South, Central, South East and the North of China. Next up is the West..... the really wild bits. I'll start with May 28th, 2006 in Hunan Province.... all the ones before and inbetween can be read on ... read more

Senlin Gongyuan was a ghost town this morning. Known as Zhangjiajie Village by some, the small town at the base of Wulingyuan Nature Reserve seemed to be more a setting for some bad horror movie than the booming tourist spot it claimed to be. Chinese New Year was fast approaching, and it seemed the entire town had disappeared for the festivities. The empty four-star hotels, now locked up with loose chains and wood planks, were wrapped in a thick blanket of gray fog. A single motorized rickshaw putters down the open street, vanishing into the dark nothingness beyond. I had grand plans for the forest ahead. Nearly three thousand karst peaks dot the expansive area, thrusting upward toward the heavens while eighty some rivers and streams cut further away at the already breathtaking landscape. Or so ... read more

"The road is long, we've been on the road nearly 200 days with nearly 10,000 miles cycling under our belts. England is just a memory. What we've seen the last months, most people won't see in a lifetime. We've laughed, We've cried. We've been attacked, we've been welcomed. We've roasted in +44 celsius, we've frozen at -20 celsius in the un-forgiving Gobi. Next goal - Hong Kong for Christmas. Then, through SE Asia, the dry lands, the jungles, to our destination Singapore. We are still all together, no-one has caved in yet. But there's still around 4,000 miles to go. I hope the group stays together, and we reach our goal as a team". Day 196, 13th December Dayao - Liling Our alarm woke us at eight and we were reeling from the night before. Scott ... read more

Day 193, 10th December Pingyang - Luiyang (10 miles north of) Maybe the rain will never stop on this trip - I don’t know? When we set off on our bikes at 11am, a Chinese camera crew began to follow us - in the rain. But this rain seemed special because it lent a certain magic to the surrounding hills. Unable to dry out our tents and our gear in the cold hotel room, we were now cycling in damp gear which was pretty uncomfortable. Later in the day we did the usual café stop at around 5pm before deciding to climb the big hill in front of us, it would be getting dark soon. Then as we began to climb, one of those most surreal moments happened. A TV crew from Liuyang had heard that ... read more

An interesting day to spurt a little seed. I was woken by "ai" (literally "aunt" - Cam's mom) waking me up to get some clothes out of my room, she said not to worry I could go back to sleep but I'd already half woken up. Almost immediately after I opened my book to start reading there was a phone call. Turned out it was Wan Tao (Sayles' Chinese name) calling to invite me and Cam's parents over for the day. I was told to get ready and then Sayles arrived long enough for me to put my shoes on and take off again on their motorcycle leading the way for us. Ai had brought a case of Bai jiu which I thought nothing of until we got really close to their house and she told ... read more