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Published: August 12th 2008
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Thursday 24 July - Luo Yang to Jiyuan, 69 km
For some reason I was slow this morning and was last to leave. When I went down to the hotel’s underground garage there was just one lonely bike left. At least it was easy to find, usually it’s just one blue bike among 100 blue bikes!
Today’s was a very boring ride, all on main roads, mostly flat. The pollution and traffic was quite bad, though not as bad as yesterday’s. We cycled through a villtage where the local industry was making hideous pottery animsls - the whole street was lined with them.
Gil’s tyre exploded, which was a bit disconcerting. Hermina and the blue van came to the rescue with a new tyre. Shortly afterwards the blue van’s rear tyre exploded - a hole in the side wall. We had a bit of a delay due to this.
The wait was just after a bridge over the Yellow River - the last time we shall see the river. The bridge over the river and valley was almost 3 km long.
We arrived about noon. The hotel is not as good as yesterday’s (only a 3 star - are we getting
spoilt?) Lunch was at a local restaurant, nothing but ravioli. Fortunately Gaston (the Chinese guide) remembered I was vegetarian and had them make a special plate for me - egg and mushroom. They were good and I ate all 16 of them.
Later I took a walk in town - we are in a suburb here and there was not a lot to find, no supermarket, but two bakeries. Dinner was awful.
Friday 25 July at Jiyuan
Breakfast was OK - tofu, egg, egg rice, cauliflower and noodles, besides bread and jam. The bread, jam and coffee in all the hotels is supplied by the travel agents for the French. The Chinese dishes for breakfast - cooked vegetables, gruel etc - mostly remain untouched. I have to admit I don’t usually bother with any of them either. Fortunately there are usually eggs, and I supply a lot of my own bits such as yoghurt and fruit.
I spent the morning sorting out my luggage (again) and did some washing and did a lot of typing on the computer. No Ethernet here. After lunch I went for a walk round the local small streets but didn’t see anything of great
interest. Lots of shoeshops and bag shops, many with the shop assistant asleep at the back in the heat of the afternoon. Bought a bottle of wine and shared it round at dinner: : the Chinese make quite good wine, which is nice as I am tired of drinking beer.
Saturday 26 July - Jiyuan to Xinxiang, 136 km
A boring flat ride through continuous built-up areas with fairly bad air pollution - this appears to be the pattern now. We end the day with grey streaks on our faces and arms and legs, and our cycling clothes wash out black. In the afternoon the sun came out a bit and it was hotter then ever.
The hotel is not bad and for once the staff speak reasonable English (in a lot of places communication is very difficult). I asked if there were a local supermarket and was directed to a big shop quite near, where I found all the things I wanted. I even got a grapefruit for breakfast, but it was very expensive. I told other people where the shop was, and there was a stream of Paris-Pekin cyclists in and out.
Sunday 27 July - Xinxiang
to Anyang, 114 km
Another boring hot humid grey day on flat main roads with dreadful pollution. You can’t see more than a couple of hundred metres ahead, it is just a grey mist.
We had a police escort out of town today, and some police protection in the larger towns, which is helpful as the traffic is quite undisciplined. Not only do bicycles and triporteurs go the wrong way up the edges, but people walk on the roads and cycle lanes and cars drive onto the pavements. Crossing main streets is a terrifying adventure every time: I try to cross with some local people - though I am getting better at dodging between the lanes. Vehicles turn off at side streets without warning and ignore anything in the way. Apparently the “rule” is that the vehicle that is engaged in a manoeuvre has the right of way - no matter what. This takes some getting used to.
Today some Chinese cycling enthusiasts in a car accompanied us, and every few kilometers they leapt out ahead of us and welcomed us with drums and cymbals -this was fun. We still have the 100 Chinese cyclists with us, but we don’t
see them very much as the group is usually either ahead or behind us.
It seemed even hotter today and the ride seemed interminable. It was 38 degrees in the afternoon. It was such a relief to get into the aircondiioning of the hotel. The town is busy and lively, I had a walk round after dinner and bought the usual bananas etc. Watched some ladies doing exercises with drums and cymbals.
Monday 28 July - Anyang to Xingtai, 120 km
As for the cycling conditions, see preceding days. We had police escort a lot of the day as we are on the route of the Olympic Flame. We crossed a bridge over a big river where people were bathing - it looked very tempting.
The hotel is OK. With Christine I took a taxi to a downtown shopping centre, but it turned out to be merely a large supermarket. They did sell cheese, though. The town didn’t look very interesting along the way, but I went out on foot later and it was very lively, with lots of shops, markets and an Old Town with all the roofs outlined in lights - very pretty.
Tuesday 29 July -
Xingtai to Shijiazhuang, 120 km
As before, flat, hot and humid and pollution. There were some 30 km of bad road - concrete slab road that had cracked and lifted, not a good cycling surface! We had a police escort out of town - 5 motorcycles and some cars.
Some time in the afternoon a few of us stopped at a roadside fridge (these are a common feature - if you want a cold drink or beer you just look for a shop with a fridge outside, or as here just a fridge). The proprietor came bustling out to take our money, and when he saw us pouring water over ourselves to cool down he invited us into his yard to wash and splash at the tap, and offered soap and towels. What a lovely guy!
It was extremely hot and Pierre-Marie said how nice it would be to have some rain. Five minutes later a strong wind came up and blew the dust around, and soon after it started to rain. My nice clean bike got all wet and muddy, and so did my feet. We are supposed to clean our bikes for arrival at Beijing.
Entry into town was a bit confused as we had no guides and no police escort, but eventually we all made it to the hotel. Tomorrow is a rest day and I have paid extra to have a room on my own.
The Xi’an-Pekin group were here, as it was their rest day today. Some of our group have partners in the Xi’an-Pekin group so there were some happy reunions. They leave in the morning, still a day ahead of us. It was noticeable at dinner that the groups chose to occupy separate tables - there is a certain reluctance on our part to dilute the mix with Xi’an-Pekin participants.
Dinner tables … usually we are seated at round tables for 10, with a turntable in the centre on which the waitresses place the different dishes one at a time. Rice usually arrives near the end, and soup often last. By the end of the meal the turntable is loaded with dishes, often stacked one on another. The food is mostly very good and I can stuff myself with vegetables. I am starting to put back the weight I have lost.
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