Jinchuan Old Town

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Day 6Jinchuan Old TownThe road to Jinchuan today in constant sun, as usual, although coolish on bare arms until later in morning. The first 30k was along the valley heading North along what is a very busy route for lorries and every conceivable vehicle known to China, mostly the small trucks driven by donkey engines (single and twin cylinder diesels which make a loud knock when accelerated). The small trucks looked like they were in convoy there were that many of them heading to town. Those heading our way almost gassed us unless we could pass them, which was not always difficult especially on hills. The hills came in a big way with hairpin after hairpin for 25k and with a rough road surface in many places, especially on the bends. On the descent we also had very harsh cobbles and potholes to contend with, which did my arthritic wrist a power of no good. Our local guide Michael is doing a lot of riding with us and ended up walking much of the mountain to the coffee stop, but is doing extremely well for a non cyclist. The maximum height today was 2607m, which is the highest cycled this week. Michael, our guide, is going to buy a proper bike, he says, when he gets back home in Kunming and will be looking for friends to join him, he has got the bug. Getting WiFi is a problem on this trip since many of the hotels have no router since they are quite basic and appear to be like a cheap Motel. Whilst China is taking long strides to catch up with the west it still has a long way to go and many hotels are not really geared up for western tourists yet. The hygiene has a long way to go yet with bathroom and toilets in the hotels not very clean. Some detergent, a strong scrubbing brush and some bleach would do wonders. The toilets on the street are something else and literally eye watering. The Chinese do not say “I am going to the toilet”, they say, “I am going to sing a somg”. This is necessary since many have no toilet doors. Many are also very communal affairs indeed, need I say more?The Jiali Hotel in Jinchuan, however is very clean and tidy with very high standards, but alas no WiFi so this message will have to be delayed until Lijiang tomorrow. Off the main street, which is very busy, dirty and dusty the town is quite clean and brightly lit at night with neon strips on all major buildings and there is something like a mini Eiffel Tower, which may be the police station. On the west side of the town there is the Old Town, which is very quaint, still occupied and in quite reasonable condition and well worth a visit. Tony Crawley had ’Beijing Belly’ last night and today so ended up on the bus but has recovered enough to try a bit of rice tonight with nothing else and managed a walk around the Old Town. Let’s hope he is OK tomorrow.

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