Cycling The Silk Road In China- Grimy small towns and an accident
I was starting to think that the Silk Road is composed of grimy small towns, one after another, each filled with hard-working people, deprived of any ease, luxury or even a really good rest…
These small towns all have a main road, that runs like a spine in the center, with dusty side streets which are mostly residential.
Tiny towns lined with small businesses, some spray paint doors in the open air, or wood sawing mills, with sawdust that fly into the road and mixes with the fumes and dust of other small industry…. Finally to fall and settle over everything… Including slabs of meat, loosely covered with burlap…. Baked pastry, fruit stalls…. Shops that display their goods in baskets by their doorways…. Everything has a thin coat of grimy dust.
The people look like they need a good scrub…. My clean bed at home, with the advanced Tempurpedic mattress, seems like a dream to me now….
After a day of cycling, and a visit to a Buddhis temple that supposedly display three finger bones of the Buddha, we took a turn into a beautiful green area in the mountains.
They do not grow rice in this area.
This region is filled with wheat terraces, all green and waiting to yellow and mature, in the coming summer months.
The road was closed for construction, so we took the detour road.
In front of us, the road was blocked with a tri-motor, which is a small truck with three wheels and a tiny engine.
This tri-motor, was so overloaded with hay, that the front wheel was off the ground, and the whole thing collapsed backwards.
In the traditional Chinese way, everybody tried to drive around it, only to get their car stuck in the mud and made the road totally non passable.
The farmer refused to download any of his precious hay… So everybody just shut off their engine and waited for a miracle…
An hour later, the rain intensified and still nothing happened…
There was much yelling and screaming, many more cars and trucks were added to the traffic jam and it was getting dark….
Finally salvation came in the form of a yellow tractor, which pushed the tri-motor out of the way, with inches to spare from pushing us over the cliff…
We ate dinner in a traditional Chinese place, in which the whole restaurant is nothing more than a collections of private rooms, each set up for a private dining experience.
The food was tasty and the owner asked us to take a photo with him, so he can hang it on the wall by the entrance to his restaurant.
We were the only foreign people in his place ever….
We drove around town to look for the best hotel in town.
We asked for the best suite /room (called here VIP room)
But it was not to be…
The very best hotel, had a clean basic room, for 188 Yuans ($28 USD,) but I do not care…. I have a sore throat and I feel a little sick….
Still, I am proud of myself…… I completed a day of cycling and sight seeing…. Took a shower and I am ready to collapse…
