Day 89 991 days to go. Distance: today 58km. It’s 9.55pm Monday 27/2/2012 Qianjiang. I’m so to be posting so late but I’ve been having chinese tea with the neighbors 🙂 How cool’s that!! Not a long day distance wise but heaps jammed into the day which was great. And needed as it is cold and wet. Not below zero as my snot monster nose isn’t freezing as yet but it’s not much above. The temp gauge in the neighbors house was reading 7. Add wind and rain and that adds up to a chill bill day of it for the girl and I. We put some thought into the attire for the day’s outing and even accessorized with yellow washing up gloves to keep the thermals dry. Nice look but who the bloody hell cares. Our gear worked pretty well for us I just may wear all over thermals tomorrow under the rain gear. My hands are still so pink hours after stopping. When I stopped to take pickies today I had to take the gloves off and in no time the fingers were just stinging
wicked. Anyway I think you get the picture. Lets just say I have checked the map again to avoid the brown sections. The next three days are forecast rain and that’s eek as it’s hilly tomorrow hence the thermals. At least if I get too chilly I’ll freeze happy and smiling 🙂 With the added challenges now in China such as weather and getting from A to B our kms per day will be less. Ive done some calculations tonight and we’ll still do the distance without skipping quality. It just means we’ll catch a bus to/from Xian much like we did to go to Siem Reip to see the temples in Cambodia. I want to travel different routes there and back to see more of the mountainous countryside which surrounds Xian. It’ll be cool to check out the scenery without having to do the hills yay. About half way here we entered Karst country and even in the cloudy weather it’s wonderful. The agriculture is mostly sugar cane with a backdrop of limestone mountains very cool. The
villages are therefore very much about cane: burning, cutting, stacking, ploughing, and transporting to wherever it ends up. The farming folk cut the cane by hand and water buffalo are used to do the ploughing. So given such an important job most houses have their buffalo prize positioned out front lazing by the haystack and clearly well cared for. They look very happy and content which is cool. We were all blowing smoke and steaming in the cold it was really funny. We had a break by a stream. The water was this amazing aqua color with the limestone backdrop it was beautiful. The water was heaps warmer than the air as it was steaming as well. I spotted fish in the water and enjoyed a coffee taking it in. It was a quick break but and time to move. It didn’t take much to cool down and get the chattery teeth so we were off again. We passed this town that had a great street market and perfect timing as it bucketed down. Rube wasn’t impressed as I left
her in the rain and ate my deep fried potato and onion pancake which was totally delish. I also bought some more tofu which I’ve devoured for dinner with noodles yum. Coming into Quinjiang there were more markets and I bought a peanut brittle type crisp which is for desert. I nearly passed out when I asked a taxi driver where the hotel was and he said ‘no.’ Another fella stepped forward as if to say ‘don’t be silly,’ and gestured to two options in town. We exchanged ‘it’s cold’ actions and that it’ll be good to stop and get out of the weather. I then looked at the first fella as blasted him a big smile. The hotel was 40 yen that’s the cheapest so far with the hottest of water so perfect. While I was outide sending my spot tracker message and inhaling a coffee the young man from next door came out full of smiles and curiosity. he showed off his few English vocabulary and invited me to join his family for tea. The hotel folk joined me and we sat for a
couple of hours on our squat chairs around a dish of coals. He has a cigarette counter out front and his extended family all live in the small town. He lives in a one room brick house with a cement floor and roller door with his wife and 1 year old boy. We had a good time just mucking about with the camera and playing with his boy. The lady from the hotel loved the camera and went off sick taking photos each time cheering and showing off her cleverness with me 🙂 A very cold and very cool day. Probably time for bed seeing it’s going to be a full on day tomorrow with a few more kms planned at least subject to weather. We’ll see!! Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 