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Distance: 68.21 km
Total Distance: 1084 km
Cycling Time: 6.22 hours
Average Speed: 10.7 km/h
Max speed: 39.5 km/h





First I have to start off by saying....

Yes !!! What a day. What a great great day. Maybe even the best one yet. I'm not sure, it doesn't really matter. It was just fantastic.

Before I tell you what happened today, I'll tell you what happened last night.

Huang Mao Yuan, although a tiny dot on the face of our planet, was probably the friendliest place so far.

Coming out of the Internet cafe I bumped into some of the kids I'd seen earlier. One girl wanted to see the bike. I'd left it locked up downstairs in the hotel entrance, so thought why not. She had a whole entourage of kids with her and all of them were excited by the idea. You can't really show a child how the bikes works unless you give a full demonstration, so out came all the lights, and off for a spin we went. The moment I unlocked it, it was if I'd unleashed a volcano of laughter. Loads of kids kept coming, all of them getting more and more excited. The mass calmed down for a moment and some posed for a photo.





When I looked down, I noticed a farmer who'd quietly made himself at home and sparked up a cigarette. Very cool old dude.

The photo triggered off some kind of seismic wave and I was waltzed off to the local photo studio. Portrait time, with me as the main prop. We had soft boxes, backdrops and props... we were all set.





Group shots turned into individual shots with seemingly the whole village. I was getting a bit tired of the stagnant photos where everyone just puts the fingers up in a peace sign. It was time to turn it all on its head. With my camera on continuous mode and employing the help of a giant pumpkin, it all went wild.






Morning time was a simple bowl of noodles and then off into the unknown. Not before filtering some water for the journey though.



Was the road to be good or bad?
It was superb.... so flat you could you could lick it without making you tongue rough. What a pleasure.

I stopped to do some stretches against a tree and was kindly informed by a passing driver that I was on the wrong road....

Of cause it was. Thought it too good to be true. I back tracked a few kilometers and found my baby.


I'm looking a bit dodgy, but the glasses are doing a grand job.

Where was I ?.... ooo. It was a nice rough grizzly road. Not nasty, but you'd certainly get a sore tongue if you licked it. It was OK for about 20km then my world collapsed.



The road was under construction and got progressively worse. But it was such good fun. The first 20km had taken me really high up, the bad section was mainly all downhill. Lucky really. It would have been really hard work otherwise. The road was basically dust with trucks kicking up huge clouds.



Road crews were chatty, bus drivers were chilled and the scenery was magnificent. The whole journey was through an 80km lush rice production valley. A wonderful valley to cycle down, with gentle hills and wooden houses in abundance. Simply stunning.




I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but all the roofs are curved because spirits travel in straight lines, thus a wonky roof keeps the goulies out. This rule also aplies to the construction beams throughout the building.


I had that summertime feeling. The one I've felt a thousand times in England. The road in the middle of valley was totally smooth. It was a warm sunny day, with clear blue skies, a lush green landscape and a gentle breeze carrying the songs of birds.



It would be an amazing place to grow up as a child. Water falls gushed down into the river, small paths winding their way up into secluded valleys, bamboo and pines giving a softness to an already soft landscape. This was just a snippet of what else could lie just over some of those hills.

If you haven't already downloaded Google Earth, then I highly recommend it. I got the lady who ran the Internet cafe in Huang Mao Yuan totally hooked.

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

It works on both Mac and PC. Its really easy to use. You have to be patient when waiting for it to load. There is a percentage counter that lets you know. If you turn on the terrain button you can use one of the controls to tilt the whole image. You then get to see it all in 3D. This function is slower though. If you use the same computer each day the information already viewed is stored so it runs really fast. Anyway... you should try it. You can also fly anywhere in the world and have a look. Ever wandered what Siberia looks like.... ?

Sales pitch over.



The tools used in the fields even today are really ancient.


You get the occasional motorised farmer, one who sits on a skinny machine and skips across the field, but mostly its with done with a trusty wooden plough and Water Buffalo.

As I reached the end of the narrow valley, the river widened and beaches appeared.



Being English and living in Hong Kong, I forget just how enormous our world is. I just don't normally experience this kind of scale. I was tempted to camp on this beach, but it was still too early and decided to continue on to Xupu. I relaxed here for a while, had a cup of tea and munched some of yesterdays biscuits. I loved this valley.

I don't know who was organising the construction, but it was only the middle section of the total road that was in good condition. Each end was rubbish. I'm sure if you decide to go there in a year though it will all be nice and smooth.

10km away from Xupu a strong head wind kicked in. It was a nice, refreshing feeling. On a trike your low down and horizontal so it doesn't really affect you too much. See image of wind below.


Rounding one corner I surprised two dogs who looked eager to chase, but they were joined together like only dogs know how. Sorry no images. It just would have been rude.

Each day, thoughts and feeling come and go, and with each day a greater sense of peace develops with in me. My senses are becoming more acute and my general awareness is increasing. I act on impulses and flow more freely with things as they happen. There is nothing mystical about this as everyone experiences these moments, but cycling a bike creates more of them and you find yourself able to explore and expand on them.

One truck was coming towards me. Nothing was out of the ordinary but I had a feeling something was going to happen so I braced myself and watched carefully. Just as it was passing, a log lept from the top of the truck and launched itself at me. A quick swerve was enough to save me getting whacked.

Moments like these become increasingly more obvious. You feel them with your gut. Hence the gut feeling that we always talk about. These are real feelings you need to act on immediately. They usually leave little or no time to rationalise with logic.

Call it piffle if you like, but its better than getting a log on your bonce.

Mr Mike, Mr Lee....Sorry logic boys. Tis true. I swear on my log.


Where did the slang word 'Bonce' originate from?
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bon2.htm

Xupu was slowly materialising, with the landscape shifting into city mode. The old wooden buildings were changing into concrete monstrosities.

I had a bad feeling about Xupu, but tried to remain open to it. I was tired and thought that maybe it was just me being miserable.

A young lad on a racer glided past. You don't see many people on racers, so i noticed him straight away. Actually I notice most people around me, its just a childhood habit of mine. I try to see everything. I saw him a few times and knew he was mustering up the courage to talk to me. Meanwhile I was still going up and down the various streets looking for a place to stay. The kid finally came to my rescue..... a shepherd on a racer. That's got to be a first.

Xupu had all the ingredients for a fun city but I just wanted sleep. I'd earned it. It was time to cash in.

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