September 10th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China (Anhui)
I am in Hefei Metropolis, about 400km away from Shanghai.Â
So…it appears that instead of outright blocking access to certain websites, the Chinese gov*ernment is just capping the download rate of certain websites. Or something like that. Because I am having great difficulty in signing into my Flickr account, which had all my photos sitting patiently waiting to be displayed in the ten or so days worth of blog posts that I have not been able to write.
Is this a way of the Chinese gov*ernment getting around criticism that they are being too harsh on cen*soring information coming into the country?
“No, we are not blocking access to websites,” they could legitimately argue. What they won’t tell you, is that they have made access to certain websites so infuriatingly slow, that no one will bother waiting for the information to load.
Ugh.
So.
The last two weeks have had their ups and downs. Notable highlights include:
Anyway…here are some photos.
September 8th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China (Anhui)
Today’s distance / ???????: 46.4 miles / 74.7km
Average speed / ????: 7.4mph / 11.9km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 18m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 6833mi plus 386mi (?) / 10,998km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: 350m
Descent / ??: 350m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N31°51′11.8″, E117°15′30.7″
Horrible, horrible day. China National Highway G312 between Luan and Hefei is shocking. Groved concrete surface, ups and downs all day, rubbish on the roadside, and today worst of all, a stiff headwind. This is my first proper headwind in a long time, and it sucked the life out of me. I had forgotten how draining a solid headwind is. I am pushing against an invisible force.
The most frustrating thing about all this is the fact that as far as I am concerned, I have no other choice but to keep skating. There is no option in my mind to give up on this mission. My body would happily give up, but my mind will not allow it. This hurts.
It is hot again today too. Stifling. Muggy. The final 10km into Hefei were done on sheer willpower alone.
This road construction worker was a welcome comic relief for a nano-second…
I arrived in Hefei at 4pm and promptly decided to take a day or two off. I also decided that I would not stay in a budget inn (the typical 30 RMB place) but a decent business hotel with internet access. I checked into the 7+1 Business Hotel on the main drag entering town for a stiff 170RMB (17 Euro) a night.
September 7th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China (Anhui)
Today’s distance / ???????: 40.4 miles / 65.1km
Average speed / ????: 8mph / 12.9km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 02m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 6787mi plus 386mi (?) / 10,923km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: 310m
Descent / ??: 305m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N31°44′37.4″, E116°29′28.2″
Fatigue sucks. I lost it with someone today. Really shouted at them. Just a random curious human being.
I rolled into the small town around 11:45am, ready to sit down for lunch somewhere. I had already covered 40km. Not many places to choose from in this little village. “Where is a place to eat?” I asked the man on the corner fixing shoes. “Just over there,” he pointed.
I moved on quickly, before the approaching bystanders could encircle me and start asking questions. Arrived at the restaurant.
“Hallllooooooooo?” the restaurant owner wailed loudly in the far too typical upward tone ended, almost mockingful greeting that I get on an almost minutely basis in eastern China. I gave him a scowl. Dumb punk, I thought. Get a life. Just because I might be a foreigner that doesn’t speak Chinese and doesn’t know the social ways of your country, doesn’t mean that you should mock me.
I walked straight past him and walked to the kitchen door. I conversed with the cook, and ordered a bowl of noodles in an egg soup.
A few minutes later I was sitting at the front window, eating my noodles. I try to look as inconspicuous as possible, but my skateboard in front of the restaurant draws people in. There were no other people in the restaurant until now, apart from the cook and the owner. Now there are five people. Standing at the door, peering in. Taking a look at the foreigner. An old woman wanders slowly past, sneaking a look. She quickly removes her gaze when she sees me looking at her. She does another pass, this time straining to catch a glimpse of me through the cracks of the others standing in the doorway.
One starts to approach me. I stay focussed on my noodles and pretend not to notice. By the time she is a meter away from me, I sense that polite conversation is imminent. The same questions. The same astoundment at my amazing Chinese skills after me only uttering a few words.
A guy tries to peer through the door. View blocked by others. Comes to the window that I am sitting at. He’s outside. I’m inside. I can’t take it. I try to motion him away with my hand. He stares. Look, the trained monkey is trying to communicate! He stares.
I crack. I am only half way though the verey delicious bowl of noodles. Throw my chopsticks down on the table, stand up, storm out of the restaurant, throwing the money at the owner. Storm back into restaurant to retrieve GPS unit I forgot in my frustration.
Skate away.
I am angry at myself for being so rash. But I am also angry at the locals for not giving me some personal space while I eat. Surely that is a rude thing to do, even here in China – stare at someone while the eat. Surely this is not some cultural thing that I am not understanding…I don’t know, but I am angry at this small moment in history.
Now this is where I really lose it. A guy starts trailing me on his motorbike. Just behind me so that I can’t see him if I’m looking ahead. I put up with it for a full 60 seconds, and then indicate to him to pass on by. He just pulls up beside me and stares. Asks where I am from. I decide that I do not speak Chinese. This ploy does not work. He just shuts up and continues to stare. I once again indicate for him to carry on. “Get out of here!” I shout in English. “Go! Go away!”
He pulls away a few meters but stays just ahead of me, turning his head around, craning to look at me every now and then. He looks around to see if there are any others looking at me. To validate his curiosity, perhaps?
“Look, just f*** off!” I yell without control, voice trembling. He seems to get the point and takes off.
What have I become? It’s not that I used language that I never use. It’s just that I was so incredibly angry and out of control. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I was seething. I have become some sort of animal. I am seeing a dark side of myself that I have never seen, and do not want to see ever again. I am not myself. This is not Rob Thomson.
September 6th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China (Anhui),China (Henan)
Today’s distance / ???????: 58.9 miles / 94.9km
Average speed / ????: 8.4mph / 13.5km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 7h 02m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 6747mi plus 386mi (?) / 10,858km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: 240m
Descent / ??: 240m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N31°50′48.7″, E115°55′14.9″
Stiff headwind all day, me feeling weak, sore legs. Hacked off with the Chinese with them stopping in the middle of the road to stare from their car windows/motorbikes. Annoyed that I can’t stop for a nap under a tree without someone coming and interrupting my dozing.
Curiosity. We all have it. I have it. When I see people killing geese on the roadside, I am intrigued. This is something I have never seen before.
I am compelled to stop and look. Take photos even. How hypocritical of me. I get angry at Chinese people being curious at seeing me – me being an anomoly in so many ways – and yet I still happily stare myself. I hate what I have become here in eastern China in so many ways. I don’t yet know of a way to overcome these feelings of impatience…it is a mental state, I know, so there must be a way…
Anyway, I pushed on tired and was happy to finally make it to Anhui Province just as the sun was starting to dip below the polluted blanket that seems to eternally dampen the horizon.
The roads became somewhat of a maze near Yeji, and I lost the scent of G312 a couple of times. It looks like I will be following my nose a lot over the next few days!
