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Category Archives: China (Zhejiang)

Day 795 – CHINA (ZHEJIANG and JIANGSU): From Nanxun to Luxu

Today’s distance / ???????: 32.8 miles / 52.8km
Average speed / ????: 9.5mph / 15.2km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 3h 28m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 7,120mi plus 386mi (?) / 11,459km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N31°03′01.7″, E120°50′56.9″

Great pavement and finally a tailwind! A good one at that. I am still tired however, and after an hour of pushing I need a break. A tailwind, by the way, is both a blessing and a curse. The wind helps you along, but in a hot place like the oven that is this part of eastern China right now, it also deprives you of any cooling from the wind as you skate. You are cocoonned in your own little bubble of muggy hotness.

Watermelons were my friend today. Although being twice the price of those I was eating in Gansu Province (Gansu: 0.06 Euro a kg, Jiangsu: 0.16 Euro a kg), I was not going to pass them up.

Mini watermelons for sale for 0.16 Euro a kilogram near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

Mini watermelons for sale for 0.16 Euro a kilogram near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China Mini watermelons for sale for 0.16 Euro a kilogram near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

I was following a river for most of the day. Very therapeutic.

A boat on the Yellow River near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

A boat on the Yellow River near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

A boat on the Yellow River near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China A boat on the Yellow River near Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

I was very happy to finally catch up with Steve Ruelle, a Canadian teaching physics at the Sino-Canadian High School in Luxu. Luxu is a strange little satellite town to Shanghai, and Steve lives in a massive hotel/holiday apartment complex. The place is deserted however, and it is a mystery how the place makes any money.

On the door at Steve's place in Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

I was also thrilled to meet the one and only Felix from Felix and Mr. Pumpy fame. As coincidence has it, Felix is working at the high school, and only started a few weeks ago.

In the evening I caught up with other Canadian expats working at the school. Steve and I visited Lauren’s place, where a group were gathered for none other than…Fantasy Hokey!

Fantasy Hokey with the Canadians in Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China With expat Canadians in Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

With expat Canadians in Luxu, Jiangsu Province, China

Day 794 – CHINA (ZHEJIANG): From N30.59.11.4 to Nanxun

Today’s distance / ???????: 37.8 miles / 60.8km
Average speed / ????: 7.8mph / 12.6km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 50m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 7,088mi plus 386mi (?) / 11.407km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: 130m
Descent / ??: 140m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30°52′25.1″, E120°24′18.5″

Righto…I’m feeling a darn sight better than I was a week or so ago. Things are looking up, and I am on the homeward stretch to Shanghai. Only 120km to go till I wrap this thing up.

Blog updates will be sporadic over the next week or so, as I catch up on missed entries. This is just as much for my records as it is for your enjoyment, so I apologise if things get a little confusing with present updates getting mixed in with previous ones and visa-versa and sometimes around the other way…confused? Good.

So today (being the 24th of September 2008) was a great day. Once again a headwind, but a great day nonetheless.

On a tangent, I think there is a greater power working against me. You may recall my week of horrid headwinds in Holland at the end of my first leg of this skateboard journey. You may also recall the horrid headwinds I encountered at the end of the second leg of this journey in the USA approaching Los Angeles. Why is it that I always get headwinds at the end of a particular leg?! Honestly, it has been blowing steadily out of the east for the last two weeks non-stop. It is laughable. Which is good. Laughing is good.

Anyway, the thing that made today so great were the frequent warm downpours. I was skating with no shirt on…just ploughing straight through these heavy downpours. It was the first time I had ever experienced warm rain, and I loved it.

My brother Chris worte to me in an email that water has healing properties. Well this rain was all that. Fantastic.

The only thing marring an otherwise perfect scenario was the incessant traffic, the ever-present noise of the roadway, and of course factories pumping great plumes of junk into the clouds, making me more than a little weary not to open my mouth and drink the liquid sunshine in.

Power plants in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

The rain showers stopped after lunch however, and I was left with the stinking damp oven that is eastern China. It is so hot. So so hot.

Despite feeling better than I was a while back, I am still now at all interested in speaking to Chinese people. Sunglasses on, I pushed on. A small river to my right showed the never ending progress of this nation.

Riverboats near Nanxun, Zhejiang Province, China

Arriving in Nanxun, I was spent. I have left my shirt off for just a tad too long, and was getting rather pink. I checked into a small hotel and was done for the day.

Day 793 – CHINA (ANHUI and ZHEJIANG): From small town at N30.58.37.5 E119.07.41.1 to city at N30.59.11.4 E119.53.33.8

Today’s distance / ???????: 53.1 miles / 85.5km
Average speed / ????: 7.7mph / 12.3km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 56m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 7,050mi plus 386mi (?) / 11,346km plus 622km (?)
Ascent / ??: 275m
Descent / ??: 305m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30°59′11.4″, E119°53′33.8″

I wasn’t feeling the greatest this morning, but decided to try to push on for a bit. By the end of the day I was feeling a little stronger.

Smoggy start to the day near N30.58.37.5 E119.07.41.1 Anhui Province, China

It was a scorching hot day, cooled slightly only by a stiff headwind. I was on the expressway until the Zhejiang border (mid-morning) before I was kicked off by the police at a toll booth. The alternative G318 highway was still very nice, and much quieter.

My body is still weak, but my apetite is returning, although I still cannot seem to fit much food in. Rice in particular seems to fill me up much faster than it used to.

I ended up skating until about an hour after dark today. There were no places to stay until the city at N30.59.11.4 E119.53.33.8. I checked into the first inn I came to, even though the room was dusty and smelly. At times like this I wish I had my tent. On the way to the inn, I had passes countless orchards where I would have happily camped, lulled to sleep by the crickets.