May 13th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 65 miles / 104km
Average speed / ????: 11mph / 17.7km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 53m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4648mi plus 280mi (?) / 7480km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 170m
Descent / ??: 420m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N43° 03′ 54.00″, E088° 40′ 27.60″
Amazing start to this amazing day.
We woke early. Just as the sun was starting to peek above the horizon. The wind was still at our backs.
Marija is also using these three days of traveling from Urumqi to Turpan as a test to see how her knee handles the cycling. Previously, she cycled over 25,000km across and around the Eurasian Contient before having some issues with a problematic knee. She returned to her home country of Slovenia for surgery, and now, 5 months since the surgery on her left knee, she is preparing to give a go at cycling back to Slovenia from Kazakhstan. I am natually slower than the bike, so my slow pace is perfect for Marija for getting back into the swing of things.
Approaching the small city of Dabancheng, somewhat of an oasis in the desert, we crossed paths with three older cyclists heading towards Urumqi. True adventurers, they inspired me with their positivity, sans all the brands and ‘must-have’ equipment that so many of us western travelers seem to require.
The suprise of the day however, was awaiting us as we began dropping from the Tian Shan mountains through a narrow rocky gorge. Lo and behold, around a corner, we meet the infamous Norwegian cyclist extraordinaire Asmund (aka Pink Gloves).
Asmund gained fame by way of his frequent and poignant comments on English cyclist Edward Genochio‘s cycling blog in early 2006. I was also a regular reader and commenter on Edward’s blog, so I knew of Asmund. Among other controversial statements on Edward’s blog, Asmund predicted Edward’s certain death as Edward made his way across the Tibetan plateau. Read this blog post from Edward that quite nicely summarises the dialogue…
Asmund is also a sort of purist when it comes to traveling by bicycle. While on his tours, there is no cheating. No cheating at all. No other transport other than the bicycle. He was not very approving of my taking a train to the other side of China to begin this current leg of the skateboard journey.
I did not recognise Asmund as he came cylcing towards us on the quiet side road. All I saw was the first western cyclist I had seen since arriving in China. I was elated of course, and all three of us stopped to introduce ourselves.
“Hi, I’m Rob,” I said, shaking the man’s hand.
“Rob? Rob? Rob from Invercargill?” the man said. The man then turned to Marija and began talking to her.
I was naturally taken aback at this comment from a seemingly random, unknown cyclist in the middle of nowhere in the remote Chinese province of Xinjiang.
Asmund was still talking to Marija when I tried in vain to interrupt him. “Now, how exactly did you know where I was from?” I asked.
The man smiled at me and ignored the question.
It was then that I started to wonder…could this possibly be Asmund? I had only seen obscure photos of him on Edward’s blog, so I couldn’t be sure.
I’m not sure how it finally clicked, but I do remember uttering the words “You’re not…you’re not…um…no…you’re not Norwegian, perhaps, are you?”
The man was, and the man was indeed Asmund. To make things more amazing, he had only three minutes before cycled down out of the desert to the north of the road to connect with the paved G312 in order to go to a store to buy beer. A matter of minutes later, and we would have missed him.
I still can’t believe it. Asmund was equally surprised, thinking that I was still skating my way across the US. He hadn’t caught up on the fact that I was now in China.
For postertity’s sake, I had him sign my Guinness World Record log book.
So, Asmund, if you’re reading this, it was a pleasure to meet you. Very suitably random indeed.
Marija and I left Asmund to go to buy his beer and return to the desert, and continued to enjoy the downhill and tailwind. I had some issues with the uneven surface of the old G312 highway at speed; the trailer almost tipping. However with some fine adjustments, I had it tracking correctly again.
Asmund had told us that the weather forecast for tomorrow was for 37 degrees in the daytime, so Marija and I decided take advantage of the howling tailwind and push on for as far as we could today, to avoid the heat tomorrow as we dropped down to Turpan (150m below sea level).
As we left the narrow gorge, the land opened out into true desert surroundings. Great fields of gravel stretched miles into the distance before thrusting upwards into dry, arid mountains.
Just before dark, we were forced to stop again as Marija’s front tyre once again got a puncture. The wind was still blowing at about 30 to 40km/h. All around there were no trees, nowhere to pitch a tent. We moved off the highway and sought shelter in a small natural ditch in the gravel. Out of most of the wind, we setup our sleeping pads, scoffed down noodles and oatmeal for dinner, and tried to get some sleep, me still shaking my head at the inconceivability of meeting Asmund in the middle of nowhere in China….
May 12th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 20 miles / 32km
Average speed / ????: 8.4mph / 13.6km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 56m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4583mi plus 280mi (?) / 7376km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 265m
Descent / ??: 90m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N43° 36′ 06.80″, E087° 46′ 36.50″
Summer has well and truely arrived here in the northwest of China. Marija and I spent most of the day chasing errands, and delayed leaving Urumqi until the heat of the day began subsiding at around 6pm.
Basically, Marija is also waiting on visa issues. She is due to travel to Kazakhstan to begin her cycle journey home to Slovenia, and she is waiting on Kazakhstan Letters of Invitataion for her visa application process. Urumqi not being the most tourist-friendly city on the planet, Marija is accompanying me on her recumbent bike until Turpan, 210km from Urumqi.
Skating out of Urumqi was simple enough, but highway G312 for 10km out of the city was dusty and dirty, with cement factories lining the highway. We stopped for a break as soon as we got out into the open.
“Arggggg!” Marija yelled just as we got back on our respective vehicles. “I have a flat.”
She was not a happy camper. The tyres she has been using have not lived up to expectiations. She is using Schwalbe Marathon tyres on the front of her bike, and last year when she was cycling around the south of China and in Vietnam, she got no less than 20 punctures within about 5 months of cycling. Today was proving no exception.
Off comes the wheel, and for old time’s sake I had a go at repairing the puncture. We couldn’t find the tyre levers, so it was Marija’s spoon that did the job (the life-saving spoon kindly donated by the Lamut family in Suzhou only a week before).
Flat repaired, we were on our way again.
We only did 35km before stopping for the night. We camped out in the lee of the wind behind a massive wind turbine blade that was lying on the ground ready for installation or repair.
May 12th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Just a very quick post to let you know that the very recent earthquake in Sichuan was about 3,000km south from where I am right now, so no need to be concerned for my safety in that respect.
Still rolling in Xinjiang Province….
Rob
May 11th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Sleep, eat, sleep, do equipment maintenance, sleep, eat, update website, eat, sleep. That is the order of things on rest days.
I tagged along with Marija to pick her bike up from the train staion and to get some small bits and pieces from a bike shop in Urumqi. The bike shop guys were naturally very interested in her recumbent…
May 9th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Despite, or rather perhaps because of, my hard push yesterday afternoon, I limped into Urumqi this morning a physical wreck. The blister on my left heel was giving me grief, and my legs had no strength. I was all uphill, and surprise surprise, a headwind.
It just so happened that Marija Kozin was due to arrive in Urumqi by train today, and we had arranged to meet up at the Xinjiang International Hostel. I was keen to get to the hostel as soon as possible, have a shower, change clothes, and get to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) as soon as possible to enquire about extending my visa.
I arrived at the hostel at 10am. The hostel was closed due to refurbishing. Darn it. The girl on the reception recommended the Xinjiang Hotel near the train station. A 30 minute skate away. I still had eaten no breakfast. But I was a man on a mission. I skated to the hotel, checked in in cheap dorm-style room, told them that my friend would be coming, and then headed straight for the PSB.
The PSB was closed. Until 15:30. Marija arrives at 15:45 or 14:45. Or thereabouts. If I don’t meet her at the train station, then she will go all the way to the hostel (15 minutes by taxi from the train station), only to be given my note telling her to go to the other hotel (15 minutes by taxi from the youth hostel, or 5 minutes walk from the train station).
Talk about hectic.
I am very tired. Over-tired. I am in a state of floating surreal out-of-body craziness.
I eat lunch and meet Marija at 15:45. One issue sorted. Marija’s bags dropped at the hotel, we both high-tail it to the PSB. No worries. Your passport with the extended visa will be ready to be picked up on Wednesday. Maybe. Perhaps Thursday. Perhaps Friday.
Oh well, at least I will have an extra month in the country.
The rest of the day (what was left of it) was spent wandering aimlessly around the city and sleeping.
May 8th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 58 miles / 94km
Average speed / ????: 8.4mph / 13.6km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 56m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4550mi plus 280mi (?) / 7322km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 265m
Descent / ??: 180m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N43° 57′ 06.20″, E087° 24′ 22.60″
Mammoth day. Once again the roller coaster of emotions was at full speed…
I pushed away from my campspot amongst the trees into the same headwind that had been blowing for the last three days. Once again the indigestion began early. I stopped regularly to appease the fire in my chest. Snapped this little fella working hard on the side of the road…
A week ago in Jinghe City, I had enquired whether I could extend my visa. The answer was that it was too early. So today I decided that I would have a go at it at a small police station in Hotopi District.
I stopped in at the small police station, and explained what I was doing, and explained that I needed an extra 30 days on my visa. At this stage I still had 7 days to go, but with the weekend coming up, I didn’t want to leave it too late.
The answer was that it would be no problem to extend the visa. Simple as that. Woohoo.
An hour later, at about 11am, three police officers arrive at the small police station. They were from Hotopi City, about 25km away. After a quick chat, they told me I had to come to the city to extend the visa.
“We will give you a ride,” they offered.
I explained that I chose not to take rides, in the spirit of completing every single km on the skateboard. They are confused, but seem to accept it as a strange foreigner thing.
I skate the remaining 25km into the headwind to the city over about 2.5 hours. I am shattered, but figure I will stay a night in Hotopi City while the visa is being extended.
I arrive at the main police station too early. The time is 12:45pm. The official lunch break is from 12 noon till 2pm. No worries…I need a break anyway.
1:45pm, the kind-of-English speaking police officer arrives back at the police station with English grammar book in hand.
“I am sorry,” she begins. “But you cannot extend your visa in China.”
She checked with her superior in Changji City, 70km away, and the official word was that in this general region, the Changji region of the Xinjiang Province, you cannot extend your visa without an invitation letter from an organisation in China.
This did not go down well with me. To be led to expect one thing, and then told another…this did not go down with tired, sweaty, frustrated Rob. I stormed out firmly stating that this has all been a waste of my time.
Poor police officer. She was just trying to help. Foreigner became angry. Oh dear…
So thus began the mission to get to Urumqi by tomorrow morning. It was 3pm by the time I got out of the police station and on the road. I stopped for rice for a late lunch, and with the big bowl of rice burning well in my stomach, the wonderful carbs fuelling my muscles, I began the push. I was at 45km by this stage, and I was hell-bent on getting as many kms in as possible by sun-down. The earlier I can get to Urumqi, the better, I figured. If I can’t extend my visa in Urumqi, then I will have to get a train to a more foreigner-friendly province pronto.
Later in the afternoon, the wind died. Neccessity took over, and I was flying. Screaming through the dirty, dusty city of Changji. Carving my way out onto the smooth side road that run parallel to G312 highway between Urumqi and Changji.
By the time the sun was dropping below the horizon behind me, I was spent. I had felt a small blister forming on my heel during the day, but stupidly I ignored it until too late. I changed my socks but it was still sore. With 20km and a 500m climb to go to Urumqi, I stopped and laid myself out under a tree about 100m from the road for the night. It is going to be an early start tomorrow morning.
May 7th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 47 miles / 76km
Average speed / ????: 9.2mph / 14.8km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 07m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4491mi plus 280mi (?) / 7228km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 145m
Descent / ??: 115m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N44° 13′ 07.70″, E086° 22′ 24.40″
I awoke this morning with dew on my tent-fly and condensation on the inside, dampening my sleeping bag. I wasn’t worried. It was a mild morning, and the sun was already above the horizon when I finally dragged myself out of my comfortable coccoon.
Like yesterday, the indegestion/reflux started early. Painful burps that made me wince. I figure it must be fatigue. Since I left Shanghai, it has been more or less on the go all the time. I need some decent rest. I have had this happen before when I have pushed myself too hard.
The small city of Shawan is clean and orderly. The main shopping street begins and ends with a rare display of traditional Chinese culture.
On this street I found a small internet cafe. With the length of the days now being so long (6am till 9pm), I can happily spend an hour each day when possible to update the previous day’s events.
Half way through updating, the local police arrive to question me. I was tired. Not in the mood. Stop harrassing me, I thought. On the outside, I smiled stifly and answered their questions. They had found a local student to translate.
Normally at an internet cafe, you will be given a temporary IC card that money is loaded onto for use at that internet cafe. When you leave, you hand the card in, and you get the balance of what remains on the card back. The cost is usually about 3 – 4 RMB an hour (about 0.30 Euro).
At this particular internet cafe, when I went to leave and hand in the card, they told me that I had bought the card. Essentially, I had become a member of the internet cafe. I told them I didn’t need the card. They told me they didn’t need the card either; I had bought it.
The card had cost 15RMB (1.50 Euro). Not an amount to be quibbled over, really. But I was tired. I was still annoyed by my lack of understanding of the system in China. Still frustrated at not being in control of each and every situation I come across.
I raised my voice. Became angry. The source of my frustration not entirely due to the IC card situation. In the end one of the cafe memebers told me in halting English that I could use the card at any internet cafe. It has my details on it, he said. It will be easier to log in at internet cafes, he said.
I felt stupid. Angry now at myself for over-reacting over 1.50 Euro. The internet cafe’s owner gave the angry foreigner a bottle of green tea (value 1.50 Euro) for free to appease his frustration. The foreigner felt even worse.
I skated away suppressing an only just controllable urge to cry. I need sleep. Adjusting is hard work.
Just an hour later I arrived at the dirty, dusty outskirts of Shihezi City. I stopped in at a small store to buy an icecream. It was 12:30pm. The owners of the store and their middle-school aged son in his school uniform were eating lunch in the store. Will you join us for lunch? the mother asked.
Once again, I am faced with the intense roller-coaster ride that is interpersonal relations when traveling solo in China. One minute you are feeling ripped off and frustrated at the system, the next, you are humbled by the amazing generosity and hospitality of the people.
I accept, and enjoy a huge bowl of rice and pickings of tofu and fried liver.
Hunger and frustration sated, I skated onwards through Shihezi City. The streets were lined with coal dust. I counted at least three coal-powered power plants in the city alone. More on the outskirts.
I push on into the headwind that has been blowing all day. Dinner of spicy laghman noodles in a small village. The spices do not help my indigestion. I camp in a small thicket of young oak trees, my chest burning.
May 6th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 37 miles / 60km
Average speed / ????: 7.8mph / 12.6km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 48m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4444mi plus 280mi (?) / 7152km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 340m
Descent / ??: 310m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N44° 20′ 14.50″, E085° 29′ 08.10″
Must stay positive. Must stay positive. It’s all in the mind…
When you travel the way I do, attention is guaranteed. In fact, as I write this (the day after this post), in the internet cafe, the police arrived to question me about my travels. To say it is frustrating would be an understatement….
Anyway…so I got away from the hotel in Kuitun 15 minutes before the checkout time, at 11:45am Beijing time. Here in Xinjiang, half of the population works on Beijing time, and half work on Xinjinag time (2 hours later than Beijing time).
Getting out of Kuitun was a mission in itself. After half an hour of skating around in circles, I stopped for lunch. “Do you have rice?” I asked the young girl at the road-side cafe/eatery.
“Yes, we do,” she replied.
30 minutes later the freshly cooked rice arrived.
With some firm directions from the cafe staff, I rolled out of Kuitun and back onto the expressway. Rolling at last. My trailer was heavy with water and food, as the Chinese road map that I have indicated no towns in between Kuitun and the next town, Shawan.
Before long I gave up on the expressway. Characterless and boring, on the expressway I am separated from the land by a traffic barrier, a concrete ditch, and a head-high barbed wire fence. Time to get off the expressway and onto more interesting roads.
I could see the secondary G312 road about 1km away to the south of the expressway, and soon enough I came to a place where locals had cut a hole in the barbed wire fence in order to cross the expressway. Too often the expressway cuts directly through communities, with very few access point over or under the highway. On many occassions I have seen people wandering across the highway.
I lugged my gear across the barriers and walked for 500m along a dirt path. The dirt gave way to pavement, and I pushed the remaining 500m to the G312 road.
The wind was still in my face as I pushed past derelict gas stations and old dwellings. A healthy dose of gradual uphill lasted for an hour before the land opened up to wide grasslands. Cattle, sheep and camels grazed in their separate herds.
It was overcast, and the cold easterly wind cut into me. I took shelter in culverts under the road every half an hour to nibble on the delicious sugar coated peanuts I had bought in Kuitun.
I had made 50km before stopping for dinner. I stopped behind a small disused hut out of the wind, a sign nearby warning about something with severe punishments…
Dinner was the extra rice I had ordered with my meal at lunchtime, along with some preserved vegetables in small packets. The first two packets contained some kind of white vegetable with way too much spicy hot spices. Had to chuck that lot out. The third packet was a winner. Lightly salted and peppered green vegetable of some description.
I carried on until just before dark, about 15km from Shawan, and manged to find a quiet spot to camp.
May 5th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 38 miles / 62km
Average speed / ????: 9.6mph / 15.5km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 3h 58m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4406mi plus 280mi (?) / 7092km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 275m
Descent / ??: 325m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a
Check out this blog post by Marija Kozin. In it she briefly but succinctly describes why she travels. This is also exactly why I travel, and why big dirty cities like Kuitun are a pain the butt.
While traveling in the manner that I am at the moment, cities are a neccessary evil. Today it was to visit an internet cafe and get some grease for the problematic bearings on Rig’s trailer.
Rig was dwarfed by his motorised counterparts, but the humans servicing the big rigs were friendly.
“Where are you coming from?” a young mechanic asked. I gave the standard answer of “From Korgos.” I don’t even attempt to explain anything prior to that.
The mechanics left me mostly to myself to take the wheels and bearings apart, all the time grouped around me throwing the occassional question my way.
“How far do you go in one day?”
“The road near Gotsugu was bad, wasn’t it?”
“What about going uphill? You can still push?”
“You have any brakes on that thing?”
“What’s in the bag?”
“Where do you sleep?”
“How long do the wheels last?”
I got the bearings out and cleaned them in some dirty, gritty petrol the mechanics gave me. Great, I thought, more grit to add to them.
They had an air compressor in the workshop, so I used that to try to clean them out some more. I got them as clean as I would ever get them where dust and grit were just part of the environment, and packed them with industrial grease.
I don’t reccommend getting a gearbox rehaul here by the way. Various bearings, cogs and gears that had just been washed with the same gritty petrol were sitting in the dust awaiting re-installation. Ugh.
Usually I would use Bones Bearing’s special Speed Cream to lube Rig’s bearings. This stuff is fine in the Bones Bearings I am using on the board, but the trailer’s bearings are not as good at sealing the water and gti out, so I think grease should help with keeping then clean and rolling.
I rolled the remaining 4km into town, hands dirty, butt dirty from sitting on the dirty oily seat at the mechanic’s shop. Lunch was chopped noodles. The same taste. Just the noodles look different. Same noodles, just prepared differently. Apparently this is all people eat when they go out for a quick meal here.
This is very tasty the first two or three times in a row. After that it gets a little repetitive.
After lunch, straight to the wangba (internet cafe). They are everywhere in big cities. What was supposed to be a quick update became a long update, and before long it was late. When I left the internet cafe dark clouds were rolling in. No time for getting out of the city to camp. This time I went straight to the police. If they have their crazy rules about foreigner hotels, then they can take me to each one until we find one cheap enough for me to stay in. And that’s exactly what they did.
The first hotel was mammoth. Huge. Opulent. Piano music playing in the lobby. I walk in with the police officer with dirty hands, dirty clothes. The room rate board displayed 750RMB (75 Euro) for a room. Do I look like someone who would pay that much for a room in China? I thought.
The best they could do was 120RMB (12 Euro). Nope. Too expensive. Especially when other non-foreigner approved hotels were 30RMB. The police officer was no doubt wondering why I didn’t just cough it up.
The second place was 80RMB. Still rediculous and frustrating considering the discrepancy between prices in hotels here in China. But the police officer was obviously getting annoyed, so I accepted.
Funny, I thought. I managed to survive through Europe on 3.50 Euro a day, and in China so far I have spent on average at least twice that.
May 4th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,China
Today’s distance / ???????: 47 miles / 76km
Average speed / ????: 11mph / 17.6km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 20m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 4368mi plus 280mi (?) / 7030km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 300m
Descent / ??: 165m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N44° 22′ 17.60″, E084° 14′ 30.00″
How I love a good self-inflating matress. Slept like a log on the thing. Much better than the closed-cell foam pad that I endured across the US.
The night in the culvert was without incident. No flash flood, no wild animals licking my nose…just wonderful sleep.
Today was a good day. There was no wind in the morning, and towards late morning, a very nice tailwind had picked up. There was more nothingness in between small towns…so much nothingness that I was not moved to take any photos.
I am managing to get witness signatures for the Guinness attempt most days. There always seems to be one English speaking person to help out.
It got to the end of the day, and I was still in relative civilisation. Got a room at a US$1.20 guest house and crashed.
By the way, I am getting questions about why I traveled to the north west of China by train and why I decided to skate west-east, rather than the other way round.
I figure:
It has nothing to do with the visa situation, which by the way, is still not all sorted. I am still playing it by ear.
