CHINA • TRAVEL
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Total km biked: 1547
Days biked: 23
Although we only cycled in a small section of China, overall, the road conditions were very good, sealed and smooth. We spent quite a bit of time visiting schools in the Shanxi province, which we were told by locals is one of the poorest provinces of China. As a result, many less traveled roads in this province were dirt with large potholes and loose rocks. Traffic, even on small country roads was extremely heavy, with a lot of pollution, both air and noise. We cycled almost daily with surgical masks covering our mouths and noses and often times at the end of the day, would have a ring of clean white skin underneath our masks, while the remainder of our face was covered with black coal dust and soot.
Although we didn't have much rain, we only had one day of a clear blue sky when we first reached Beijing. The sky was often white and hazy due to the high levels of air pollution.
Due to the widespread availability of food and its relative low cost (usually), we ate about once a day in a restaurant, usually spending no more than $4 in total (but usually about $2). Restaurants are easy to find, even in the smallest villages. Flowing water tends to be heavily polluted and we did buy a lot of bottled water, but also treated water with iodine tablets and/or filtered with our MSR pump.
Usually we camp everynight while cycling, but in eastern China, this was a bit more difficult, as people are everywhere (although certainly possible). We used mainly a combination of staying at peoples' homes, camping and staying in cheap guesthouses.
| Alternate transportation: |
Due to the late season and our short visa (3 months), we took a train from Taiyuan to Xi'an and Xi'an to Chengdu in order to have more time to visit schools along the way. We crossed the border into Tibet, very interesting, around October 29th, 2006.
We used an all Chinese road atlas purchased in Beijing. Very good map, let us know if you would like more specifics.
The Chinese people - extremely generous and kind, all of the students we met along the way, the North University of China, staying with the Clarksons, playing games with the Clarkson family, chaisa (eggplant braised in soy sauce), riding on the subway at rush hour in Beijing, the street sweepers, staying with Yue and her family, the basketball game with the teachers at Huai Shu Pu Middle School where we got to wear some students shoes that were about 5 sizes to small, riding through Xi'an in the rain, seeing some of the historical sites (Tienaman Square, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Terracotta Warriors, etc.), great internet access, hearing "mayo" all of the time, being packed in the bus in Xi'an, the ride to and from The Great Wall with the German tourists, rojo pantellones, the all you can eat breakfast in the hostel in Beijing, Miss Zhai and Mr. Ma in Yang Chuen, riding with the truck driver from Yang Chuen to Taiyuan, the China/TIbet boarder crossing
internet is easy to find and relatively quick, atms are in most small towns, (although not all work with foreign cards), Bank of China was the most reliable for us.
For more images from China please visit the PHOTO GALLERY
