Nia hao

Now, the things that we have seen...

It is all very well to talk about the riding aspect - I mean the physical challenge is the same as anywhere else that you may happen to ride but the things that we have seen I have been amazed by. I have read much about the history of China, about the Cultural Revolution, I have seen serene water colour paintings of beautiful landscapes and skillful calligraphy. I have seen photographs of peasants in the fields, of barren landscapes or terraced hillsides and villages of grey terraced flats and I am overwhelmed to say that I have seen these things for real now.

Take the north of Shanxi province for example where we find ourselves. The landscape has been chewed up by coal mines and quarrying, much to our dismay. I have felt like I have been in a time machine and taken back to the pits in Wales or Yorkshire in the late 19th century. It is not unusual to see many men walking around with coal dust on their faces and their clothes. We saw many motorised carts as well as carts pulled by donkeys or mules hauling around coal and distributing it in the towns. Railway lines snake across the landscape - wherever there is rail you are guaranteed to see a long slow moving coal train very soon, such is their frequency. Along with this goes the trucks which deliver the coal between towns, sometimes the odd lump will fall from the back and will lie on the road and we have frequently found ourselves riding around them. The road surface is often covered with coal dust, it gets between your teeth somehow when you ride and even finds it's way into your ears. In Hunyuan on our last night, the air was thick and visibility was low because of smog, the smell of coal was heavy in the air, I felt like I had been cast back to a time in London (that my father told me about) when the smog used to hit the streets terribly. I never thought that I would experience this first hand. Coal is everywhere and people are very dependent upon it.

The people that we see are a real eclectic mix. There are women who dress in that young/hip 80s style (tight hiphugger jeans), there are guys that wear black leather jackets and jeans, some people look modern and fashionable maybe they have a little more money. There are also peasants, or what I imagine to be cadres, dressed alike and as though they have just stepped out from a Cultural Revolution production. Fatigues can also be regularly seen on people as well as huge khaki Chinese military insulated coats with a double row of buttons and a fake fur collar. We have seen guys wearing these coats complete with old style aviator goggles and dark leather hats with fake fur lining and flapped down ear covers - they really look like something from a war front and they appear even stranger when they have coal dust on their faces.

We see many people riding by very slowly on bikes (no surprise there). We see peasants sitting on flat bedded carts pulled by slow moving mules or donkeys - they are even slower than the cyclists. There are three wheeled motorbikes with a wooden flatbed at the rear, these are often driven by the aforementioned guys in the insulated coats and strange goggles. Black cars are really popular. There are black cars everywhere, often they have no number plates and black tinted windows - we assume that these are official cars in some way, they speed by with an element of mystery to them. Some cars are fitted with a horn that is more like a warning siren, everybody gets out of their way as quickly as possible, these are the kings of the road and also seem to be on official business of sorts. There are police cars everywhere, they pass us all the time and they raise no doubt that you are in a police state.

People like to talk to us. People are intrigued by us. As in India they will stop and stare. We have had some of the strangest conversations without any words being shared - sometimes just a connection is enough. People are always willing to help us though and we do gain some respect due to our method of transport. We are also more exposed to our surroundings as a result. We are both constantly saying nia hao or answering the lilting "hello" that rings out from the strangest places - the guy working on a truck, a child shouting out the window of a parked car or an open window above the street. People in rural areas will just look at us with a look of bewilderment on their faces, on others you can see some of the biggest toothless smiles spread across their faces because we have acknowledged them, it is a real pleasure to see this. I also feel just as happy for having seen them.

We have often seen team bonding events whereby we have seen uniformed people gather outside a business, such as a hotel. They all do similar synchronised movements with their limbs followed by shouts and cheers. Sometimes it looks as though it is a roll call before the start of the working day, nonetheless, whatever it is, it is strange to our western eyes. Maybe it is to develop camaraderie amongst the workers.

We have seen derelict villages made of the same tan colour as the earth that surrounds them. Paper or plastic windowed single storied buildings, some half torn down and looking as though their days of daily use have long passed. There are signs though that they are not altogether lost in time - there are often red paper banners with chinese characters written in black or gold hanging vertically on either side of doorframes, they must be recently placed. In fact, many people live in these villages, I am sure of it because we see a lot of people bending over in nearby fields, working everything over by hand and in a very labour intensive manner.

Everything is so different here, it really is amazing.

Thanks for reading.