Nia Hao!

So much to tell...

We left Hunyuan later than we had expected on Monday. We started the day with a puncture on my rear wheel and had to do a tube swap, this was no bother though because we were still just outside the hotel.

We knew which road we had to take out of town and that it was going to be an easy morning of riding just following that one road all the way to our destination of Xingyuan just 50 kms away. We knew that there were not going to be any climbs because we were following the base of the mountain range, so in theory this was going to be an easy 'rest day' of cycling despite the fact that we had our luggage. As soon as we took our first turn though onto the road we were to follow we were hit by a ferocious headwind. Hmm, that wind again. The wind was so kind it accompanied us for the whole of the 50 kms! (We do have this theory though that what does not kill us will make us stronger :-) Sometimes it would become a cross wind that would hit us with harsh gusts and cause us to wobble because it would hit our panniers and backpacks. We would sometimes ride at a slight angle, this would eventually give us inevitable muscle strain down one side of the body - it always hit us from the right hand side. Mostly though the wind sang at us from the front with more gusto than a tenner. So it was a longer ride than expected with K and I drafting one another and swapping position at every kilometre. Now being two people who have ridden lightweight roadbikes (or racers :-) at decent speeds over long distances, it is quite disheartening when you find yourself slogging it out at 11kph on the flat, it kind of makes you feel as though you are heading nowhere fast. I kept getting the Talking Heads song "We're On The Road To Nowhere" in my head, the rhythm of the song matched the pace that we were doing quite well :-) It was however a great ride despite the hardwork, we worked together really well by swapping the front postion and knuckling down into the wind - it did not break our spirits :-) There were some great sections where we had a break from the wind and we could crank it up to 20 kph but these were a rarity. Anyhow we managed to finish the ride with a total of 3.5 hours in the saddle. We did have the occasional break so that we could rest our butts, legs and ears from the wind (um, that is not our butts from wind OK :-) and also so that we could converse with one another, it is hard work to talk with the wind whistling in your ears. We ate a snack of salted horse beans which is a little like a broad bean version of roasted peanuts, they supply wonderful riding energy. We also ate soft puffy sqaures of wheat, oil and sugary biscuit.

The road was flat, mostly straight with the occasional long slow curve that just made it seem straight at a slightly different angle. We passed mostly agricultural land with hills looming to our right and some further in the distance to our left. We were blasted at regular intervals by dust whirling up from nearby fields, it is incredibly arid here. When we arrived at our destination we were greeted by a temporary dust storm.

We cycled into town along the main strip. We had no map of this town and as is often the case, we had to communicate with people in Mandarin to get to our pre booked hotel. In fact, it was no problem, we were given good directions on two occasions and found our way there quite quickly. It is always quite time consuming though to flick through the pages of the English - Chinese book in the hope of stringing together a very economical sentance but thankfully people are very patient with us.

The hotel was great, it was the Holiday Inn but not of that common chain that we are all so familiar with. The hotel was huge and it took some work to haul in the luggage. I was pretty beat from not having slept well plus the ride had taken a lot out of me so I had a nap for a while. Very soon after we went out to see the Wooden Pagoda - the reason why we came here, luckily for my tired state it was only across the road.

It was amazing, I was as equally impressed by this building as I was with the hanging temple, perhaps a little more. It is the oldest standing wooden building in China, it is a little over a thousand years old and looks so strong that it is easy to believe that it will keep standing for much more time. Originally it was built with no nails but now there are many hammered in to keep the building solid. It is complete with creaky floorboards and mud straw walls. Inside it was dimly lit which added to the atmosphere, we also had the dark wood building to ourselves which allowed us to enjoy it so much more than how it must be when full of pushy tourists. The eaves were beautifully carved and wooden brackets slotted planks into one another to create walls, ceilings and staircases. Inside was a very impressive Buddha and his guardians. When we climbed up to the second story we got a great view of the town too. K took some great photos and we shall get these up on the site soon, I really cannot do it any justice. I could have stayed there for some time because I found it to be very relaxing and a plesant place to be. Unfortunatley tiredness and more wind whirling around my head forced me away. K bought me a little souvenir because I was besotted with the place :-)

It really was a great reward for a tough day of riding.