I had planned in my head over the last fifteen or so minutes how to start the next installment of my travel log. I went and got the notebook, plugged it in, and got electrocuted. A require a brief interlude so enjoy this picture of me holding a huge infant somewhere I can now no longer recall.
Having written this I can now remember how I wanted to start but I’ve subsequently already started so here goes with a different tangent.
I’ve got chapped lips.
A physical ailment associated with a dissociation from Australia.
Not a huge problem if lip balm existed in the far corners of China. I can, however, afford a little more chapping before I consider the local remedy of rubbing raw yaks fat onto my chops. I drew the line way earlier in the trip when I ate wriggling eels and plate of ducks tongues. Check the pic of Jen eating a ducks tongue in Nanjing!
The part closest to her mouth is the blade of the tongues and the two stalks behind are just that – stalks of ligament that anchor the tongue to the jaw bone. Nothing is wasted and all must be enjoyed politely.
I love eel – but those eels were loving life a little too much when I baptised them in stomach acid. All aboard the culinary express to Diarrhoea Ville. Too much chilli everyday at first but I’m used to it now. I’m also large in China. I can’t buy any clothes in China and have trouble with most beds and public transport. Here’s me being too large for life.
If you’ve noticed this today. I’m writing this now about right now. I’ve forged a new plan and I’m going to work my way to the states, back across China, to teaching unruly children in England, to the Green Mile, to Iceland, drunken sunrises in New York, turtle conservation in Mexico, whale sharks, dolphins, chilli and broken Spanish and accented French, Mayan civilization from now and the past, Cuban cigars, Cuban cocktails, Cuban jungle and a steadfast Communist dictatorship, The Mississippi Delta blues, a decimated but lively New Orleans, and finally back to where I left off – somewhere on the way to Vegas I believe. Blogs are censored in China, along with Facebook and Myspace. A team of 30’000 cyber cops trawl the internet and intercept emails. If this gets through it’s one nil to Paul Chamberlain. Back to the story!
I’m here!
I don’t know what day it is and I’m informed by a local village elder that it’s 13:00 and I should not still be eating breakfast.
I finish my breakfast. My day starts with local coffee. Then I go and get breakfast. It invariably comprises of yak yoghurt, honey fresh from the hive, bananas and green tea. Yesterday we rode 30km mostly off road so it’s a slow one. The air here is very thin and subsequently extremely dry at such a high altitude. The days are hot and the nights are bitterly cold. I’m close to Tibet – in part of China that is not like China at all. I’m with Naxi (Na-Shi) people who don’t speak Chinese. It’s a culture where women rule the roost and walk around in brightly coloured traditional garb to signify the particular tribe from which they are descended.
We’re extending our visas and staying in China until December then going from Hong Kong to Vietnam where I will – eventually – start teaching. For now I’m enjoy my breakfast, riding flatland, riding vast distances in what I’ve called ‘exploration-street-riding’ and climbing mountains – of which there are plenty nearby. We’re doing a long trek in few days time. It’s about 30 or 40km I think. Looking forward to it. We’ll spend a few days on it. We’ve got plenty of time and will probably stay here for 10 days. It’s good for me. I can get some riding done and explore at the same time.
A few weeks ago my sister got married in Nanjing. This is my younger (and still unmarried sister in blue, a lady boy in yellow and my cousin in red). The wedding finished earlyish so partied down in a gay club until the small hours.
After the wedding we headed on a bit of whistlestop tour with the guests who had little time to ‘do’ China. I travelled around China in 2006 and know that you have to cut your losses on a lot of things but it’s easier said than done. Two weeks saw various groups rushing between the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and various villages for token slices of rural pie – or marinated pigs brain depending on what the menu was saying. It was hectic. This is me getting hectic and doing a 10km hike on the Great Wall.
I found the part that Penonzek rode and obviously paid homage to his back wheel.
We did a 10km hike on the Great Wall and got an overnight train to Huang Shan where we climbed the Yellow Mountain (Huang Shan is Mandarin for Yellow Moutain). Three hours of walking up steps after walking on the wall – which is all steps. 2 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and -8 at the top. Up at four thirty for a 2 hour trek to see the sun rise. Here’s me in the sunrise. Still around -4 at this stage but more than happy to be there as always.
5 hour walk back down. It’s getting warmer now. I’m certainly shedding my USA doughnuts (sorry America: ’donuts’).
In other news Jen’s alright. She’s a bit sore from the below par mountain bikes that I keep hiring for her. She takes cold comfort in the fact that we’re currently lodging with a guy who has ridden here from Ireland and was stuck in Iran for 3 weeks awaiting the delivery of a chain because he didn‘t pack enough links. Proper adventurer. He’s on his way to Laos to buy a boat and cruise down the Mekong:
“What sort of boat are you going to get?”
“One big enough for me bike.”
“Do you sail?”
“Never even rowed before to tell ye de trute but the missus wants to sail across the atlantic when I get back to Ireland so I figure I‘d better start learning about boats.”
Legend.
Time to go for a ride…
One more green tea first. . .