China # 55
The previous day I was hugging the
hedges for shade from the hot intense sun. The following day there was a
chill in the air. It was a dirty drizzle day, all day long. I started
that day by stopping off at a puncture repair shop. Most times I don't
bother to repair, my flats, I just hand them into such places and they
patch up my inner tubes. However I do spend about five minutes checking
inside the tyre for sharp objects. This one had two holes from sharp
tyre filings which I probably picked up in the hard shoulder where all
of the road debris is swept. That repair cost me about the same as a
packet of chewing gum in Ireland, so why should I bother with the hassle
of a repair. Those repair shops are in just about every village in
China. The majority of my punctures are from thorns and also these
filings. Punctures from nails and screws are almost non-existent.
I
was still dressed in my shorts and upon being questioned by some people
in the shop I decided to change there and then into my long pants. I
was up for a laugh, and much to the amusement of those gathered there I
stripped down to my underpants at the side of the road and pulled on my
long pants! Many women and some children sometimes wear a costume which
resembles a cross between padded warm pyjamas and a pantomime suit,
please see photo.
On I walked and through a certain
Fu-Qing City, and it was well named, a grubby place where fishmongers
throw fish waste outside their shops which stank up the road.
That
day I walked 26 clicks and had a solid sleep on my air mattress outside
a grocery store. I had stopped there earlier for some noodles and spent
some time chatting via my translate app. When the owner asked where I
planned to sleep I requested a spot in a quiet corner under his
veranda.
Next day the weather was still cool and
damp and I shuffled out 27 kilometres. I made it to a small town where I
didn't expect to find a hotel but a man showed me a small family run
restaurant which had a small hotel next door. There was nobody there and
the chef kindly phoned a telephone number on the wall and a little
later a woman came along to open up a room for me.
The
restaurant was packed out and my food selection was made for me by
about eight kind lads who ushered me over to their table so as I could
claim the last seat in the restaurant. They were eating a communal meal
of beef, fish, noodles various vegetables and soup. They insisted upon
treated me to that delicious dinner and several Corona beers too! They
were part of a wedding group who were continuing the celebration in the
restaurant. There were a lot of weddings that weekend. I presumed it be
lucky to be wed during the Chinese New Year. Up until recently, I have
not noticed a lot of expensive sports cars on my Chinese route. Now I
regularly spot Porches, BMWs, Mercedes and even Jaguars. A generation
ago there was little or no middle-class in China, now there certainly
is. It has been suggested to me that this is one reason many people are
content with the way things are. Now many people have cars. Most
motorcycles and bicycles are electric and everyone has a smartphone even
children and the elderly. I never see any of those old 'granny phones'
that were so popular when I was in Russia. One ex-pat who lives in
Beijing told me that for him life is just great there. He just adjusts
and it's not an issue for him that he needs a VPN unblocker app to do
Facebook. Social media is not a big deal to him anymore.
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