D2: 老城 → 临高

January 7, 2025

First cyclist of the day, he's waiting for a friend who had a flat somewhere behind him

Technically, my room has a window to the outside. As this window looks out on a wall perhaps two feet away, it's really more of a large air shaft than it is a window, but the time between waking up and leaving is sufficiently occupied by breakfast, coffee, video editing, journaling, and photo uploading that I get to see that this technicality of a window is just big enough to let light into room as well as air

My left hand continues to improve. Pre morning Naproxen, it's still not especially happy with me asking it to do things like hold straps in place (or pull on them!), but I am capable of it¹.

Oatmeal of the Day: Peanut Protein Powder, Shredded Squid, and Corn Niblets

Turns out the contents of the perfect honey containers are "compound honey product" with, respectively, passionfruit juice and lemon juice, instead of "honey". Not acceptable as coffee adulterants.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: First grasshopper pumps of the Tour

If only for wanting to make sure I don't do it again, I really wish I knew what I did.

Setting my GPS for the ferry that I've previously taken to the Madao Peninsula on three separate occasions, I then mostly ignore the GPS in favor of trying to put myself on roads that are a little less trucky. Given that all but the oldest and newest² parts of Laocheng are a Development Zone with shipping and logistics at it's core, this is easier said than done, but—boring as I find Development Zones to be—the people who planned them have put in substantial bike lanes and sidewalks, and I manage to take the roads the through trucks are avoiding.

Late 80s/early 90s and early 00s Catholic church

Shipping container turned hairdressers, except the container looks new enough to have been purpose made for construction

Any factory building in that color combo has to belong to Yeshu Coconut Group, even if it doesn't have the signs up yet

Because I went north a few roads to get myself a bike lane and an absence of speeding death machines, I'll pass by Shique Village, where the first people in Hainan with the surname Feng originally settled.

I've been here once before in 2021, on the October Holiday Ride that I was hoping was going to be the start of regular "go out riding with folks" events, except that the foreigners who came along were too much stronger³ than me, the Chinese too much weaker, and no one else wanted to do the organizing⁴.

It's gotten a bit of a facelift since I last came this way. And, more importantly, I'm the only person whose hydration or exhaustion levels that I'm currently responsible for so I spend at least 90 minutes wandering around.

Useless⁵ "scan for more info" heritage site sign

Repurposed cobbles used to be construction materials

Repurposed cobbles used to be a gravestone

The majority of the changes are in the form of new (and not particularly useful) signs; the overgrown cobblestone paths have also been trimmed back; and one of the ancestor temples has recently been recognized as a National Heritage Site.

Given that the current buildings are both late Qing / early Republican era (1830 - 1930), there's no obvious reason for this temple, and not one of the nicer ones (like the one honoring the hero Madame Xian) to have been Listed, but I'm sure if I wait another two or three years before the next time I come back (or I bother to go looking things up online), I'll be able to find out.

Collapsed roof, and rotting antique furniture

A handwritten Honorary Recognition Plaque that probably predates Simplification⁶, I can't imagine why this was left behind when the family moved out

Given my love of ephemera and things which are rare not because they were valuable when they were new but because they were prosaic and ordinary and not worth preserving, I actually prefer the national-level temple over the shinier ones. I'm especially in love with the vandalized murals that—owing to them all having their eyes gouged out—were probably damaged during the Cultural Revolution.

With thoughts of a no longer especially early lunch before I put myself on the thoroughly rural peninsula that will force me to do at least 20km before the option of food that isn't out of my breakfast pannier, I stop dawdling and head for the dock, only to discover that the ferry currently isn't running and I have to take the long way round the bay.

Shrine to Madame Xian and some guy whose name I really ought to remember

Decade plus old plans for a never constructed Madame Xian Memorial Garden

I've never ridden this road, not even before it was upgraded into the Coastal Tourism Highway, and it has enough tourism-related stuff scattered about that I ought to be able to find somewhere to eat, but the clusters of places that serve the pockets of development all fail to appeal to me.

While this morning's shot of Ozempic⁷ may have something to do with this, it's more a case of my not having eaten is making me pickier than usual⁸, so I'm passing on lots of what are probably perfectly fine places on account of them not being perfect places.

Which, with the addition of my spending 20 or 30 minutes drafting some guy who just didn't look like he ought to be riding faster than me, is how I end up at the Sweet Potato Experience Center in a village that is very proud of their selenium enriched soil and their excellent, super healthy sweet potatoes.

I'm kind of gobsmacked by just how many bikers there are on the Coastal Tourism Highway on a random Monday and my plan had been to see if the sign "Cyclists Rest Point" pointing at the local government offices was an Actual Thing which would result in anyone being able to give me pointers about food or Just A Sign.

I also thought this was a good time to maybe photograph the 10 foot tall sweet potato statue, but they had a café at one end of the parking lot, and it was advertising a Sweet Potato Latte, and, well.... you know how these things go.

It was certainly a very memorable experience.

They are very proud of their sweet potatoes

By which I mean, it was quite literally the worst cup of coffee I have had in my life.

Also—while I'm willing to accept a wide range of non-dairy milks such as almond, cashew, and soy—no matter how milky looking it is, there is no excuse for pretending that sweet potato pureed with water in a bullet blender is anything other than sweet potato puree.

Immediately upon leaving, I saw four very lightly loaded Round-the-Islanders who had flown past me maybe an hour earlier⁹ having lunch in a very suitable looking roadside restaurant and I stopped for lunch of my own.

Because the sweet potato coffee wasn't warning enough, I also had to try the 28% ABV Sweet Potato Liquor

Developing rural roads benefits everyone

Realizing that I had far more time left in the day than I had distance I was willing to do, I spent about an hour charging my devices, and editing the video about the coffee drink during which time another group of cyclists arrived to have lunch.

This would be followed, once I got back on the road, by a 19 year old girl who was Very Uncertain about the road her GPS was leading her down but let herself be convinced by me that I was intentionally taking this road.

Then, some time after we merged back on to the Coastal Scenic Tourism Highway and she got too far ahead of me (because she weighs 30kg less, is 20 years younger, and is carrying 10kg less gear), I spent a bit of time riding with a Russian ethnicity Chinese man from Inner Mongolia.

I've been on Hainan Island longer than she's been in China

Even with his perfect pronunciation, to see his face, you would not believe he is Chinese

We were both following the same shortcut that cuts a loop off the Tourism Highway, so it wasn't long after his pedal-assist had him drop me for the last time that I found myself ahead of the 19 year old. However, she turned right at a traffic light where I went straight and I finally got far enough off the Official Road that I stopped seeing cyclists.

Maps lists the hotel I stayed at last year as "closed" so I pick something else in the vicinity. Of course, they aren't closed, but it's 17 minutes past when I can cancel for free, and, after dining on Xinjiang bread and a bunch of veggies from a cafeteria type place, I go to the new-to-me place instead.

Interesting kind of oil pump I've not seen before

¹ I'm also experienced enough at being injured that I still continue to avoid these actions after the analgesic has kicked in.

² Technically, all of the apartments and ancillary services for people living in the apartments are still built around that same core but they may be three or four steps removed from working at one of the factories that are the reason for the big straight roads .

³ A married pair of Harrow teachers, I can't remember if both of them are former Olympians or just the wife

⁴ There was also the minor issue of the batshit crazy university professor who was super excited for having foreign friends and none of us knowing how to exclude her.

The vehicle slows down and slows down at the 100-meter T-junction ahead

⁵ Taking you to a broken webpage, yesterday's useless QR was a heavy duty sticker added to an existing stone plaque. This is a large, purpose-made plastic sign that takes you to a single article† about the whole county.

† A single article that says nothing about the current location

⁶ Sometimes, Traditional characters are a stylistic choice.

⁷ I initially looked into going on a GLP agonist solely for the purpose of "pretty privilege." When my blood tests came back, the conclusion was the only reason I'm not diabetic is because I'm extremely active and a healthy eater†.

1920s bridge in Lin'gao is being resurfaced and possibly widened

Both the male and female have been carved with stone balls in their mouths

† Being fat doesn't cause diabetes. Having the underlying conditions that cause being fat causes diabetes. This is why strict diets and exercise regimens can stave off a need for medication.

⁸ My pickiness manifests entirely in my dislike of low quality for high prices.

⁹ Just when I'd stopped to talk to the first cyclist of the day

Insane traffic near a high school in Lin'gao, some trike driver actively tried to push me backwards because I dared to walk through the gap between her stopped vehicle and a stopped car

I'm amused that 1) the rural restaurant toilets that are used by the people whose facilities these are are increasingly sit downs, while city restaurants aren't, 2) someone who regularly uses this bathroom has left their suppositories in a bag hanging on the wall

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 111 km (69 miles)

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