March 14, 2007
To Jingdong: seeing sugar cane
The water in the silver thermos is still hot enough for Rachel's oatmeal and cups of coffee. Patrick confirms the direction we need to go and we see a road sign with the Chinese character we recognize as Jingdong.
The road is supposed to be "flat" following the river up the valley. There are nice stretches that seem flat, but every village is a little hill up then a descent. Occasionally the road is torn up and there's a little more traffic. We see lots of sugar cane being harvested, and fields are being burned adding to the haze. The wind helps us for a while, then the last 15-20km gusts swirl around us.
Around 2pm, we get on the outskirts of town, Patrick knows how to find the city center, he says "just keep going straight." After all, you are never lost until you admit it, according to Patrick. We find a hotel, nice room and TV, hot shower, clean sheets. About 4pm, we go explore the town. Patrick uses the Mandarin Phrase book to ask for where the supermarket is located. We are not sure of the directions and start out asking again along the way.
We stop at a bakery for more cakes & cookies and then into the supermarket for milk and chocolate...a Dove Hazelnut chocolate bar! A pre-birthday present for Patrick. Eventually we find the local market but not the food stalls; on the walk back, we find a restaurant with the multi-dishes on rice and take away, stopping for beer before back to the room to eat.
Good Food!
Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles)
Total: 6,740 km (4,186 miles)
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