The weather has improved slightly over yesterday in that it is not actively raining. The sun has not come out nor does it show any sign of coming out. In theory, there is nothing stopping me from spending another night in this town other than I don't really want to. I've already had two substantial meals and I'm not really all that impressed about the options available as this is one of those towns where people mostly eat at home.

There's a string of more restaurant-y looking places along the street that my hotel is on but everything is geared, even moreso than normal for China, at large groups of people socializing. They're all some variation on hotpot or food onna stick.

Really the only positive thing this town has going for it is the massage place I went to the night before last and while it was a really good massage, the masseur was pushing some of my mental buttons for being a little bit too friendly. He didn't get handsy or do anything inappropriate (not even accidentally on purpose like the guy in Beijing who spent way too much time on my adductor group) but other women will know what I mean when I say he felt sufficiently off that I don't want to go back again.

I've been wrong before in misreading nonexistent ill intentions from someone friendly who really just turned out to be the kind of friendly that scammers are actively working to mimic, but I've also ignored that 'feeling' and been right more often than I'd like so I think I'll leave before he figures out where the only foreigner currently in town is staying.

I had two detours planned for today and I'm not going to do either of them. 

The first one is the town of Mazu and the Ancestral Home of Ma Zu. A bit of extra research on the Chinese language end of things and I've discovered that 马祖 and 妈祖 are two completely different people who lived at completely different times. I'd kind of been wondering how it was the Ma Zu who is the southern Chinese patron goddess of fishermen ended up being from Sichuan and it turns out that it's because she's not.

The second detour is a bit lengthier. I was going to go up the river from Danjingshan Town to Xiaoyudong Town and check out yet another bit of Earthquake Relics before wending my way down to Dujiangyan along the edges of the Longchi National Forest Park. On a sunnier day (i.e. one in which I can identify the sun in the sky), I might even be up for doing that. In this weather, however, and especially with the fact that there's a care package with oatmeal raisin cookies waiting for me in Dujiangyan, I'll pass.

I spend most of my day on or near the S106. For some strange reason, even though I'm no longer heading directly towards Chengdu, the road is still counting down. I was very much under the impression that all S1XX roads started from their respective provincial capitals but in this case, after a bit of research, it turns out that the S106 is a ring road encircling the edges of the Chengdu Plain.

Most of the time when I'm not on the S106, I'm on a paralleling bike path / greenway signposted farm road. On the one hand, I much prefer the greenways that work on existing farm roads as they go more interesting places and overall tend to receive better maintenance than the dedicated "bikes only" paths. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen another cyclist on one of these and, only rarely, have even seen people using them for tourism and leisure.

In Danjingshan, I come across a former railroad station turned tourist point for a new faux old recreation of the train that used to run along this line. I get there just as the train is pulling out of the station. It's not due back for another 55 minutes which is about 45 minutes longer than I'm willing to wait so I don't even bother to find out things like where the train is going or whether or not I can take my bike on it.

I decide to stick to the side roads from Danjingshan Town but the climb out of town is something crazy steep and I change my mind again. In return for my fickle nature, I get an only slightly less steep climb (and the only real climb of the day) when I get back to the main road. On the climb, there's a bit where the road narrows and some old factory housing crowds up close against the edges. It's all marked "Unsafe Building No Entry" and, after a few weeks in Sichuan, I can say that instead of looking like it's been abandoned for "a while" the way I'd usually say with old unused buildings, it looks like it's been abandoned for exactly 10 years and 6 months (May 2008).

Down down down I speed towards Dujiangyan. Find my way to the Shunfeng Courier, pick up my package, and head towards the touristy section of town because I'm already here, I may as well at least try to look at the waterworks.

The first hotel doesn't want to honor the prices they've got posted online. I straight up can't find the second one (which I'm specifically looking for based on reviews). The third is something down an alley which I pick at random. The price would have been right for a room with heat even if it hadn't started pouring the minute I ducked inside. With that in mind, however, I'm not going outside again.

I get pizza delivered for dinner.