Being as this is a part of China with such incredibly positive memories from my previous visits, I'm pleased to say that it lives up to, and even improves upon, my recollection. 

There have been times and places where development of an area made changes that I don't feel were actually for the better and times where the lack of ongoing development and the associated flight of population from the countryside to the city has meant that it was noticeably worse than my previous time coming by.

This is not, however, the case with Longlin.

I won't love my free breakfast dumplings from a place that specifically invited me to come eat breakfast so that they could take pictures of me in their restaurant; and, I won't be thrilled with the town of Jiangxi where I stop for a cold lunch of pannier food and get gawked at like a monkey in a zoo by people who hold their hands or sleeves across their face because the very sight of me from 15 feet away might somehow transmit Covid and they don't have a face mask handy; but the sleepy little town of Longlin where they only got a paved road a little more than 5 years ago is still as nice as I remember it.

The first time I came this way was on a bus from the county seat. I was still weak from the turning blue and not breathing right episode, had been taking days that were longer than I ought to, and was facing the possibility of a very tall mountain range. So, for the first time in well over 1000km, I intentionally took a bus.

And somehow, despite Li County being a part of Wudu City, the one bus per day available to me was a 9 hour chicken bus that mostly went along the dirt roads at the bottom of the valley which the Xihanshui River meanders through.

It was a very memorable bus ride during which I played the game "if we fall off the cliff, how fast will I die" and I prayed that the driver would stop turning around to look at me as he took his hands off the wheel yet again so he could point out the cool thing I ought not miss.

The second time was in 2018 as I "revisited the Trip of a Lifetime". I got myself caught out after dark without either a headlight or camping gear and, up until the cops found me slowly making my way along the road, had been blindly using my foot to feel for the edge of the road as I tried my best to walk in a straight line.

By that time, the road was already paved to "national road standards" though it wouldn't be until the next year that it was numbered as a G5xx Scenic Highway. Not too long after that the main road I'd skipped would be downgraded to the provincial category and this would officially become the main road.

Because I've gone down the valley to Xihe instead of Li, I'll have to go up and over a mountain to get to Longlin and this means some stuff too steep for biking (either up or down) followed by the most amazing whhhhhhheeeee down a recently paved road alongside one of the dry gravel gulches that flash flood with millions of gallons of water in a rainstorm.

Then, I'm in Longlin. Really too early to be stopping for the day but nowhere other than my tent for me to stay in between here and Daqiao so I take the time for a thorough exploration of things like the chain bridge (built in 1965 for 30,000y), the Daoist Temple on the island in the middle, or the old rammed earth buildings (some still with visible Maoist slogans) in the original Longlin Town from back before the car bridge was built in 2003.

My attempt to invite the police out for dinner fails but I didn't expect it to work.

I circle the developed street and pick the newest of the three lodging options having not especially liked the place (or the owner of the place) the police took me to in 2018.

My room will cost me 50. My dinner another 20. The bowl of itty bitty wild white strawberries that the boss lady picked the day before will be free.