D9: 砂河 → 代（双语）

September 27, 2024

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED First fiberglass police officer of the Tour 成就达成：此次骑行遇到的第一个交警假人

I'm not sure when I last had this much cash on me. Even before China started going cashless in 2015, the vast majority of transactions over 500y that I received or made were bank-to-bank transfers.

我不记得上次带这么多现金是什么时候了。即便在2015年中国尚未全面推行无现金支付之前，我经手的绝大多数超过500元的交易都是银行转账。

During the 2014 Tour—when finding an ATM that wouldn't charge me a large fee for being from another province was still hard—my refusal to carry over 1,000y at one time led to two occasions where I forgot to top up and subsequently ran out.

2014年骑行时，要找到一台不高额收取跨省取款的ATM机还很困难。我不想携带超过1000元现金，结果有两次忘了充值，最后几乎身无分文。

It isn't even all that much money, but the closest I can get to "times where I had more than this much cash for more than an hour" are the absurd per diem I asked for (and got) during the Weird Thailand Weekend¹ in 2011, the time the 2007 Tour of Hainan put me in charge of a brown envelope with USD 100,000 in travel and appearance fees that needed disbursement², and maybe the school that used to pay my salary in cash in 2005.

其实也不是多少钱，但要回忆 “身上现金超过这个数额且持有超过一小时” 的情况，我能想到的，一是2011年那次怪异的泰国周末之旅¹，我要（并且拿到了）高得离谱的津贴；二是 2007年环海南岛赛国际公里自行车赛时，他们让我负责一个装有10万美元差旅费和出场费的棕色信封，需要我来分发²；还有可能就是2005年，有所学校曾用现金给我发工资。

I now have enough copies of this exact socialist realism mixed with brush painting style Rural Safe Electricity Usage poster⁴ in enough provinces that I'm starting to suspect the original may be by someone famous 我在好几个省份都看到了这种融合了社会主义现实主义与水墨画风格的《农村安全用电》海报⁴，数量之多，让我开始怀疑原画作者可能是个名人。

Ultimately, my inability to direct transfer the money back to Officer Zhang⁵ is a positive⁶ 最终，我没办法直接把钱转回给张警官⁵，这倒成了件好事⁶。

My home country's financial systems might be a few decades behind the times with still having checks and non instantenous peer-to-peer bank transactions, but I'm from a socioeconomic class that was using credit cards (with raised lettering and a completely analog method of recording transactions) as far back as the 1960s. For all intents and purposes, this means I grew up in a cashless economy; and growing up in a cashless economy means that I've never been comfortable with wads of cash.

美国的金融系统可能落后了几十年，还在使用支票以及非即时的点对点银行转账。但我出身的社会经济阶层，早在20世纪60年代就开始使用信用卡（那种字母凸起、完全用模拟方式记录交易的信用卡）。从各方面来说，这意味着我是在无现金经济环境中长大的；而在这种环境中长大，就意味着我一直不适应随身携带大量现金。

So, not that there was much of anything huge to be skipping, I skipped all the potential detours that would involve me being more than a few feet away from my bike⁷ at any time, set my GPS to the closest ATM of a bank where I have an account, and went to deposit my bribe⁸.

所以，尽管没什么特别值得绕道去看的，但我还是避开了所有可能让我离开自行车几步远的岔路⁷，将GPS定位到我的账户银行最近的自动取款机，去存我的 “贿赂款”⁸。

The ATM doesn't like my card⁹, so I have to go inside 自动取款机读不出我的卡⁹，所以我得去银行柜台。

I've seen plenty of "no drinking and driving signs" but this is my first "no drugged driving" one. Should I be concerned? 我见过很多 “禁止酒后驾车” 的标志，但这是我第一次看到 “禁止毒驾” 的标志。我该对这里的司机们多注意点吗？

Excellent babies and excellent child rearing practices make fortunate families¹⁰ 这类宣传见怪不怪¹⁰

Don't risk your life by riding on a moto-trike 三轮车也很危险吗？

I should have ended the day in the county where I made the deposit, but I hadn't even gone 35 kilometers and—even with a lazy dunch—so long as I didn't run into any more roadworks, it was a bit over 25km to the next county and I had plenty enough light left to me.

我本应该在存钱的那个县城结束当天行程的，但我还没骑够 35 公里，而且即便慢悠悠地吃了顿晚午餐，只要不再遇上修路，到下一个县城也就 25 公里多一点，天色还早，时间充裕。

Of course, it was all roadworks the whole way.

I found an alt route as sunset slipped away into dusk, managed another 5 or 8 kilometers without my headlight on account of it not really helping in the interstitial space between light enough to still kind of see and totally pitch black, and finished up with at least 15km more of total darkness.

当然，一路全是修路的地段。

太阳下山，黄昏降临时，我找到了另一条路线。由于在那种还能勉强看见但又不完全黑的过渡地带，头灯起不了多大作用，所以我没开车灯又骑了 5 到 8 公里，最后在完全漆黑的路上至少又骑了 15 公里。

Three modern niches that might have once had plaster and paint 三个现代壁龛，以前可能有灰泥和彩绘。

Roadside shrine that appears to reference a local folk tale 路边的神龛一般与当地民间故事有关。

Modern examples of wall-less villages that have a gate tower temple 无围墙的现代村庄，有门楼和庙宇。

I won't say that my hotel was picked entirely at random. Given the photos of the options in town, there was a fair amount of weighing one thing versus another before choosing a place that looked like it belonged on a rural truck route from 15 years ago and not 200m away from a county seat's historic Confucian Temple.

我不会说我选的酒店完全是随机的。看过镇上几家酒店的照片后，我权衡了不少因素，才选了这家看起来像是15年前乡村卡车路线旁的旅馆，而不是距离县城历史悠久的孔庙仅200米远的那家。

I'm guessing their proximity to the Confucian Temple is why they've had Hong Kongers in the past. Cause, even if it was a somewhat upmarket¹¹ example of the category, it didn't feel like someplace that really ever got tourists.

我猜他们酒店以前接待过香港人，可能是因为离孔庙近。因为即便它在这类旅馆中算是比较高档的¹¹，但感觉也不是那种真正能吸引游客的地方。

This not very interesting¹² monument from the 1920s is mostly interesting because of the amounts given when it was renovated in the 90s 这座20世纪20年代的纪念碑没意思¹²，但90年代翻新时投入的资金数额让它变得有点意思了。

Impressive concrete repair work 了不起的混凝土修补工作

Repairs of this nature are rarely so skillful 这种修补工作很少有如此精湛的。

However, whether because Shanxi or because small backwater towns are some of the easiest places to check in, check in was nice and smooth.

不过，也许是因为在山西，又或许是因为在这种小地方办理入住手续比较容易，总之入住过程很顺利。

¹ An Indian trader doing business in Hainan decided that I had the ability to help him with something I had neither the qualifications nor ability to do†. I repeatedly told him "I can't help you." After this didn't work at convincing him, I tried "paying me is a waste of your time and money, but as long as you are dumb enough to waste your money by giving it to me, I'll happily take it from you‡" and asking for amounts that no person in their right mind would pay.

¹一个在海南做生意的印度商人，觉得我有能力帮他做一件我既没资质也没能力做的事†。我反复跟他说 “我帮不了你”。这话没能说服他，于是我试着说 “给我钱就是浪费你的时间和金钱，但只要你傻到愿意浪费钱给我，我很乐意收下‡”，还开出了任何正常人都不会给的高价。

Beacon Tower and Amusing Town Name 烽火台与有意思的镇名

† Because I am capable of headhunting multilingual Chinese employees for businesses in Hainan, he decided I would be a valuable asset in a business finding jobs in the United States for Indians.

† 因为我为在海南的企业挖掘会多种语言的中国员工，他就觉得我能帮印度人在美国找工作，会是个得力帮手。

‡ He laughed and said I had a great sense of humor and shook my hand.

‡ 他笑着说我很幽默，还跟我握了手。

² It was handed to me on account of some teams needing to give change and my being the only person in the secretariat who knew what US 50s and 20s are supposed to look like.

² 把钱交给我，是因为有些车队需要找零，而我是秘书处唯一认识 50 美元和 20 美元长什么样的人。

³ Not nearly as amusing since Carrefour left the Chinese market

³自从家乐福退出中国市场后，这就没那么好笑了。

⁴ All of the posters in this genre use the same images of children climbing on a transformer or someone with wet hands changing a light bulb. However, they're usually drawn and painted in different styles by different people.

⁴这类海报都用同样的画面，比如小孩攀爬变压器，或者有人湿着手换灯泡。不过，通常是不同的人以不同风格绘制的。

Signs like this on how many people are from this village versus how many actually live here year round paint a picture of Chinese urbanization that's even faster than the official numbers 像这样标明本村户籍人口与常年实际居住人口数量对比的牌子，表明中国城市化速度比官方数据还快。

Once upon a time hairdressers on the National Road 曾几何时，国道边的理发店

⁵ The transfer initially didn't go through because I got her family name wrong on the anti fraud check. Then, it didn't go through because I didn't have that much in my WeChat Wallet

⁵一开始转账没成功，是因为在反诈验证时我把她的姓氏写错了。后来，又因为我的微信钱包里没那么多钱。

⁶ However, by not transferring it back directly, I got to have the written cover my ass conversation referenced in the last entry.

⁶不过，没有直接把钱转回去，我就有机会进行上一篇博客里提到的为自己留后路的书面沟通。

⁷ Even if no one was going to know that there was a large sum of cash hidden inside the interior zipper of my handlebar bag, and even if that sum of cash didn't appreciably increase the value of [my bike] + [my gear], it still made me uncomfortable.

⁷即便没人知道我的车把包内拉链里藏着一大笔现金，即便这笔现金并没有明显增加我的自行车和装备的价值，但还是让我心里不踏实。

First yaodong cave house of the Tour 此次骑行遇到的第一个窑洞民居

If the cities get rich first, it is their duty to lend a helping hand to the countryside and jointly build a moderately prosperous society in all respects 城市帮扶农村，说的没错

⁸ Is it still a bribe if you deliberately go out of your way not to do the thing desired by the person giving you the money you said you didn't want?

⁸拿钱买通你的人希望你做的事，但你刻意不做，而你一直说不想要这笔钱，那这还算贿赂吗？

⁹ To the best of my recollection, this is the second time this calendar year that I've used my physical card.

⁹据我回忆，这是我今年第二次用实体银行卡。

¹⁰ Related to the family planning policy that most English speakers call the "One Child Policy," this is specifically about prenatal check ups and good infant nutrition as a way to combat congenital diseases.

¹⁰这与计划生育政策相关，特别强调产前检查和良好的婴儿营养，以此来预防先天性疾病。

¹¹ Obviously they had rooms that were less than the 90 per night I booked online, and they passed most of my cleanliness spot checks†, but they were very basic.

¹¹显然，他们有比我在网上预订的90元一晚更便宜的房间，而且大部分地方通过了我对卫生情况的抽查†，但条件还是很简陋。

I've seen plenty of Amitabha Stones before 我以前见过很多阿弥陀佛石碑。

But I've never seen Amitabha stickers 但我从没见过阿弥陀佛贴纸。

Tile posters with birth control policy and slogans 印在瓷砖上的计划生育政策和标语

† The back of the TV was very dusty

† 电视背面灰尘很厚。

¹² The local Antiquities Bureau has even put a sign on it designating it as a "Not Very Interesting or Important Immovable Cultural Relic."

¹²当地文物局甚至还挂了个牌子，将其定为 “不太有趣或重要的" 不可移动文物。

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 580 km (360 miles)

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D9: 砂河 → 代 （双语）

D9: 砂河 → 代（双语）