D17: 白云山 → 螅镇

October 7, 2024

(collaged photos, no captions, at the bottom)

Since the marrow channel on my right tibia has a stabilizing steel/titanium rod that—owing to the level of injury and the medical technology at the time—can't be removed, cracking or bruising that leg's mostly useless calcium growths (what people generally refer to as "bones") doesn't affect me quite the way it would most people.

At various times in my life (especially when I was learning how to walk), I had pretty bad balance. Having fallen down hard enough to get x-rays and have a nurse tell me I cracked the calcium growth but my bone (the steel/titanium one) is fine, I already know that—unless I start getting scary colors or swelling—the only thing to do for it is anti-inflammatories like Naproxen or Ibuprofen.

I'd been trying to show the "helpful" 52kg woman from the Front Desk that if she didn't get out of my way right this very now, anything bad that happened would result in both of us getting hurt. Except, dumbfuck that I am, I didn't just wobble my bicycle like I was about to lose control, I actually lost control.

And I fell.

And now things are hurting in that "is this actually a Real Injury?" sort of way.

Which, because of the base level of pain that I'm already ignoring and the dramatic histrionics my leg is prone to throw over things like flying, is a question I don't know the answer to.

Dr. M and I reconnaissance to the breakfast room, grab a couple of hard boiled eggs apiece, and go back to my room for coffee. Unlike her, I like a fair variety of Chinese breakfast foods, but even on a cyclist's "see food" diet, none of it appeals.

Other than the aforementioned ouchy making uphills harder than they normally are, today was a good day.

I was recently asked how many hours per day I can go without stopping. Obviously, this depends on the terrain, the weather, and how interesting the environment around me is. Yesterday, we maybe stopped once an hour. Today, however, was more like every 20 minutes. Not because we were tired but because Something Interesting came along and stopping just happened.

Today's stopping because Something Interesting includes a place where Chairman Mao once spent the night, a fake horse, crimes against public maps¹, more historic yaodong that are in the process of becoming bougie retreats, a ye olde-ified historic town, an antique store, bad coffee, worse lemon tea, a Monkey King shrine with a fascinating iron bell, an effectively inaccessible pavilion that is probably a couple hundred years old, a very dangerous bridge that I shouldn't have climbed across, a walk through a corn field, and a group of women in their 60s who charm us into letting them take a hundred photos and cheesy video with us.

It's on the verge of dark as we get to Xiezhen. We have four or five kilometers to go to the 'listed as existing but we aren't going to provide a phone number or picture' lodging just down the road in Chashang. However, our charming group of grannies are just enough better at Mandarin than the first group of locals that we asked directions of that we get sent to the unlisted but locally famous Farmhouse Hotel.

With the exception of a lack of plumbing, it's everything all the Instagrammable wanghong places are trying to be. Which is why, when laoban tells us the price is 100y, we "mistakenly" think that's per room and give him 200y shortly before one of the neighbors insists on driving us to the only open restaurant in town.

¹ Compared to Dr. M, my Strong Opinions on how badly Chinese maps are frequently labeled or designed are first year bodybuilders.