March 12, 2024
March 12th
Longtan
The sun's out, which is something of a surprise because it poured down all day yesterday and was still at it in the early hours of this morning. While the forecast says it'll be pretty chilly, it really doesn't seem like it and a ride is on the cards. It's be just a modest one as I'm not feeling too adventurous and I settle on a spin out to Longtan at well gone 10 o'clock. Once there, I'll ponder climbing up into the tea fields like I did this time last week.
I wear a fleece jacket, but it soon comes off - the apartment is noticably cooler than it is outside - and it gets stuffed into my barbag while waiting at a red light and I smear some sun cream onto my arms just before the green comes on.
Juat as I saw on Sunday, many of the small rice fields have little shoots planted in them, but there are still rolls of them stacked up beside the route when I get to the 113 and I pause to take a quick snap as the green looks nice and the sky is cloudless, making a colorful contrast.
It's less than 40 minutes to get to Longtan and I veer around the south of town just for a change and enter close to the traditional market on narrow streets that are busy with shoppers and people of scooters. It seems like a good idea to pop into the NET clothing shop nearby to see if they have a flat cap just like the one I bought on Sunday and while they do, it's not on sale here. When I try it on it feels smaller and I wonder if the one I bought is a slightly bigger size. I'll check when I'm home - I usually take size 62cm. My head is big.
My usual routine is to have a drink in Louisa Coffee, but instead I just take a quick look in the traiditional market before heading back home. There's a nice place that I haven't been in for a while and the coffe and salad there are both good, albeit pricey.
The amount of trash that gets thrown out of vehicles is saddening. beside teh road is an array of cigarette packets, drink cartons and plastic bags, but it's the brown glass bottles of a drink called Whisbhi that rankles the most. Whisbhi is an enegry drink akin to Red Bull (not that I've ever sampled either) that truck drivers seem to have a liking for. They must be brainless to throw them out the window while driving along as you often see farmers walking through the paddies with their hands in the water, pulling up weeds, and obviously a broken glass bottle could do some nasty damage.
I pass one farmer in a tractor with a tarp canopy roof keeping him in shade and he gives me a wave when he sees me with my camera out. An army of egrets are following him, on the lookout for worms as the paddy is being prepped for rice.
My old Casio says it's not even one when I reach the Traveler Cafe not far from home. Although it's busy as usual, there's a round table near the door that's free and that's where I sit and have my salad and drink, and in between read a few more pages of Great Expecations, which was buried amongst others at home. It must be a book I got for Debbie a long time ago.
Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 3,795 km (2,357 miles)
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