D25: 新兴 → 海口

March 7, 2024

The earlier you buy a Buick, the better your life will be

I am really close to Haikou. Close enough that, no matter how late I wake up and hit the road, I will be inside the streetlight zone by the time the sun sets, and, whether or not I manage everything by muscle power, I'll have no excuse for ending anywhere other than my own bed.

I do make some effort to see if any of the people I know who are working at Hainan University's new campus on the far southern edge of the urban area live out there, but no such luck. There's one person who lives almost that far south but I'm starting the day in a rinsed rather washed jersey and my last clean shorts and I don't yet know her well enough to be comfortable showing up all smelly.

A very pretty tile mural on the inner courtyard wall of my hotel

I'm unaware of any swimming champions that China would be lauding around the time this mural was being made, so probably just a "be a well rounded patriotic individual" message

Everyone should act to create a beautiful and civilized countryside

Breakfast l is eaten in the lobby cause I didn't bring the food bag upstairs with me. As the tallow goes rock solid at room temperature, it's awkward putting the container in the kettle to warm up and effectively means that the only fat I can add to my oatmeal¹ is the sweetened condensed milk. My eyes tell me it's way too much sweetened condensed and that it will be cloyingly sweet. However, it's not until 80% of the bowl has been finished that my taste buds agree.

Careful consideration of the topo map and my memories (I've either got 100km and no real hills or 80km and rolling hills) as well as how I'm feeling overall and the knowledge of finishing tonight leads me to decide I can take a codeine pill without breaking or bending my personal painkiller rules².

In particularly good news, finishing off the sweetened condensed means that everything in my food pannier is shelf stable until the next Ride

Why yes, that is a fiberglass statue of a dancing egg

In terms of public art, seeing neo-traditional northern Chinese architecture on a bus stop is disconcerting to me. Why not go with local styles?

With my bad leg, it's simply too easy for me to get ahold of things one can become addicted to, and even if it's been decades since my brain blocked out what going through withdrawal³ was like, I don't ever want to experience it again.

After a few times being given prescriptions for things where "getting high" is so easy, I do it by accident on occasions I most definitely do not want to be impaired⁴, I'm generally pleased with the current extended release codeine pills, as I will make it through mist and mizzle, headwinds and poorly lit bike lanes, traffic and roadworks, and be home in my bed with no more pain to kill before anything resembling a buzz kicks in. However, as noted during a massage that ouught to feel good just round the corner from my place, this formulation not only takes my pain centers and swaddles them in soft cotton, it also numbs the pleasure.

I believe it's overflowing rather than leaking

It shouldn't still be this gray in March

As the whole day is mostly wet, cold, and wind underneath a gray sky on roads that are part of familiar day trips when I've got people who want to day trip with me, it's not a particularly big deal to have both pain and pleasure numbed, but it's something to be aware of and which will further add to the pills' primary role as a safety blanket carried for comfort but never actually used.

The hills are sapping my strength more than they ought to, so I switch to the flatter but longer route at the first possible turn-off. This has the added advantage of immediately putting me on a provincial route rather than the National Road and, although it continues being drippy and gray, the scenery improves. It's truly remarkable what a few less hill cuts and a few more gentle curves do to how nice a road is to ride.

Gate of a 90s primary school that's still in use

The gate dates to the 90s. The buildings look older. From the seal, it probably used to be government offices

Looks like they cut the top off this gate in order to let traffic through

Historic gate with info plaque that I didn't feel like stopping to read in the growing dark

The towns along this road also have construction closer to the road and more older buildings that haven't been replaced.

Following pretty closely along the path of the Nandu River, I won't actually hit anything even remotely unpleasant or uncomfortable until I'm on Binjiang Road, the bike lane has disappeared, the poorly lit river dyke (which has big flat pavers that rattle beneath my wheels) has signs that say "for safety of pedestrians, all bikes and ebikes stay off", and the car traffic has increased to something I don't want to be sharing the road with.

If it has tactile paving for the blind, it is a sidewalk NOT a bike lane

Needless to say, the reason all the two wheelers are up on the dyke is because, signposts be damned, there is no place else for us

In terms of absolute time, this doesn't last very long, but it's plenty long enough.

Never really liking the way people drive in the descent on to Haidian Island when coming off Heping Bridge, I instead add a kilometer or two of distance and go via the Haixin Bridge from Xinbu Island. For a brief moment after I'm on Xinbu, there's a similarly loaded cycle tourist keeping pace with me on his way to the 517, but other than palpable waves of confusion on his part when I ride right past it without stopping, he doesn't try communicating with me and my hot shower and clean clothes are so close that I don't bother with anything beyond a wave to him.

I couldn't bring myself to try the Pizza Cake

Ever hopeful regarding the possibility of a dropped fry

Home again, home again...

¹ with dried apple, blueberries, sweetened condensed milk, and a salty duck egg

² The Painkiller Rules apply to both prescription and nonprescription drugs.

The primary role of narcotics is to take the bottle out, look at it, and decide I'm not bad enough to need them.
Nothing in the evening unless the pain is so bad I can't sleep.

Drink a glass on Junpo⁵ for good cheer, but don't drink and drive

Warmly welcoming Junpo Festival and honoring the Gods. Also, breaking my rule about photographing graves whose occupants are remembered by living people, get a look at the size of that mound!

Warmly welcoming daughters who have married out back home for the holiday

Nothing in the morning on a day when something has been taken the preceding evening unless I'm not getting out of bed today.
Only ever take things at the start of activities that are likely to cause pain.
Never take anything in the middle of an activity that hurts in order to allow myself to continue doing the painful activity unless I have no other way to make it to lodging.

³ Some genius decided to go cold turkey two weeks out of intensive care.

When was the last time you saw an ad for VCDs?

Approval must be granted prior to having a child

Cars with out of province license plates may only spend 120 days per year on public roads

⁴ After some rather horrifying† behavior on my part in 2019, I specifically requested a "No Tramadol" note be added to my medical records.

† One pill wasn't doing its job fast enough. So, I took a second. Then, I decided I enjoyed the feeling and took a third. Shortly thereafter, I finished the entire blister pack. If that weren't bad enough, I also mixed with other pills I had on me, and finished those too! Oh yes, and went riding in this condition.

In Hainan, the cheapest clothing⁶ is often loud Hawaiian shirts called "岛服"⁷

⁵ A local version of a festival which is sufficiently old and sufficiently localized to southeast Asia that every place which celebrates it does so in honor of a different set of deities or heroes. Consistent features include parades that often incorporate self mutilation, coal running, and lots of drumming. Thailand's Nine Emperor Gods Festival† is a version which is famous outside the region.

† If you are squeamish about blood, DO NOT LOOK THIS UP

Something that I'm sure it's absolutely lovely on a sunny day

The way Chinese dykes are built often means that river roads have precisely zero scenery

⁶ To the extent that, and I'm honestly not joking about this, matching shirts and shorts with gaudy yellow and blue patterns are what the Sanya jails dress prisoners in.

⁷ Means "island clothing"

This used to be a local clinic. Obviously long enough ago that the roof has fallen in, it's also notable for the basketwork woven tops of the walls (for ventilation)

One of the nicest bits of riding all day

Today's ride: 101 km (63 miles)
Total: 1,575 km (978 miles)

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