D13: 三亚 → 响水

January 27, 2025

My plan on taking these photos was to note that Sanya is increasing the number of artistic styles being used on utility boxes. Didn't realize until after the fact that they were the same image

I picked the bed with the thick foam mattress cover, so I had a fairly comfortable rest. However, for inexplicable reasons, there's a TV screen in the hallway showing security video to no one and it's mounted in relationship to such a the transom vent that my room never gets dark.

I recently read somewhere that lying still and not moving, even if you don't end up sleeping, is more restful than staying completely awake and grumbling that you couldn't sleep, and the fact that I'm up and awake for realsies by 7am would seem to support this.

I breakfast in the room on the oatmeal supplies I laid out the night before when trying to squeeze everything¹ into my bags, then I head out for what I believe is my second ever time getting a Luckin Coffee that wasn't bought for me.

Extra sturdy shade pavilions (the better to post advertising) on the corners, they also have venting

Given the way that signs painted in the street are supposed to go, I'm pretty sure this "mixed car/bike lane" is backwards. But they were all like that

Should I send this photo to my Italian friends?

It's obviously being done as a way to get people to spend money but, in addition to the cash I get for views, Douyin has started awarding me with "golden beans" that are redeemable for 50% off coupons on food and drink that's already listed under group buy specials.

And—while I might not be willing to pay Good Café prices to a Corporate Chain Café that requires you to order online (not even a QR to scan in the shop) and intentionally chooses not to provide places to sit and chill—I am willing to buy a still very sweet even with the "minimum sugar" check box checked Pistachio Latte when it's half-off an already discounted price.

Speaking of Luckin, my coffee apparently came with an insurance policy that lets me claim up to 300y in medical expenses if it makes me sick

Achievement Unlocked, first kitten of the Tour

My initial reaction to the "absolutely no spitting betel juice" sign was "yeah, sure, like that'll work" but I don't know if it's just the generalized improvement in civility that's happening everywhere in China, particular enforcement, or better cleaning, cause I barely saw any red splats

I make the call to 12345 from the Luckin while I drink my coffee. It's a beautiful phone call: I'm calm, well-rested, fed, caffeinated, and I know all the maximum impact phrases like "disturbing the normal order of the tourism marketplace" and "of course, since I consulted on that particular provincial government project², I knew what to do when there was a problem³."

We'll see if anything actually comes of it, or—given the rather meh "we strive to improve" response I got in a text message the next day—if I need to wait until I finish the Tour to make a video about how every tiny town along the way was up to date on last year's explicit refresher of decades old national policy but Sanya had to be speshul.

It looks like this was intended to be a riverside promenade

What was surprising about this funeral truck full of musicians is that the Traffic Police haven't pulled them over and made them use a vehicle with seats and seatbelts

I wonder just how many boulders they recarved after my video on the boulders having errors

I don't like traffic lights and cycle paths that are optimized for ebikes⁴ so I want to get out of urban Sanya as quickly as possible so. Being as it's still quite early in the day and I've got another coupon for Luckin, I pick a location on the route that Chinese Boyfriend uses when he's taken me around Sanya on his motorcycle.

This was a goodbad choice. Good, because he's right, it's the best way out of Sanya. Bad, because even the Luckin is closed as are all the other food options on this road, and I'll eventually find myself stopping around noonish at a rare open shop to buy an electrolyte drink from their fridge and beg hot water for oatmeal.

I was attracted by the pile of moldering llama creatures that apparently do not—as I had previously thought—get burned

But really, everything about this grave yard was fascinating

Almost every grave had one of these four eared pots

I noticed the sink in the bushes before I noticed the weird tiles on this grave

I'm finishing up some stuff for the Media Center and slowly repacking my food pannier when some people with no apparent form of transport show up and beg hot water off of him in order to make instant noodles that I'm not sure if they bought from him or if they were just carrying. Despite there being a table in front of the shop, they took their noodles across the street which kind of makes me think they didn't buy anything.

The road comes out on the G224 just south of the Ganza Ridge climb which I don't recall ever doing fully loaded. However, the traffic volume is reasonably low and I think they may have widened the shoulders a little bit since the last time I biked this road⁵.

Lunch oatmeal with crunchy garlic peas, corn niblets, and "Peking Duck" flavored tofu

"train strictly" "protect the southern borders" and something illegible ... this road used to pass through a small military base

Former barracks area turned housing, with signs that say "this area belongs to the military and may not be used for agricultural, commercial, or residential purposes"

Better than the public toilets at many tourist areas

I do not enjoy going down the other side. Although there are less tourist coaches than I remember (which may be a function of the nearness to the holiday), the car drivers are frequently impatient arsehats who pull completely on to my side of the road to pass or who can't be bothered to pass wide when going around me. One guy buzzes so close that I have to come to a complete stop in order to recombobulate myself.

Last time I saw Boyfriend, we went to Baoting and back again, starting on the current main road but returning on a "maps say this ought to be wonderful" road that was decidedly not wonderful.

Choosing which handmade⁶ crochet tsotchke to buy was really hard, but I eventually got the naked baby with tied-on fairy wings, a witch hat, a very penis shaped broomstick, and a pumpkin

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED, first Totiro of the Tour

All the trucks that made him uncomfortable should be gone for the holiday, and the road conditions that were stress inducing for a driver with a heavier than desired passenger⁷ won't matter at the speeds I'm going.

I thought I picked the same road, but I clearly didn't. Among other things, I know we stopped at a petrol station just after we got back on the main road, but my GPS told me to turn without my having seen any. Also, with the exception of the bits that are in the process of being upgraded into a Greenway, this road is all the beautiful that that road was supposed to be. And, even if I was mostly focused on telling the driver when to turn and trying not to shift my weight too unpredictably⁸ while one hand held my phone and looked at Maps, if any of this had been the same, I'd have recognized it.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED, first advertisement for circumcision

Instead of going all the way up to Baoting, I'll be heading back to the main road and the town of Xiangshui, so I never even manage to meet up with any of the roads that I absolutely know has to be what we did⁹ (because it is the only road out of Baoting). I think the plantation town where I turn has to the intermediate marker we used, but it was either a different bridge or the massive traffic jam of people gone home for the holidays and going to market has me too concerned with not being run over and I continue to not recognize anything.

After leaving the plantation town, things get very rural and they only get more rural the farther I go, with me eventually ending up deep in the rubber forests on little concrete tracks that are barely roads.

This is "nice rural road" level of rural

This is "we had a perfectly good road that we're widening" level of rural

Stopping at one village to check out their various painted slogans from the late 90s and early 00s gets me swarmed by a bunch of kids who can't be older than 6 or 7 and who are very confused as to why a foreigner would be on a bicycle and not a better vehicle.

Not too long after this, I find myself in another village with some brilliant wall paintings and a druncle⁸ who—in loudly yelling "what are you taking photos of?"—proceeds to proudly direct me to the nothing more than a plaque Revolutionary History Site that's why his village has all these paintings.

I still haven't gotten around to reading this plaque

A different village with a single nice painting

Then I'm on the Baoting Greenways passing by rural places that look like they are thinking of possibly being tourist friendly (in more ways than just placards with twee slogans) within another five or ten years. And from there it's only two or three more kilometers to the main road and my hotel.

¹ Not only did I massively over shop at Super Ming, I also looked at the "too much unworn non bike clothing" of both the last two segments and the 2023 Bike Tour and swapped my load for a different selection of far too much unnecessary clothing.

I thought they were early 90s and while I was looking at them, someone who worked on building them in 1993 came over and chatted with me

I hate when they break up concrete like this prior to repaving

It's been a very long time since I've seen one of these

² Five or seven provinces† have registration apps that foreigners can use. I am one of the reasons that Hainan is the only one that thought to include the "totally unnecessary" hotel or guesthouse option in their app.

† A term which includes both "autonomous regions" and "municipalities under the direct administration of the central government."

³ Similar to the hotel in Laocheng, the picture uploading function was calling for a blocked pop-up

⁴ The main issue is that the curb cuts aren't flush with the street and are jarringly uncomfortable

This town would really really reallllly like you to know that they were once visited by someone important

The mangoes are so heavy, the trees need support

A pretty flower that isn't Birds of Paradise

Two different sites where pottery was unearthed

⁵ Which I believe was 2015

⁶ During the process of my trying to choose between something horribly confused (like what I got) or something weird (crocheted cabbage ornament), and just in case I missed the fact that she was actively in the process of crocheting, multiple guys from the nearby card game came over to make sure I knew that these were hand made, by her, and that she had made them, with her hands.

⁷ My current weight plus his weight is 5kg more than some important part of that bike is rated for.

⁸ He does get a whole bunch of boyfriend points for just quietly becoming increasingly tense during the miserable part of the drive and not putting any blame on me

Let nature decide if you are having a boy or a girl

Upright and fastidious government officials establish links with the people

Girls and boys are both hope for the future

⁹ I can check the GPS tracker later

¹⁰ I was so sure I was about to get a repeat of those assholes in Hebei

I don't remember where this set of paintings of flowers and birds was

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 886 km (550 miles)

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