February 16, 2025
D26: 昆仑 → 黄岭

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You know that feeling when you glance at a map and go "that looks like a place that's totally going to have a through road" and then, when you get there, there's a dinky little thing that didn't show up at the resolution¹ you were looking at?
It's awesome, isn't it?
Over the years, there have been so many random little ferries and goat tracks and unexpected through paths that have taken me to incredible places that I never would have gotten to go to if I wasn't on my bike.
Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.

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Particularly given the situation with yesterday's marked docks at the end of a road that had clearly connected for centuries but has definitely gone many many years since the last time it had an operating ferry, my only available routes away from where I am right now either involve going south across the mountains to the Qiongzhong-Danzhou Road that—if only I'd taken the Songtao Reservoir spur and done seven extra kilometers a few days ago would be acceptable in terms of not recrossing my own path—or to do a u-turn north to get to what is apparently one of the only bridges across the upper reaches of the Nandu River followed by another u-turn south.
When I got in last night, I only took the food bag and the pannier with bike clothing and my laptop up to the room, so I make my morning, mid-morning, and late-morning coffee² in the hotel lobby.
The owner and his wife show up during one of the rounds of caffeinating but, despite being coffee drinkers (of a sort³), and despite my having no intent to try to sell them anything, I can tell that my gushing over how delicious the "way more expensive than I would buy on my own" stuff I'm drinking is coming across like that's what I'm trying to do, and he goes and gets his so-called coffee instead of having any of mine.

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Not that it takes much for me to be a coffee evangelist but, the situation which sparks my mentioning that this coffee is not the kind of coffee I'd normally be carrying with me was them showing up while I was putting the final touches on a video for the WeChat groups on raffling off two of the three remaining bags⁴ I was given, so I can totally see why they would think this; but my coffee is so much better than his coffee and I wanted to share this glorious nectar⁵!
Having him drink instant in front of me (the cad!) is even worse than when I'm sharing with randoms on the mainland who never drank coffee before one time last year and who aren't sure they like it.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cethosia_biblis
1 week ago
The northbound road that I start out on looks to have been upgraded within the past two or three years. It's simultaneously a joy to ride and, owing to a lack of quirks in terms of sudden steep hills or sharp curves, kind of boring. Of course, once I cross the Nandu and get roadworks followed by roadworks and still more roadworks, I'll kind of miss its dull predictability, but—whatever it used to be—its now very much a "purposefully going from here to there" kind of road and not a "wandering" one.
Once on the correct side of the water, I've got three choices, Tunchang County, Huangling Farm, and Nankun Town.
On account of having been to and through Tunchang many times, having never slept in the latter two, and a night in Tunchang potentially cutting off one of my more egregious detour options, I prefer the latter two, with Nankun's two hotels being my best option.
The roadworks put me in a position where I'm forced to put myself on farm roads in the direction of Huangling and Nankun (both of which have the option of heading back towards Tunchang), and while I'll absolutely adore the varied scenery one gets on these, even when they are well-paved and well-maintained examples of the genre, they are still a lot more tiring than something that's been graded for fast travel.

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Which, even though there is nothing along the way that is sufficiently beautiful or ugly as to pique my interest and deserve making a video, is why I end up getting in to Huangling mere minutes before the official definition of sunset. I'll still have a hour of usable light left to me but—at 17 kilometers to the closest of the other potential sleeping points—continuing onwards would almost certainly mean being out late enough that I'll have to use my headlight.
Furthermore, both this hotel and the one in Nankun that answers the phone are 138y, so—unlike going all the way to the county seat—continuing onwards means I not only would lose out on a lot of what makes riding fun, I wouldn't even end up saving any money.

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I grab myself a plate of fried noodles and three enormous mangoes before heading back to the hotel to check-in. After about twenty minutes sitting around in the lobby, I decide to call the same number that told me the price instead of reconnaissancing upstairs in the possibility of unlocked rooms. Turns out they're just having dinner so I'll have another fifteen minutes to wait.
Considering where I am, and how old their hotel isn't, it's no big surprise that I'm their first foreigner; nor is it a surprise that their police also need to call someone else to ask "what do we do." I have to remember to put Huangling on my "follow up list of people to praise" cause, even if they didn't pick the Haiyiban app's "hotel registration for foreigner's" functionality⁶, they were willing to admit ignorance on a topic they had no reason to be familiar with, willing to ask for assistance on it, and were reasonably efficient at coming up with an answer⁷.

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--
¹ This is true for paper maps as well as digital ones
² When it comes to "this is nice, I think I'll have more" decisions, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is often described as bearing a certain similarity to cocaine.
³ That sort being "instant"
⁴ The first spare bag was mailed to Dr. M from the China Post in Yongfa
⁵ Instead of cocaine, perhaps the drug that Yirgacheffe resembles is MDMA?

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⁶ Which the government has been aggressively marketing to other parts of the government
⁷ I had the concept of a post-Tour praise list in place long before the first time I found myself translating government attaboys on work units that were model examples of best practices
⁸ Rational consumption of food, appropriate amounts of exercise, avoidance of tobacco and alcohol, a calm heart and untroubled mind.

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Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 1,853 km (1,151 miles)
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