It happened again: Snow

November 1, 2014

It was November and the world was covered in snow, but as a man who loves snow I was quite happy. And the road was clear, so there were no problems for me to continue on towards the top of the pass at 3,840 metres above sea level. All the way back in England it was the wedding day of some friends of mine, so I made a video as I cycled along to a backdrop of snowy peaks to send to them. And as I was suffering with just a little bit of altitude-induced hyper-insanity at the time I was very pleased with the end product. I was sure my friends would be too.

I take a lot of pictures when it snows because I think it looks pretty and all

A rock marking the summit. If you look closely it does say 3840 on it

There were a few bridges and tunnels on the initial steep descent and I was soon back below the snowline

My plan was to email the wedding video to the best man when I got to Songpan, the first town on the long descent that followed the summit. Songpan was a very touristy place indeed, made to look authentically traditional in the Chinese way of being completely rebuilt and obviously new. But it's written about in Lonely Planet so there were a few white faces in the cafe that I stopped in to use the wifi. Unfortunately for me the stupid Chinese Internet wouldn't allow me to send the video at all, despite me trying myriad ways and means and setting up all manner of different email addresses, to no avail. I spoke with some of the other tourists - a Dutchman, and an English couple - and asked if they knew any way that I could send the file, but they knew not how. I despaired. The wedding was ruined. I imagined the bride's tears. AHHH! China! Why?! I was really getting tired of this country and its difficult ways. But it was nice to talk with those people, to have some understandable conversation. Had I more time I would have stopped longer, checked in to a hostel and had a nice evening. But there was no time. I'd only done 73 kilometres the day before. I was really behind schedule and the pressure was on. I told myself that there would be a chance to relax and talk to people in Laos. Wonderful Laos, where there would be no visa pressures, and where this crazy four month rush that started back in Kazakhstan would finally be over, was already looking like a paradise to me. The promised land. Laos. Still so far away.

Lots of rickshaws in touristy Songpan, although sadly they were all motorised

I was annoyed and, although the road was going down now, it was raining, which didn't make me feel any less frustrated. And worse than that, the road was now very busy with cars and trucks. The only slight benefit being that there weren't a lot of slow vehicles, so the road wasn't as chaotic as it had been before. But without lots of other things to beep at, I became the chief target of the Great Chinese Horn Obsession. As I was frustrated and stressed and dripping, this didn't go down very well at all with me. Actually it made my blood boil. 'Why are you f*cking beeping at me? I am allowed to f*cking cycle here you know?'

I tried to remain calm. I remembered cycling in Iran with Dino and Suzy. Dino has the patience of a saint and is absolutely the most laid-back chilled-out dude on the face of the planet, and whenever anyone beeped at us he, without fail, raised his arm in grateful salute. Actually I'm pretty sure he acknowledged quite a few traffic jams. But most of the traffic in Iran was beeping in support, but not here in China, where the beeps were more of the 'watch out' variety. But I couldn't help being reminded of Dino's waves as I now, similarly, took the time to raise my arm to salute each beep... with my middle finger. F*ck you China.

Today's ride: 115 km (71 miles)
Total: 32,090 km (19,928 miles)

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