Day H3: Leaving the City

January 23, 2022

Haikou to Tunchang

The hotel was a very pleasant experience. The staff were professional and accommodating, the food was delicious, and the warm weather outside was quite pleasant. But outside of the hotel just going out and about, I wasn't getting very good vibes about this place.

At one point I tried to find the Banana Hostel to chill out with some beers and meet some fellow travelers. A quick look online showed this was a happening place but that was obviously pre-covid. Now it was a ghost town on a Saturday night. Even before I got there, the attendant shoed me out of the parking lot since she didn't want bicycles.

Later on I found the old town area and was riding aroung while looking for a Merida bike shop to do some minor repairs. Before even explaining what I wanted done, the older man running the place came out to meet me then promptly swatted me away with a hand gesture without saying anything. Basically his gesture said he wanted me to scram. Well I must be the foreign piece of trash then. Just to make a point, I tried to persist on getting some services but he went back to his post and buried his hands in his face so as not to see me. Fine then, it's not my problem, it's his.

There were a number of other similar incidents like that which got me wondering why they disliked foreigners so much around here. In the end it didn't really matter, I wasn't about to stay and find out. It was time to ride the bike out of the city.

I was able to connect with a couple of cycle tourists who work at a school in Suzhou, not far from where I live, and they were also picking Hainan island to tour. One of them is already in Sanya and the other is doing a circular loop of the island. The other guy is going in a similar direction as me, but he does 150km a day or more. My daily distances are a more humble 100km so our styles wouldn't quite match up. No matter then, I wished him all the best and we would compare notes as we toured and met up later.

Heading out of the city the next day was a delayed start thanks to online physics lessons. One of these days they'll pay me the money owed for that. Tutoring as we know it is over in China. It has now gone underground and fraught with problems but that's a whole other story.

That delay cost me until 1pm or so, and I still needed work done on the bike. So I headed out to a Trek shop on the outskirts of the city which was on the route. Much to my relief, they were really nice and helpful to do the repairs I wanted. And they didn't even charge! Basically that positive encounter got me to realize that things would get better once leaving the city behind.

First food stop of the day ... love this part of cycle touring

This was a cruel joke ... one letter away from 'Welcome to Chiang Mai' and yet so far away.

Eventually I made it to the big town about 100km out just before dark and checked into the hotel nearby. The process was surprisingly easy. No health code checks, no travel codes, no virus tests, just show the passport and check in.

Carrying on, I rode around town and found an interesting street full of food and bars. One of the locals at some bar/club was totally hammered and acting very aggressive and fighting. His friends tried to calm him down and, much to my surprise, they dragged him right back into the nightclub in front of the bouncers. They all assisted him inside to drink more alcohol. And all the while nobody was wearing any masks. Unreal.

Titi beer. Your guess is as good as mine

I was able to find a Thai massage place and they did excellent work relaxing the sore muscles from a day's worth of biking. Unfortunately at first it was the usual things with them being afraid of foreigners. They asked a lot of questions like why my face was so red (sunburn), and they checked my temperature. Then they wanted to know how long I'd been in China, and where I came from etc. etc..

This shit was quite tiring to deal with. Once they figured out I was doing a bike trip, it then changed to them not believing that anyone actually does this. Well yes, we do. Get over it. After quite a few more questions they later explained they were afraid at first because they thought I had recently come to China and could be spreading the virus from overseas.

That being said, there are positives such as the food and of course the ability to clear my head which the cycle touring does wonders for.

Today's ride: 98 km (61 miles)
Total: 1,299 km (807 miles)

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