D11: 北陡 → 广海

May 30, 2023

And then, for no reason anyone could explain to me, a scrawny man with a drum followed by a sad looking foo dog came tippy tapping their way past the restaurant where I was eating dinner

In the morning, although I can't photograph the contents on account of the rooms having people, three other hotel rooms on my floor have their doors open; it is only my room that had the interesting design choices. I wonder why.

Why anyone would decorate a room like this in the first place, and why I was the one chosen to receive its magnificence?

I wasn't in love with the previous night's fried noodles, so I pick a different stall next door to the pharmacy, where I buy more Amoxicillin. The sinus/ear whatever has faded to the point that I'm no longer taking decongestants, but although they continue to only produce clear or blood-colored fluid, the skin surrounding the cuts on my leg is an angry red, and the general area is as good as an alarm clock for telling me I'm an hour past when I should have had another dose.

The two ferrymen tried real hard to get me to join them for lunch but I'd just eaten

The ferry across Zhenhai Bay that I was too late to catch last year is just coming up to the ramp as I approach, with perfect timing as they'll take their lunch break when we get to the other side, and who knows how long I'd have otherwise been waiting.

Out of the seven ferries I've taken so far this trip (six of them small), this is not only the first one to hand me a life vest, they won't even cast off until I've got it clipped. I suppose, since I took this same ferry in 2019 and since they tell me they've been running the ferry for 30 years, that I must have worn the life vest on that occasion too, but the only time I remember having a vest on while on a commercial boat¹ was last year during the October Holiday mini-Tour when some dock inspectors showed up as we were getting ready to cast off.

Distant diaolou with the mixed European architectural features that they are famous for

I had the option to take a Scenic Byway through the nearby mountains, but although it ends in a town (that I'm pretty sure I may have seen signs for hotels in when I passed by last year), the only thing bookable online is a 4-bedroom apartment for 900y a night. There are also two places with phone numbers but no prices; however, neither answers the phone.

The not-marked-as-scenic route that I'm on is still reasonably scenic. And, even if I came this way just last year, I was in quite a funk at the time², and I'd missed a lot of the pretty. It's just so damn hot, though.

A collection of metal signs from China Southern Power Grid

all people and businesses are obligated to volunteer to take part in flood control work⁴

An hour detour to a public bathroom where I repeatedly soak my head in cold sink water interspersed with different angles of video of me sticking my head in the sink helps with a chunk of the day, but it also results in chafing from the damp bike shorts and the loss of my folding phone stand⁵.

Even with the gradual increase in visible diaolou indicating places I could detour to if I were so inclined, the heat has me absolutely dragging ass with no intention of doing anything but the shortest, flattest roads I can find between me and my hotel. Periodic shouts of "you god-damned motherfucker, you're charging" every time the music stops also serve as a nice little external indicator that I'm fried.

A cold sugar-free sports drink from the grocery store next to my hotel has me feeling nearly human. A jar of peaches in syrup has me shivering in pleasure. I'm still thinking of oatmeal in my room for dinner (on account of just wanting out of my grubby damp clothing) when I see that the restaurant to the other side of the hotel is advertising a goose liver and pork mince stuffed lotus root, so, despite it meaning an interminable wait⁶, I get that instead.

Then, to my hotel to check in and to deal with the sublime confusion over my honest-to-goodness not being a Chinese citizen.

¹ I almost certainly had a vest on when I was on the motorboat chasing the National Sailing Team in 2007, and I know I had one on during the 2015 passage sail moving a racing yacht from Shenzhen to Sanya, but the Chinese are generally even less concerned about on-water safety than laissez-faire American boaters are.

² Having also done it at the beginning of the pandemic, being stuck on vacation IS NOT FUN.

³ Things are better than when this sign was posted but.... last month, out of the blue, I was contacted by someone I met in 2020, trying to get me to adopt her daughter.

⁴ Weirdly enough, this isn't an area particularly known for massive annual floods

⁵ 11,000 views, 332 likes, 96 comments, and someone who recognized the public bathroom in question (despite my not including any street signs) later... my phone stand has both been found and mailed to a destination two days ahead of me.

⁶ I doubt it was actually that long

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 756 km (469 miles)

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