I had decided just to get going today, without breakfast. I had no intention to hang around any longer as I was still a bit annoyed with last night’s events but before I could leave my stomach was feeling a little off so i had some clearing of the pipe lines to do.
The road was terrible all day, much like my stomach which had bloated out and was rather painful, a pain that was amplified over the rough road and its fair to say it took all my focus to stop a sudden leak. Eventually the pain got so bad I was seriously considering relieving myself by the road but there were too many people around. The pain in my bloated abdominal area was as bad as I’ve had it but luckily I came to a small town where I decided I would use the facilities of a nice looking hotel, the theory being a nice hotel equals a nice clean toilet.
I felt instantly better (better out than in), the pain had gone and considering how I was doing before I was making good progress. The road however was just getting worse, at one point it was completely gone say for a few planks of wood connecting the middle of a bridge and with the help of a few passersby we managed to get the bike across without dropping it.
I came to the only major town of the day, here the road was good and I stopped at a bakery for lunch and ordered a couple of fried eggs, egg sandwiches were on the menu. But my presence had caused a bit of a stir, a few people gathered to see what I was doing, then more and eventually there was a crowd of about 15 to 20 people stood in a semi circle around me and my bike. People spoke the occasional bit of Chinese to me but of course I didn’t understand. Things came to a head, I moved away to eat my food but everyone moved over with me, still in a semi circle just wanting to watch how a westerner eats I guess. I just wanted to eat in peace but I felt extremely uncomfortable with such a crowd staring at me while I tried to do such a simple thing. I couldn’t deal with it so I packed everything away and left to find somewhere quieter.
After lunch the road really got bad, it was wet, muddy and very slippy over the rutted road, also my back tyre had done almost 6000km so wasn’t in its best condition. My plan was to try and ride till the road improved; i hoped it would before Chengdu. The mud became so think it clotted between the wheel and mud guard so having enough when i thought i was through it i stopped and took the mud guard off, while doing this from nowhere a crowd gathered.
The bike felt much better and i powered on, i stopped briefly for a drink in a small town where again another crowd gathered but i was able to laugh and joke with this lot. There was a few policemen amongst the crowd and when i set off one of them pulled up along side in a police truck and offered me a lift to Ziyang, it was getting late but i refused, instead he drove in front of me for half an hour and led the way, a police escort i like. He pointed me down the road, we took a few pictures and i powered on again. The road was now tarmac but darkness was falling and rear lights were need. At 8pm i came to a small town where at the bakery i asked for a hotel, he pointed to an ally way where there was a set of about 30 steps i was going to have to clamber my bike dangerously up. I asked for a road round but the answer was negative, i would have to use the steps. As i tried pushing the bike up kept slipping but a couple of passersby helped me by pushing the back end of the bike. In England i’d imagine people would just walk by, wanting to help but the fear the offer could be taken the wrong way most would just carry on by, not here or in most places, people help without a word or expectation of anything in return, just good Karma. I got into the hotel which was charming in a grotty Chinese way, there was no shower so i grabbed some fried rice and went to bed.
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