Sunday, September 30, 2012

Day 112-120, from Beijing to South Korea (day 112 was the 21 of September)

Day  112, 110 km
Originally I planned to go from downtown Beijing in the morning of day 111, but because of trouble with my computer (after all shaking the harddrive was broken) I could not leave Beijing so soon. First I had to go back to the school and get it there (The school is situated 40 km north of Beijing which makes back and forth 80km extra). First late in the evening I finally left Beijing.
It was not so easy to find a sleeping place in the dark. Finally I found a place in a newly harvested cornfield. I saw in the dark that the field must have been harvested the very same day and that the people who did it possibly would continue next day. But I was planning to leave early so I did not bother about it.

Day 113, 140 km
Next morning I actually begun to pack at 5:45. Nevertheless the first workers came at the same time! They  were astonished but soon  they  understood that I did not speak chinese  so they started their job.   
I cycled about some kilometer and then I ate breakfast at a little “restaurant” on the street. As usual they served soup  and steambaked white bread. After 30 km I found a telecom shop which offered free wifi, so I downloaded some important antivirusprograms and updates. I planned to update my blog but unfortunately I did not succeed to install a program called freegate, which had made it possible for me to connect to facebook and blogspot although I was in China. After some hours I gave up and at lunch on a luxurious restaurant. Then I found a post office where I asked if they could help me to send a letter to my bank in Sweden. (the letter was about that I had discovered that my account was charged 5000 Yuan (=5270 SEK) from a ATM/bankomat where I tried to get money but did not get any). They were very helpful but it took two more hours to send the letter. Finally, after 6 hours I left the town. 
The roads were good and I felt safe to continue even after sunset so I made 110 more kilometers after three o’clock. In the district I passed they were growing a lot of dates which they picked and dried in the sun.
Finally I found a sleeping place in an orchard.

Day 114, 180 km
Only 200 m from my sleeping place I found the first kitchen on the street. In China I  usually did not go to supermarkets for buying ingredients to make my own food. Instead I used the opportunity to buy hot food, warm bread and delicious fruits everywhere. In my opinion everything was amazingly chep! For example lunch that day costed 10 Yuan, included a XL-bottle of cold beer. (10 Yuan is the same as 10 SEK).
















I passed many small villages that day. There were farms everywhere and many waterfilled ditches and canals. 
the trees which grew too close to the black stinking water were all dead

The water was incredible dirty and smelled disgusting! Also the air was very polluted in the countryside. People were making fires to burn the leaves and stems of corn (which they let dry on the road)
and they were driving around with small diesel powered tractors which made clouds of creosote. 
But these tractors were driving between 25 and 30 km/h so they often gave me good wind-shadow so I rode very far that day. This night I decided to sleep between  a very  small road and a channel. I thought I would be discovered in the morning but I was not.

Day 115, 165 km
Again I started early. The morning before I decided to be at Mountain Tai (Tai Shan) in the evening that day because I wanted to see the sunrise and I had heard that it was best to begin climbing up at 11 pm. But this day I was not so fast because I had a wind from ahead. A delicious lunch at a marked cheered me up. I ate fried spicy meatpieces and warm steam-baked dumplings with various vegetable fillings. The dumplings costed only half a Yuan each, so I bought ten which was about one kilo. 
For this I paid only 5 yuan!
To avoid a big city called Jinan I decided to try to cheat a little and ride on the expressway. From there I saw the yellow river which really was very yellow.
The yellow river is the second largest river in China.
Although I used Google Maps and my Gps it was not so easy to find the right streets in the cities. And the more I used my smartphone the more battery it needed. But as I hoped there was a queue of lorries in front of the toll gate so it was not difficult to pass it on the right side, without being discovered. So the afternoon I rode on the highway and used the advantage of the huge clean toilets of the highway Service Areas. Meanwhile I charged my phone I ate dinner washed and shaved myself.
I also got a puncture that afternoon and I had to replace a spoke (again behind the rear casette of course). But nevertheless I arrived at TaiShan late in the evening. I thought I could leave my bicycle at the place where I had to pay a ticket but I only found a police station. I asked if I could lock my bike there and leave it outside the Police Station. But they did not speak English so well so they called a friend who did speak English and he translated in the phone. When they understood that I wanted to climb upon the mountain in the night they said it was mauch to dangerous. But I insisted. Finally we found out that I was not quite at the right place. I wanted to go up the stairs which were not dangerous. But the entrance to the stairs was 5 km further east. One policeman followed me with his e-bike to that place and helped me to find a good parking lot for my bike. The whole procedure with the policemen took about three hours, so I came to the stairs at about 10 pm, when it almost was time to go up. I packed a backpack with some fruit, water and my sleeping bag. The last week all night had been tropic with temperatures above 20 degrees but I knew it was much cooler on the mountain since it was more than 1500 m high.
Many young chinese people climbed upon the mountain to see the sunrise. It seems to be kind of a sport but also some religious ritual. A lot of them buy something to offer at one of the temples on the way up.

The boy is lightening incense to offer at the temple

The chinese people did not carry as much as I because they knew it was possible to buy food and water along the stairs. In the beginning I was a little tired but somehow I got strong again and joined the young people in the same speed. 
me and my friends under one of the many portals on the way up.
After 4 hours we were almost at the top and rested at a place with no wind. I really was cold now!

Day 116, 1 km
Sometimes you could see the stars very clearly but sometimes clouds came up and you could not see them at all. When it became a little lighter we went up to the top and watched towards east. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy in the beginning but finally the sun broke through the clouds and everything was swept in a golden light. 
The atmosphere amongst all people was amazing. Everybody was happy and lucky. Some of them even screamed a scream of happiness. I think we were more than thousand people on the top (that is the usual amount I have heared).
After I had walked around I took some pictures of all the beautiful temples on the top and also the rocks

 I started to climb down again. But this was not so easy! The steps were very small (15-20 cm deep) and very steep. 
My feet seemed to be much too big for them! The fact that I had been cycling so much the last days and had have a sleepless night after it did not make it better. Soon I felt very tired and my knees were trembeling. 
I rested several times on the way down and even took a power nap. But it did not help so much as I hoped. I was really tired now!
At noon I arrived the city and decided to find a hotel where I could rest the rest of the day. But this was not so easy. Several denied me because I was a foreigner and they had no permission for foreigners. Finally I got a singelroom with my own shower and wc for 70 yuan, which I was very happy with. I fetched my bike and brought it up to my room and took another power nap. 
In my room there was a photography taken when they carried up a piece of a portal. Each and every piece of the stairs must have been carried up!

In the evening I took a walk in the city and explored the shops in the surroundings.

Day 117, 145 km
I left the hotel at 8:30. Unfortunately I did not look at my Google Map properly and took a street too far north. That gave me an opporunity to see 6 km more of China. 
I was passing many more villages with intense agriculture. There were incredible many people on the fields everywhere! 
At lunch I again found a nice street kitchen and sit down in opposite of a chinese man who understandfs some words in English. After he had asked me about my journey and translated it to all the other guests and the cooker, he decided to pay for my lunch!
we were sitting under a blue sheet of plastic
I also passed many street markets. You could not only buy fruits and vegetables but also hens,  birds, dogs and cats in cages. 


In the evening the landscape changed. Now I passed a narrow valley of a river which I belive must have been very beautiful. But it was between 7 and 8 pm so it was already dark. In the light of my headlamp I could not see so much.
The chinese roads were very good everywhere. There was always a lot of space for bikes. Either the road had six lanes of which four where for cars or they had four lanes of which two were for cars and two for bikes. The fact that there were so many (electro-)bikers also when it was dark mede me feeling safe. No bicycles and almost no electrric bicycles had any ilumination or reflexes. Also cars used the light as late as possible. The fact that I had a good headlight many reflexes and a reflictive vest made me feel very safe also late at night.
That night I managed to find a path that was not going to a house but to the mountains. On a quite palce I stayed for the night.

Day  118, 175 km
In the morning I discovered that there must hav been a severe thunderstorn in the valley. The trees had fallen down at many places. My explanation is that it must have been raining a lot (which you also could see in the river bed) and then there maust have been a storm which laid down the trees in the soft soil, without cracking the stems. 
Now they cut the stems in thin woodpieses and let them dry in the sun.


There grew a kind of grass which I never had seen before

There were also many limstone factories among the beautiful hills. 
In the villages I passed they again used the streets to dry all corn in the sun. More than I ever had seen before.

The wind was quite strong but I wanted to reach the ocean that evening, so I made many kilometers.
Finally, at 10 pm I came to a nice sandbeach and took a bath.
After 119 days I had crossed the continent from the Baltic Sea to th Pacific!



Here I am only some meters from the Pacific

This picture is the same place next morning
Day 119, 90 km
The wind was so strong that my tent was sounding quite a lot. Still I was so tired that I slept deeply. Early in the morning I felt that somebody tried to lift up the fotside of my tent. First I thought it was the wind (I did not use tentpins). But after about 15 seconds I felt it again and stronger so I really woke up. Could it be a wave although I had set up my tent 200m from the waves, above the highest water marks? I felt at the floor of the footside of my tent and it was very wet. Actually waves were sweeping away my tent and me! It was 2 o'clock am and the moon was full (thats why the tide was extra strong) and I had to hurry to save my belongings and my bike!
When I had moved everything I slept some more hours before I took another long bath in the ocean. It was warm and wonderful.
Then I biked further east. After 30 km I came to a place called Huangdau, which was on the west side of a bay. On the other side the of the bay, from the city Qingdao my boat was leaving to Incheon in South Korea.

The boat was going mondays, wednesdays and fridays. Since it was friday I really wanted to come there in time. Forn Huangdao there was a local ferry going 10 km over the bay. I had found out that it should go twice an hour and that the transfer should take about 30 minutes. Finally I found the ferry but it was not going that day because of the wind. I told the people I had to reach my boat to China and the girl who could speak English tried to persuade the captain to take me to the other side. But he dit not want. The weather forecast said wind should be 11 m/sec, which probably was one meter over the limit and al crew was happy to be free.
So I had to ride around the bay.
On the way I took some good pictures of a chinese car transporter. I have read that in Sweden right now people are discussing to admit lorries with a length of 32 m. How long is a chinese lorry that has 18 minivans on the upper floor?

Finally I found a highwaybridge over the bay but it was not easy to come up. First I had to go back downtown several kilometers because it was going over many houses. The bridge was so new that it was not on google maps yet. I even could not see it on the satelit layer! It was 8 lanes broad and 26 km long. Here you see the view from the highest point of the bridge towards south. Qingdao left and Huangdao right.


The wind was very stron on the bridge which made it difficult to bike. After the bridge I had to find my way to the port which was not so easy. Finally I succeded bit it was a whole hour later than I was told to come. As the last passenger I came to the shuttle-bus which was driving me and my bike (and of course many otherwaiting travellers) from the tickat office to the boat.
Unfortunatly this Korean girl already had a boyfriend. He took the picture of us.

Day 120, 50km
I ate a good and cheap breakfast-bufe at the boat. At noon we arrived in Incheon. I only had about 10 dollars in Korean money so the first thing I wanted to do was to find a bank with an ATM so I could get some money. I soon found one but all ATMs there did not hav a VISA or MASTER CARD symbol and I could not get any money. So I continued to the next one. That did not work either. After 3 hours and 10 km I finally found a bank with a blue round sign on the door which told me "we accept oversea cards" I tried both my cards in all four ATM but they did not work,
I was getting hungry and thought I could not wait four days until the bank opened (South Korea was celebrating its national holiday combined with thanksgiving so everything was closed even on monday). So I found a support phone and called an operater. She tried to find somebody who could help me but after about ten minutes she gave up and said I should try to call again after some minutes. desperately I tried one of the ATMs one more time and suddenly I got money!
I rode 40 kore km to the center of Seoul. 
I wondered why two appartments/offices were much bigger than all the others_
There I met some young american guys which I started to chat with. They told me that they were working as englishteachers and that they were going to eat at a restaurant. They asked me if I would like to follow and since I was hungry I agreed. There we had a nice welcome party. I really enjoyed talking English with them!