All the Tea in China - Part 3 Gansu

Crossing a small corner of Gansu Province is a two day ride, long days, but during day one I ride a particularly pretty valley in search of a Tibetan Village on the way to Longnan which eases the aches and pains from hour upon hour in the saddle.

 

No luck finding the Tibetan village, but when I reach Longnan late that afternoon a little luck has come my way. During my motorcycle adventure I have had one punctured rear tyre tube in Indonesia, a couple of days into China I had a sixty five (65) mm flat head nail penetrate all the way across ways (flat to the curve of the tyre) through a knob on the knobby rear tyre, no puncture incurred. This time as I inspect my tyres I am surprised to find a one hundred and forty * four mm diameter (140 * 4 mm) steel rod had penetrated cross ways through an edge knob, through the curved section of tyre edge and out the side wall of the knobby rear tyre, again no puncture incurred.

 

Thankful I do not have to spend an hour changing a tyre, I shower away the days road dirt and grime and walk the streets in search of an evening meal. Fortunately, just around the corner from my hotel accommodation is an alley with numerous food stall selling a variety of stir fried dishes and buffet style dishes. I select the buffet and sit down to a delicious meal of mixed vegetables, pork and rice.

 

 

The following day is a longer than usual ride day, the ten (10) hour ride has me at Tianshui, with little to do in the small village and with little day light left to do it, I settle into a recently opened small hotel that is also more surprising than usual. Surprise number one, no hot water, and with the temperature sitting around seventeen (17) degrees more than a few expletives were spoken as I washed away the ride days road grime. Surprise number two, the only towel provided by the hotel was a hand towel, a little small to wipe off all that cold water and get dry. Surprise number three, the hotel's host is an excellent cook, and the evening meal was a stand out. Surprise number four, I have experienced many thin hard bed mattresses that seem to be standard in China, and pillows resembling 20 kg bags of cement, a straw filled pillow was a new experience. Apparently traditionally used in the area, the pillow was also very new and the straw contents had not yet settled in, so apart from being very hard the straw also had very sharp ends. After wrapping the pillow in a my travel towel to prevent any unwanted head or ear piercings I settle in for a good nights sleep.

 

Up and packed early, I ride on, out of Gansu Province and into Shaaxi Province for Part 4 of my China tour.