Women know it all too well....

The wind-factor

The way to Baxkorgan, my next planned stop, went initially well. Along the road I passed 3 police check-points where they, for the first time, really checked my passport and Visa.

How far can you go....letting the local police do a "JUMP SHOT"

After that check-point it went first uphill where after I came in a valley. It was around 5pm and I only had to do 35 more kilometers which takes me normally 2 hours.
Then the trouble started. I was in a wide open area and the wind increased. Due to this strong headwind and uphill, the speed went down to only 5km/h. (try this out.....this is REEEALY slow!!!).
This meant I had to do 7 more hours and will arrive at midnight.....
Not a good motivator.

Love the sign! More of this please........

Good that after 15 km, I again was in the mountains and the wind dropped. Even better, the last 19km. it went downhill.

The place where I arrived was a kind of weird. A lot of stones laying all over......Asking what they were doing, they replied: "We are protecting the minerals", which means in reality: illegal mining!

The "protecting minerals" headquarter

Super day!

The women know it very well: What goes up, also goes down!

The next morning, the first 34km was only downhill!
Not 1 push for the first hour and descending from 2500 meter to 700 meter, following a river in a beautiful canyon like environment. Really enjoyable!





No words.....

Arriving at Milan, I needed to make a decision. Going strait to Ruoqian or making a shortcut, saving around 100km.
I checked 3 maps and consulted a dozen truck drivers and although they had not all the same opinion, I gave it a try. This time it turned out all right.


LUAC promotion team

I was now riding in the middle of the dessert again and thought: "With a population of less then 0.000001 heads per square kilometer and wearing a nice T-shirt,  this might be the right place to make some promotion for LUAC, the best soaring club in the world."
So I did...... 
(Hartmut and LUAC Co, in case someone from Xinjian region wants to become a member, at least you own me a Hoegaarden!)



Multi-tasking, 3 in 1: Doing a pee, giving the dessert the so needed water and making promotion.....

The truck stop that suppose to be there on my planned stop was vanished...instead there were a group of oil drill workers. I could stay overnight however, their "leader" had some doubts and thought that I might be a dangerous person. To prove I was not, he requested to see my luggage. Of course I did not present my bag with my laptop and camera, instead I showed him the bag with my dirty underwear.
It must have been dirty enough because I passed the "dangerous man" test.
Passing or not, I did not feel welcome and left.
33km. further, a Muslim family offered me a bed and with 230km. total cycling that day,  I slept fantastic. 

I am now in Tikanlik, 200km. SOUTH of Korla, and beside meeting some friendly truck drivers on the way, it was just another, sandy day.....



The truck drivers informed me: according Chinese law, every vehicle needs to have a license plate 



What do you find in the Takelamagan dessert? Right!
Sand, sand and speed cameras.....

Nomad "New Style" - Pilgrims - Prohibted area - Dead road - Sandstorm

These are some of the key words of the last days.......


In Tibetan area

After Xining I entered the Qinghai region and took the G109, south of the beautiful Qinghai Hu Lake.

Qinghai region with the beautiful Qinghai Hu Lake

During a short stop I met a local store owner who spoke perfect English. He gave me a short explanation about the history of the Tibetan empire. He also explained that I was actually in former Tibetan area and warned me that weather in Tibet could change very quickly and very often…something I experienced a few moments later.

The weather went from blue sky to very windy, to hail, to snowstorm, to nice sunset. All in a timeframe of less than 5 hours.



Nice weather with at the back the Qinlian mountains

Then it started to hail.....

.....followed by snow....



......to end with a nice sunset!

Due to that snowstorm I decided to stop along the way with a kind of “Modern Nomads”. These friendly people were owning sheep and cows, 2 horses and a donkey. “Modern Nomads” means: living in a pre-fab container, having solar panels and driving a Chevrolet car.

They offered me a pillow and a place to sleep which I grateful accepted. What I didn’t know….”Modern Nomad” also seems to mean: allowing your kid to do a pee (and the other thing…) in the middle of the living room. Lucky I was sleeping somewhere else!

Pilgrims

The next morning, I almost called 911 when I suddenly saw 2 women laying on the ground in front of me.

In fact it were pilgrims making a tour around that same Qinghai Hu lake.
The way they did was: 3 steps forward, hands up, hands down, a little pray, kneeling and laying on the ground.



I measured: 1 cycle took them around 3 meters and they did it in 15 seconds. I was thinking: “What should it take to do this from here to the world city of Dessel, Belgium?” and quickly calculated: 4 million times falling on the ground and about 700 days…..realizing that I am happy to do it by bicycle!

Continue westbound, I had to cross the Xiangpi pass @ 3870 meter.

Hallucinating?

As you might know, riding at high altitude can have some physical consequences like difficulty to breath, fatigue, headache and in worst case hallucinating…..which I did, seeing road signs with opposite directions for the same city…..

A lot of accidents also on that same road….

It just happened a few moments before......lucky the tank was empty!

On sale......

Prohibited area

After a long day I was happy to arrive in Delingha. That joy only lasted for a moment….
After check-in and paying the room, they suddenly changed their mind and told me that I could not stay. I started to question the reason which they could not give. The police and translator came explaining that I was in a prohibited area for foreigners. Of course I heard about this, I only did not realize that I was actually in this kind of “no foreigner” zone.
However, as mostly in China, they helped me out, offering another (better) hotel but telling that I had to leave as soon as possible the next morning!
Knowing that you are in a prohibited area and that you have to leave ASAP did not gave me a nice feeling!



Good that the other "homeless" man didn't came home that night

The next two days were though. 87km. before Dachaidan I stopped because the wind was too strong. I slept that night in an abandoned container like a homeless, tired man.

Back to pathfinders time

The next night, as Yuka city was a dead city, I found some construction workers where I could stay overnight in their tent.

 

Cities are no-cities, roads are no-roads and no-roads are roads

My next stop was planned to be Chalengkou, laying on the G315. Although not given on my map, that road suddenly split. I had to make a choice: 40km ahead to Chalengkou or 172km. SOUTH to another city. Sure I choose for the 40km. Unfortunately, that was a wrong decision as this road ended in a sand road where even a 4x4 sometimes should have had difficulties. I had to turn back and slept that night again in a tent with very friendly and welcoming workers along the road.

The road that ended in no-road.......

April 23rd. …. A day to remember (or quickly forget)

I started a little late, around 10 am. It went all well in the beginning: Nice weather and favorable SLW (=SuperLiesWish) wind. I was riding in between the beautiful salt lakes.

Beautiful salt lakes near Chalengkou

I also saw the end of the G315 that I initially wanted to take to go to Chalengkou two days ago and realized: If I had continued that road, it should have been suicide.

After the salt lake, the weather became overcasted with again a lot of wind. I had done so far already 160km. and needed to do another 49km. Due to the wind, the speed dropped as low as 7-8km/h. The road also went uphill. It even went worse when the strong wind transformed in a sandstorm.
Good that I got some support (VERY GOOD SUPPORT) from the Changchun basecamp telling me that a little further, after a sharp curve, there should be a place to stay.  I reached the curve but was disappointed when I saw only an abandoned factory. I ended after midnight completely exhausted and with more than 200 km. in the legs and with nowhere else to go, I decided to try my MacGyver skills and broke in (Don't tell my mother!). It was cold but I slept relatively well.

And guess what: the next morning, I discovered that  there was a truckstop around the other curve.....300 meter further.


The so wanted place to rest, just a few hundred meters around the other turn....

 

SINOPEC City

The following 2 days, although still in the middle of the dessert the road became more and more busy. Soon I realize why: I am riding in the middle of the oilfields owned by SINOPEC (a big Chinese petrochemical company). But very strange.....most of their equipment seems not to work. Should it be because they were mistakenly drilling in the wrong area or was it because their equipment is "made in China"......???

Oilfield with a lot of idle equipment.......

While nearing Huatuguo, a car stopped and we talked for a while. Afterwards I got a 6 km. personal escort to the center of the town.

After 1 week of dessert, you can not imagine how happy you get being back to civilization and seeing the first traffic light and beautiful women (sorry, beautiful women and traffic light.....).
I am wondering why they don't call Huatuguo "SINOPEC city" as everything (buildings, banks, apartments,...) seems to carry their yellow-red PetroChina logo....

My personal escort insisted to pay my hotel and later that evening we had some nice time......

In Xining now

Again a couple of days further and I arrived in what will be the last big city for a while: Xining.

3 weeks on the way already so time for a short summary:

·      2880 km done

·      21 days on the way

·      average +/-135km/day

·      ½ day of rain

·      3 flat tires….

In Hongsibu, while searching for a place to stay, I met 2 nice ladies.

I must have look completely exhausted as one of them offered to take care of the bike which I, of course, did not refuse.

 



2 nice ladies willing to help a tired man......



 

The next day to Xinren was a day to forget: first wind, then rain and last but not least a flat tire….

The road I was following, the G109, seems to be a kind of coal route. An army of trucks coming and going….the whole day.

Big power plant near Baiyin

I wanted to know where they came from and where they go to.

At least on one of the questions I got an answer: supplying a big power plant.

 

 

On that same road there was another mystery. I saw a lot of satellite antennas in the gardens. Sometimes two or more. Why?

 

 

I figured out: One for sure must be to watch one of the 500 or so Chinese CCTV state television channels.

The other one, I thought, must be to watch the popular TV show “Wauters vs. Waes” on the Belgian VTM channel.

I was wrong!

 

In fact, it was Philips latest model and extreme compact water kettle

Philips 2014 model water kettle

 

For the way from Baiyin to Lanzhou the map showed a shortcut but the GPS did not.

Uncertain if there was in fact a road and as I like the unknown, I gave it a try.

However, my GPS toy did not like my adventure and blocked twice (lucky I could save the data).

After all, the SHORT-cut turned out to be a LONG-cut in regards of time but at least I was able to see the beautiful Chinese farming countryside!

 

Farming countryside

 

A selfie, countryside near Lanzhou

 

After my successful shortcut maneuver, I got a little nervous while riding through Lanzhou. Lots of people were carrying water.

I later discovered that there was not enough tap water anymore because of few rain the last months resulting in the lack of ground water.

 

 

 

But no water……. no problem!
Good that I like beer and you know, as a Belgian, Chinese beer is like water…..  ;-)

 

My last leg to Xining went well. I even got joined by 2 other bikers also on the way to Xining.

Both were member of the TOTOFE cycling team, riding on a full equipped bike, including a sound system.



TOTOFE bikers or......hikers?

 

"This is going to be though", I thought, especially with my 40kg. luggage handicap.

But after 10km they stopped and wanted to take a picture. After another 30 min. they stopped again for a drink.

Then, 10km further, they wanted to stop again to take a rest……

I said: “Sorry guys but I need to be in Belgium before it gets dark…….”

Either way: or they didn't understand or they did not know where Belgium is but I left them….wishing them a lot more TOTOFE to go……

The more you go to the West, the more you come in Muslim land. Beside the typical dress you also see a lot of mosques like below one in the middle of Xining city.

 

Beautiful mosque in center of Xining

 

Today is a rest day. And rest day means this time: long sleep, treating my body for a massage, cleaning and tensioning the chain, preparing the route for the next days, update the blog, visiting the local street market eating delicious Halal food.

Tomorrow and the following days my way continues westbound passing the Qinghai Lake. On what I have heard this should be a beautiful area.

Looking forward already…..

With 10km/h you also get there......

"With 10 km/h you also get there".....
These are the wise words that a wise man once told me.
Definitely true.
Nice fairy tails do not last long. So gone was the tailwind of the last days.

The day after Dongshen was a short one. It got dark so I stopped already after 75km to eat and sleep in a truckstop along the way for 20 RMB (2.5 Euro).


My local "Hilton" room

Sure not a Sheraton or Hilton, but I still rate it as a 4 star.
1 star because there was a bed (no mattress though, just a wooden plate), another star because there was even light, a 3rd star because I had no flees the next day and a big star because of the delicious food and hospitality.



The next day to Otog was nice. I really was biking in the middle of nowhere in perfect biking conditions.
 

N38°55'32.5" - E107°30'38.4"
In the complete middle of nowhere, Chinese Biosphere or SunParks???

 

I also made a new world record: It took me three (3!) hours to repair my tire but I spare you the details!

The way to Yanchi (or that was the plan) on the other hand was a disaster.....6 hours fighting against the wind which lowered down my speed to sometimes less then 8km/h. Good that there was that wise man with his wise words....which kept me going.

I decided not to waste more energy, hoping on better conditions the next day. I stopped early along the road.
That night I slept between the sheep and the goats and very friendly shepherds.

Surprisingly, the wife and husband slept each in a separate room but because of me, the wife allowed him to sleep with her.
The next morning I saw a big smile on the man his face.....and I know why!

I am now in Hongsibu and on the way to Lanzhou....

For the Strava followers: as you might have seen, I was able to retrieve the first 1000 km. On the other hand, I lost the data from April 7th.

Where is he? There is he....

All,


For the ones who wants to know where I am and how I did: I made another account that all of you can use.
It is better then Garmin Connect and not everyone needs to make their own account.
It's simple and nice, specially the heatmaps!

How does it works?

Step 1: Go to www.strava.com
Step 2: Go to LOG IN (right upper corner)
Step 3: Log in with:

• email address: belgium.biker@yahoo.com
• password: Bicycle (with capital B)

Step 4: click Log In


On the activity feed, you can see each individual ride I did.
If you go to Heatmaps (last tab) and then click on view, then you can see where I am and which track I did so far.

Remarks:

1. Please only select VIEW, as I will regularly update the maps myself
2. As you can see, the first 1000 km. is not shown. This because I deleted already these trips in my GPS before making this special account. I will try to retrieve later.

Voila, that's it. I hope it works for you!

Het ging vooruit, het ging vooruit, het ging verbazend goed vooruit....../ It's progressing well.....

The supporting wishes from Superlies came true: the last two days I had a nice tailwind.
Specially the trip after my rest day,  from Hohhot to Qingshuihe, went very well. 120km. in less then 6 hours moving time.
Yesterday went also quite well. At least the first 130km. Perfect roads, perfect weather, not one single cloud in the sky. However, suddenly, due to construction work,  the perfect road transformed in NO road at all for 15 km. long. But I made it to Dongsheng....

Crossing the Huang He river

Typical landscape, perfect weather

Rest day

Today the first day of  rest.
1400 km. in 10 days is quite a lot and more then I initially planned.
I promised myself to do it the next week a little more relaxed....let's see.
Well...rest day....means:  washing clothes, sending excess things already back, city seeing, having good food and a small maintenance on the bike.

The best maintenance place: quite & clean