Devout Of This World 2

Chillin'

For the first time in ages I decided to have a rest day the next day, and not move on, just maybe explore this district a little. I've done some long hard rides lately, and my body really wanted to chill.

After lunch I rode outa town.

Town goes forever.

Cool village entrance

These vehicles are everywhere. They're villagers' and farmers' primary means of transport, as they're so practical for their needs. Motorbikes are much rarer in the countryside here.

These vehicles move quite slowly, and often I often overtake them on the bike. The thing that characterises them for me, though, is that their drivers seem to have a death wish. Not only for themselves, but for anyone else who happens to be near them.

They rarely have rear vision mirrors, and will, without warning, suddenly veer across the road, stop, or carry out some other wildly unpredictable manoeuvre, resulting in some very close encounters with actual death for everyone involved, and the frequent need for other drivers (or cyclists) to go and wash their undies.

And then occasionally these same drivers get behind the wheel of an actual car, a run-down and rickety one, and you know it's them because they drive in exactly the same way. They seem to be unaware that cars have more than just first and second gear, and that other traffic, besides them, actually exists on the road.

I've seen some screeching and squealingly close calls on the road. A particularly forgettable one involved one of these three-wheelers with four people in the back suddenly veering over to the other side of the road, to turn into a field, while a massive truck had already begun to overtake it at speed. It was very nearly a mass funeral procession.

I took some back roads. Suddenly I came across this smooth sealed one. It was very poplar with me.

This gruesome sight is my left index finger trying to become a pig's snout. It was crushed by my toppling bike against a sharp railing some time ago, and is taking an eternity to heal because I just can't stop playing guitar.

Quiet back roads. Virtually no traffic whatsoever.

This, my friends, is not just a mound of dirt. No way Ho Xei. It's a remnant of the Great Wall of China. Yep it's true. It may be underwhelming, but it's a bloody long way from Beijing, so that means something.

More of the GWOC

The Great Wall of China, or, more accurately, the Great Walls of China, were a series of fortifications built across northern, northeastern and northwestern China over many centuries, to protect the various Chinese kingdoms from those bloody Mongols and other Eurasian riffraff, who kept invading and stealing things and wreaking havoc.

The earliest walls were built way back in the 7th Century BC, but the famous ones you probably think of were built during the Ming Dynasty, right up until the mid 1600s. Those famous sections are just north of Beijing.

The walls out this way were built in two main periods, the first between about 200BC and 220AD, and the second much later, in the Ming Era. These mud heaps are actually part of the Ming Era wall.

There's gonna be much more impressive wall remains further up the track, so don't fret ok.

They still use mudbrick for building round these parts. These are garden greenhouse walls, and storage buildings.

Wow! One hell of a merkin collection! I wanna go to their parties!

Oh alright then, it's just chillies.

The entrance to an organic vineyard. Rather grand.

Pink is the headscarf colour of choice for fashionable women in these parts. They're all wearing it.

Public men's business

Have you got any red ones?

I bought these delicious little melons from a little stall. In English they're known as pepito melons. But when I asked the lovely guy what they were called, it translated as:

Which is probably quite apt, because they're so delicious that when you eat them you give thanks that you are alive and in this country. They taste like a small juicy rockmelon. No seeds. The guy told me just to eat the skin, but it was nicer without it, the skin's slightly bitter.

I bought some delicious tandoori naan from this guy as I meandered back into town. This type of bread is common in parts of northern India, but particularly in Pakistan and Central Asia. As I head northwest I hope to munch a lot more of it, because it's just absolutely divine, especially when hot.

I finally opened my pu'er tea, which Na Hin and his family had gifted me. It tastes just like tea to me, with my, as yet, unrefined tea palate.

The families were out in the eve.

And the buskers

Wuwei is a hugely important place historically. It was located on the only (straightforward) route from eastern China to Central Asia, and so was a thriving trading post and strategic centre on the Silk Road.

These days it borders the Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia to the north, and Qinghai to the southwest.

The impressive (and reconstructed) South Gate of the city

Don't ask me why they were showing vids of kids dancing

An infinitely long night food market. It was pretty impressive.

Jiaozi, Chinese version of gyoza

Octopusart

You think you've seen jerky? Nah mate, this is jerky.

Smiling tofu woman

Satay and salad collection

As usual, I was more of an attraction than any of the food. I was swamped by kids with their parents, asking me the usuals. So friendly, and so selfie-ish. It was fun.

These guys pressed a couple of bags of these into my hands after the selfies.

They're water chestnuts. But nowhere near as nice as the fresh ones.

They got the blues.

The bling's all around the city

Dancin' in the street

Yongchang

Today I took a few village roads to wind my way out of Wuwei, as I kept riding roughly northwest.

I couldn't work out why the poplars in the foreground were leafless, but the others weren't. I'm sure some of you know about that sort of thing, especially if you're into haughty culture.

Corny pic.

Wide river bed, reminiscent of shallow river crossings in India. Except in India there'd be hundreds of people at the river, washing their clothes, their dishes, their motorbikes, or their bodies.

I was sort of lucky today, because for quite some time my road was closed to all vehicles, except scooters and pushbikes. I mean, there were roadworks for part of it, but generally it was pretty cruisey riding.