From North to South

Our Arrival at Kashgar marked the end of our biking leg in Northwestern China. It was a sad end because we had many great adventures in the folds of the Pamir mountains and the fringe of the Taklimakan desert. We biked through sand storms, braved the heat of the desert, and survived bitter cold weather and snow in the high altitude mountains by wearing all our layers and not stopping for breaks. We slept in a Kyrgys yurt, in traditional Tajik and Uygur mud and wood homes, in a highway underpass, in the open under the stars and in our tent next to frozen puddles or a waterfall. We learnt to make fresh noodles, tried our luck at fishing, and worked a full day in the fields removing corn roots from the ground to prepare a field for the next planting. (Our reward was a plate of sheep intestines,lung and liver). We have only good memories of our experience in the Northwest. It didn't feel like China anymore. With a predominantly muslim population, people looked more Mediterranean, Arabic and even Irish. And it was wonderful to experience a muslim culture much different from the radical one the media feeds us with. We got to know a culture of respect and generosity. People always greeted each other with a handshake and showed respect to the elders. When we arrived at a village or stopped on the road, the men would line up to shake Pablo's hand and the women mine. They always invited us for tea and bread and sent us off with a small gift from their harvest: pears, grapes, almonds, chestnuts or bread. We quickly learnt to pray to Allah after each meal or snack to thank and honor our hosts. I loved accepting invitations as it was a great excuse to visit the inside of a home and I welcomed the break from the bicycle seat. From Kashgar, we decided to travel overland to the South from where we planned to bike to Hong Kong to catch our plane. In retrospect, perhaps it would have been better to fly as it took us a long time to get here. But we did get a chance to see the landscape transform from desert to forest to rice field. Our journey was further delayed by the Chinese flu. I fell ill in Urumuqi and was stuck in bed with a high fever and headache. One visit to the hospital, penicillin and more rest got me up and running again a couple of days behind schedule. Our plans were further foiled by the transportation system. We arrived at Chongching only to find out there were no buses to Guiyang. (Like arriving to Ottawa and having no bus connection to Toronto) We were forced to take the train for the overnight ride which we hate because it means we have to send our bikes through cargo, bear the thought of parting with them and carry all of the heavy bags through the station by hand. We got a scare because the bikes did not arrive on our train nor the next nor the next. We sat at the cargo terminal imagining our bikes far off in the hands of somebody else. Nobody could tell us where they where or when they would arrive as there was no package tracking service. "Maybe they'll come on the next train," was all the help we would get. Finaly at one a.m. the following day, 30 hours after having parted with our bikes, they rolled out into the depot. Ahh Relief. Never again will we take the train. So now we are ready to begin the Southern chapter of our journey. After two train rides,(one overnight, one 52 hours) and several long distance bus rides, we made it to the province of Guizhou known for its abundance of minority cultures. Our time has been cut shorter than we would have liked. We won't have time to cycle all the way to Hong Kong as planned but have instead selected a route from Kaili to Guilin which should take us through small Miao and Dong villages off of the tourist circuit. It has been raining a lot here and we expect the roads to be muddy. Perfect for biking fun. We'll write again when we emerge on the other side.