Portrait of an LBX

By Evan

Looking down from about 3/4 up the giant mountain over endless bamboo stalks. Photo by Andy

It’s been a long time since my last update (is anybody surprised?), so I’ll try to go easy on not overloading you with the silly stuff we’ve been doing. When last we left off, we had been stuck in Jiangle for days due to nonstop rain. Finally we caught a break and rolled south three days after expected and after skipping past the Yuhua caves (玉华洞, we still refuse to pay admission anywhere) rolled for over an hour and a half up a mountain through cloud base up to just shy of 1000 meters high followed by a breakneck plummet of 10 km. At the bottom of the mountain in the little village of Dakeng (大坑), we came across an unusual sight: a large group of LBXes gathered on the roadside clustered around several women in red coats playing music on marching band instruments with the reverb kicked way way up (no, that’s not poor audio quality on the video). Intrigued, we asked what was going on, to which one of the red-clad band members responded: “a funeral! (葬礼呀)” Then about five women screamed at us in unison, “come sit down and have a drink (过来喝一杯酒吧)” and a minute later we were sitting at the table facing one Mr. Le (乐先生), whose grandmother, 87 year old Mrs. Zhang, had just passed away. (more…)

. . . . . .

Some of the members of the funeral brass brand. Check out our Flickr page for videos of the "farewell party."

. . . . . .

After descending from one of the highest mountains we've ridden over so far, we passed through a small village where a funeral celebration (欢送, literally a 'farewell party') was taking place. The family invited us in to "add to the noise" (加热闹), of which there was already plenty due to a brass band. The women in the mourning family wore what looked like burlap coverings. Here the onlookers watch the band, which the family hired for the day for 1,000 yuan ($146) -- a hefty price for the Chinese countryside.

. . . . . .

By Andy

The government seeks “leap-frog” development of Tibet by raising infrastructure quality and agricultural incomes to national levels by 2020, Xinhua news agency said, citing comments from senior Chinese leaders at a meeting earlier in the week. (Reuters)

Admirable enough, right?

The CCP sees development as a cure-all for stability and unchallenged rule in China — after all, most people are concerned with how much is in their wallets, not who is ruling them. For most of the country this has worked like a charm. Despite a rapidly widening gap between urban and rural income levels in China, almost everyone we have run into is perfectly content just to be doing a little better this year than last and is certain things will only get better (as if it is a constant of the universe).

The Jokhang Temple at the heart of traditional Lhasa.

But throughout this trip we have seen what rapid development has done to a beautiful and diverse country and culture. There is little awareness of the value of cultural preservation among the peasants occupying many of China’s most beautiful and historic areas. As some of our readers have commented, their current homes are cold and leaky, and they are envious of newly constructed concrete boxes with running water and sealed roofs. Aesthetics is the last thing on their minds. But that doesn’t mean there is no case for preservation. Once the majority of Chinese are well enough off to worry about quality of life in addition to a paycheck, I believe the country will come to the realization that it was a mistake to destroy so much of their own culture and history in the name of development, just as citizens of other countries have realized the same about their own homelands. This is already happening on a small scale in China’s major urban centers, but for the most part it is already too late there. (more…)

. . . . . .

Jour 119 (18/01/10)

Nanfeng(南丰)-Lixin(里心)

Province du Fujian(福建省)

- 80km -

Cette fois-ci, nous sommes prêts à repartir et voir défiler les kilomètres. Enfin… Prêts… Pas tout à fait! Après un rapide petit déjeuner, nous trouvons un réparateur de vélo que nous a indiqué le patron de l’hôtel. Et pour 5 yuan, le gars, qui a un petit atelier de réparateur, où il vend également des cigarettes (imaginez un garage à vélos, dont le mur est décoré d’une licence l’autorisant à vendre des cigarettes… marrant, non?), il me répare tout en une vingtaine de minutes. Sans trop rentrer dans les détails, j’ai désormais une roue arrière, certes de mauvaise qualité, mais quasiment droite, et avec des freins qui marchent (le câble était auparavant complètement rouillé!). Mon vélo devrait maintenant pouvoir tenir jusqu’à début février, où j’irai à Hong-Kong pour faire un nouveau visa. Mon pote Gilles, devant s’y rendre pour les mêmes raisons, m’amènera pas la même occasion la jante qu’il a achetée en France pendant les avances de Noël.

Des vendeurs de tangerines partout sur le bord de la route

(more…)

. . . . . .

Jour 116 (15/01/10)

Tangyin(棠阴)-Nanfeng(南丰)

Province du Jiangxi(江西省)

- 55km -

C’est cette fois-ci sans alarme que nous nous réveillon. Nous sommes tous un peu crevés et Evan, la goutte au nez, se lève en disant: « I feel like a shit! » (« Je me sens comme une merde! »).

Sur le mur de l'hôtel: "Règlement sur le temps de la douche - Hommes (vieux, âges moyens, jeunes et enfants): 20 min - Femmes (vieilles, âges moyens, jeunes et enfants: 30min - Tout dépassement de 10min coûte un supplément de 1yuan."

(more…)

. . . . . .

By Evan

*See all the great pictures Andy’s been taking in Fujian here

At the time of my last update, we had just finished exploring the ancient city of Tangyin back in Jiangxi. Since then much has happened (while at the same time not as much as we’d like due to the infernal rain).

Fujian has been the only province to care enough to put up a more glorified marker at its border than just a small blue sign

The last day of Jiangxi and first two days of Fujian were a veritable comedy of errors in navigation and planning (Andy and Alexis found it less funny than I did). Having had our appetite for ancient towns whetted by Tangyin, we decided to target another such town just over the border in Fujian only 170 km from Nanfeng, where we took our last rest in Jiangxi.  So we set out to make the trip in two days, except that on day 1 we missed a turn and ended up tacking an extra 30 or so km to our day’s ride through steep mountains and narrow dirt roads. Having at last rejoined the correct route, around 4pm, we were treated to an awe inspiring surprise. The provincial road snaked around and up a terrifically high mountain, so high that we could tell the switchbacks would continue well after we could crest the highest point then visible. Alexis disappeared out in front of us as he is wont to do, and Andy and I pressed in lowest gear slowly for an hour at least, before finally at the top of the slope we crossed the border into Fujian. After the obligatory picture next to the entrance stone (incidentally, to this point Fujian is the only province to mark its frontier with more than a small, simple “Now entering xyz province” sign). After the border marker, the first thing I saw in the new province was an old, thin man wearing a Mao hat in the middle of a terraced field with two water buffaloes. As he looked up, his smile stretched as wide as the look of wonderment in his eyes, and he waved emphatically at the three foreigners creeping steadily upward in the dusklight. If there is a value in omens, then our prospects in Fujian seemed most auspicious indeed. (more…)

. . . . . .

Evan crests a hill in the Fujian mountains.

. . . . . .

A blue dump truck waits as it gets a water refill. The trucks, many of which are still produced by local state-owned enterprises from the original, planned-economy-era designs, use tap water to cool their brakes, making them horrible things to ride behind when going down a mountain. They are ubiquitous, frightening and have horns that leave our ears ringing at the end of each day.

. . . . . .

Jour 114 (13/01/10)

Zhangxiang(张巷)-Lipi(礼陂)

Province du Jiangxi(江西省)

- 78km -

Après cette journée d’hier, qui c’est mal terminée avec mon vélo, nous nous levons à 7h30, sous des « Hallow! » (« Hello! ») et autres « Naaïïïce tou miiit you! » (« Nice to meet you ») criés dans les escaliers. Sans chauffage, nous nous les sommes pas mal caillées et avons mal dormi. Je me réveille même avec un début de crève.

Dans les villages, les chiens font souvent les poubelles.

(more…)

. . . . . .